Police Heroism Award
Scott Biggs
Police Officer, San Francisco Police Department
Chirs Oshita
Police Officer, San Francisco Police Department
Kevin O’Leary
Police Officer, San Francisco Police Department
Daniel Kroos
Police Officer, San Francisco Police Department
Christmas day 2007, at approximately 17:00 hours, was more or less the same as Christmas day of other years. Santa had come and gone and most families were sitting down to or maybe had just finished their Christmas dinner.
San Francisco Emergency Dispatch Center was receiving calls that three to four Siberian Tigers had escaped their enclosure and were attacking people who were still on the grounds of the Zoo.
When the broadcast went out from the dispatch center, officers from Taraval Police Station started to respond to the Zoo to investigate the incident. Initially some people thought it was a prank call from an upset person or someone who had too much to drink and was trying to be funny.
Lieutenant Mike Favietti took command of the situation and immediately had the perimeter locked down and set up a command post. Lieutenant Favietti formulated a plan that involved Officer Scott Biggs and Officer Chris Oshita, placing them in the lead car of a convoy that was to enter the Zoo premises, along with a Zoo employee who knew the terrain, to look for any victims and the tigers. An ambulance followed Scott’s and Chris’s police unit, which was followed by other San Francisco Police Department units. The convoy entered the Zoo and began to proceed cautiously because they had no idea how many tigers had escaped. They were further hampered by the fact that it was now dark and there were no lights inside the Zoo property.
The Zoo employee in Scott’s and Chris’s unit directed them up a small path to where he believed there were victims. Unfortunately there was one victim lying unconscious who had been severely mauled by a tiger. The paramedics went to check on the person and to check his vital signs but there was nothing they could do for him. Sgt. Kim and Officer Chang stood guard over the body of the victim while officer Biggs and Officer Oshita continued to look for any other victims and the tigers. They were notified by dispatch that it was confirmed that one or more tigers had escaped from their enclosure and were running loose on the 1000-acre Zoo grounds.
Officer Biggs and Officer Oshita continued searching, directed by the Zoo employees in their unit, to a café about 10 to 20 yards up the hill. They arrived to find nothing short of bizarre: A 350 pound Siberian tiger was sitting in the middle of the path, right in front of a young man who was bleeding from several wounds. The bloodied man was calling out to Officer Biggs and Oshita for help.
Officer Biggs and Officer Oshita had no clear opportunity for a shot at the tiger because of the positions of the victim and the tiger. Just a few seconds later, Officer Kevin O’Leary and Officer Daniel Kroos arrived on the other side of the tiger. The two officers tried to distract the tiger from the victim but the tiger viciously attacked the victim again.
Suddenly the tiger started to come at Officer Biggs and Officer Oshita. Shots rang out and the tiger dropped.
This nightmare was not over. There was no way to tell whether or not there were more victims that were not yet found or whether some of the other tigers who allegedly escaped had made their way into the nearby neighborhood. The surrounding neighborhoods and the rest of the 1000 acres of Zoo grounds still had to be searched. It was not until later that night when Zoo officials finally announced that the other tigers were safely in their enclosure.
Imagine having to search unfamiliar terrain, knowing that there was already one fatality as a result of one tiger attack and also know that at least one other person was seriously injured. Not knowing how many other citizens could still be vulnerable, searching in total darkness, all the while attempting to track an extremely dangerous animal, armed with no more than your handgun.
Despite knowing the dangers and without disregard for their own safety, Officer Biggs, Officer Oshita, Officer O’Leary and Officer Kroos went beyond the call of duty and are awarded the Golden Badge Foundation’s Police Heroism Award.
