By Sierra van der Brug
San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.
SAN BERNARDINO — The detective who used his car to stop a fleeing suspect accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy in Rancho Cucamonga has been honored for his actions with two commendations at a California Narcotic Officers’ Association ceremony.
On Oct. 27, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Detective Shaun Wallen stopped the suspect, who was fleeing by motorcycle, during a high-speed chase on the 210 Freeway. Wallen, who was off-duty at the time, used his vehicle to intervene and knock the suspect, 47-year-old Angelo Jose Saldivar, off of the motorcycle he was riding, sending him over the car’s hood, to the ground where he was surrounded by law enforcement.
Saldivar had led officers on a pursuit after San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Nunez was shot and killed, authorities said. Nunez was responding to a domestic violence call on Hollyhock Drive in Rancho Cucamonga when he was shot and killed.
For his work stopping the suspect, Wallen was presented with two honors, the California Narcotic Officers’ Association President’s Award for Heroism and a Commissioner’s Coin from the California Highway Patrol on Saturday, Nov. 22.
Wallen has been with the department for 18 years.
“California Highway Patrol Commissioner Sean Duryee wanted Detective Wallen to know just how impressed he was with his heroic actions,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus wrote on social media.
“Detective Wallen placed himself in harm’s way for the safety of others in the moments following the death of Deputy Andrew Nunez. I couldn’t be more proud of Detective Wallen and the courage he showed during an unthinkably difficult time,” Dicus said on social media.
This is not the detective’s first time being honored for his actions.
In 2018, Wallen was presented with the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor by President Donald Trump for his brave actions in a shootout with the suspects in the Dec. 2, 2015 San Bernardino terror attack that left 14 dead and 22 injured. A deputy at the time, Wallen was pursuing the suspects’ vehicle and exchanged gunfire with the suspects. The medal is the country’s highest honor for bravery of public safety officers.
Wallen received his latest awards Saturday during a meeting of the Narcotic Officers’ Association at an undisclosed location.
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