Caltrans workers honored for courage, selflessness in the face of danger: Roadshow

One more day when we break Roadshow’s normal Q&A format, and again, for a good cause. Today we salute more state workers who performed heroically as they saved others, often at great personal risk.

Governor Gavin Newsom recently presented four Caltrans employees the Governor’s State Employee Medal of Valor Award.

It is the highest honor California bestows on its public servants. Since Governor Edmund G. Brown Sr. presented the first awards in 1959, more than 700 state employees have earned the honor for their courage and selflessness in the face of danger.

Here are the stories of the four Caltrans workers who were recently honored:

Caltrans highway maintenance leadworker Matthew Pina received the Medal of Valor for saving a man’s life by dissuading him from jumping off the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in January 2021.

Pina had heard a report of an abandoned car on the Bay Bridge and went to investigate. He could not find anyone near the car, so he began driving back and forth until he spotted a young man who had climbed over the railing and seemed ready to jump. Pina got out to talk to the man, if he could. The man told Pina that no one loved him and he did not want to live anymore. Pina stayed with the man, calmly talking to him until the man climbed back over the railing and CHP help arrived.