Shenbaum was honored for leaping off the Manhattan Beach pier in his boxer shorts into 58 degree water on the evening of January 31 of last year to rescue an Inglewood police officer.
The Inglewood officer was thought to have jumped from the pier and was calling for help while holding on to a pier piling.
Shenbaum, who is also a part-time lifeguard, jumped into the water, while MBPD officers stood on the pier handing down flotation devices.
“I grabbed him, got him on a flotation device and then took a bunch of sets [waves],” Shenbaum said in an Easy Reader interview shortly after the incident. “There was a ripping lateral current. I was concerned we were going to ping-pong ball through the pier pilings.”
Lifeguards soon joined them under the pier and helped paddle the 6-foot-7 officer to shore.
“It really was a group effort by the fire department, police department, and lifeguards working together,” he said. “All three departments train annually for this exact situation. This was a great example where it worked.”
McCurdy, Carrasquillo honored
Inglewood officer McCurdy, the son of Hermosa Beach School Board member Cathy McCurdy was honored along with Detective Carrasquillo for apprehending a parolee suspected of robbery and carjacking on Oct. 4, 2010.
The two officers chased the suspect for over 25 miles on the freeway, at speeds of over 100 m.p.h. and then chased the man on foot into a parking structure. When the suspect shot at the officers, while attempting to carjack a woman with a disabled son, officer Carrasquillo fatally shot him. ER
