MISSION VIEJO, Ca. (Aug. 10, 2020) – The Sheriff’s Department will take part in a bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation aimed at educating bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians on traffic laws, rules and responsibilities.

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MISSION VIEJO, Ca. (Aug. 10, 2020) – Distracted driving is a dangerous and illegal behavior the Sheriff’s Department is working to deter drivers from doing.

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DANA POINT, Ca. (Aug. 10, 2020) – Distracted driving is a dangerous and illegal behavior the Sheriff’s Department is working to deter drivers from doing.

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So often in law enforcement deputies and dispatchers handle one lifesaving call only to move onto the next; leaving behind an unfinished story.

Sometimes there is no conclusion, no closure.

However, last month a group of Sheriff’s Department deputies and dispatchers received the happy ending they’d been missing from a March 29 call in Villa Park.  

Dispatchers Wendy Jurgensen and Katie Howard fielded the call at about 2 a.m. on March 29 in response to a 62-year-old man unresponsive and possibly having a heart attack. They stayed on the phone, guiding family members on how to respond while quickly dispatching deputies to the location.

When Deputies Dominguez and Gardner arrived, the man wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. They pulled him from the bed and began multiple rounds of CPR until paramedics arrived to take over and transport the victim to the hospital.

The deputies didn’t know if their actions were enough. In the days that followed, they Googled his name to see if there were any news reports sharing the outcome from that night, but they didn’t find anything.

Sometimes no news is good news.

The deputies and dispatchers would learn their actions that day would mean the man – Bruce Furniss, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming, husband and father of four – would survive.

Furniss, along with his wife and children, met with the deputies and dispatchers to express his gratitude for their actions that day.

He passed out mini bundt cakes to the group, wishing he could do more.

“I know this probably isn’t enough for saving my life, but I wanted to do something,” he told them.  

The group said they were grateful the Furniss family took the time to reach out and meet with them.

“It was nice to see him,” said Deputy Gardner. “We never would have known if he survived. We always are just on to the next call.”

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Ca. (Aug. 7, 2020) – Distracted driving is a dangerous and illegal behavior the Sheriff’s Department is working to deter drivers from doing.

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DANA POINT, Ca. (Aug. 7, 2020) – The Sheriff’s Department will take part in a bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation aimed at educating bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians on traffic laws, rules and responsibilities.

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SANTA ANA, Ca. (Aug. 6, 2020): The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has been awarded a $97,500 grant from the California Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to address alcohol-related harm in the community.

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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Ca. (Aug. 5, 2020) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will have extra deputies out on patrol Saturday, Aug. 8, in the city of San Juan Capistrano looking for violations made by drivers and motorcyclists that increase the risk of crashes.

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SANTA ANA, Ca. (July 30, 2020) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s deployment of Naloxone, an opioid antagonist that can be effective in opioid overdose, has continued to increase dramatically since 2015, with the number of doses administered in the first half of 2020 setting the stage for the Department to double every year since deputies began administering Naloxone.

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MISSION VIEJO, Ca. (July 27, 2020) – The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will be conducting a DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoint on Friday, July 31, from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. at an undisclosed location in the city of Mission Viejo.

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