Deputies To Get National Awards For Saving Women From Gunman

Two sheriff’s deputies who plucked a woman and her elderly mother from a gunman’s sights will receive national awards in a ceremony today in Washington, D.C.

Randy Strzelecki and James Dresback will be given Top Cop Honorable Mention awards for their courage during a Spokane Valley shooting and fire last year, said sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick.

The deputies are two of 58 officers to be honored nationwide by the National Association of Police Organizations, said Beth Weaver, the group’s spokeswoman. They were chosen from more than 400 nominations and were the only two selected from Washington state.

Dresback was the first to arrive at 801 N. University, where Richard Ross, armed with a handgun, leaned out a second-story window and threatened to kill law enforcement officers and firefighters that responded.

Ross had already shot his younger brother to death, critically wounded his sister and knocked down his mother.

“The feeling I got was the same as when you’re a little kid and you go to the basement and it feels like the bogyman is chasing you,” Dresback said after the Sept. 25, 1995, incident.

As Dresback surveyed the scene, he saw Ruth Ross, then 74, and her daughter, Barbara Janosky, then 44, lying terrified and helpless in the front yard. Next to them lay Bob Ross, dead from a gunshot wound to the head inflicted at close range.

Moments later, while Dresback waited for other deputies to arrive, an explosion shook the house - and the deputy of 11 years. The blast showered the yard with broken glass. Flames shot from a window over the injured women.

Knowing he couldn’t wait any longer, Dresback raced across the yard - through the gunman’s sights - and pulled Janosky to safety across the street. He then returned with Strzelecki, who had just arrived, and the two carried Ruth Ross across the street.

Ruth Ross suffered minor injuries from the fall and was treated and released from the hospital. Janosky spent months in the hospital recovering from gunshot wounds to her hip and abdomen that nearly took her life.

Dresback and Strzelecki, a nine-year deputy and Valley resident, have also been awarded the state Medal of Honor and the department’s Medal of Valor for the same incident.

, DataTimes