DEPUTIES HONORED FOR BRAVERY, SERVICE.

Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Four Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were honored - one posthumously - by local officials and state lawmakers have been honored for bravery in the line of duty and contributions over the past decade to the community.

Deputies Brian Torsney, Greg Pruyne, Jeff Bishop - along with Deputy Richard Hammack, who died in a 1992 gun battle with a drug dealer - also were honored this month by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs.

``It's something that I think means a lot to deputy sheriffs, being recognized for doing the things they do on a daily basis,'' said Torsney, who was honored for disarming a suicidal teenager who had been holding a gun to his head.

The local recognition ceremony took place Friday in Assemblywoman Sharon Runner's Lancaster office.

Pruyne and Bishop, who work at the Mira Loma detention facility in Lancaster, were honored for helping the families of New York law enforcement and firefighters immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Pruyne and Bishop flew to New York days after the attacks, and later raised money to help the families.

``We attended funeral processions and, at that time, there were 13 or 14 a day,'' Pruyne said. ``Some of those guys were just exhausted, emotionally drained, so we stood in for them. They were kind of surprised that we, being from Los Angeles, were out there supporting them.''

At the end of March, the pair will return to New York to deliver the last of the money collected.

Torsney, a 23-year veteran, was honored for his actions in 1992 when he grabbed a gun from the hand of an 18-year-old threatening to kill himself.

Let into the house by the teen's father, Torsney and another deputy found the youth sitting on his bedroom floor with a cocked revolver pressed to his forehead.

Torsney talked to the teen to get him to relax, inching closer all the time. When he was within arm's reach, Torsney asked whether he could kneel down, reached forward as if to move an object on the floor, then grabbed the revolver, placing his thumb between the hammer and the firing pin so it couldn't go off.

The teen has recovered from depression and is an officer in the National Guard, now flying an F-16 fighter.

``That was the most intense thing I had dealt with up to that point,'' Torsney said.

Hammack was shot to death after he and other deputies smashed open the door to a Palmdale mobile home to serve a search warrant for methamphetamine.

As a woman attacked one deputy, Hammack ran after a man into a bedroom and was shot in the chest with a .22-caliber rifle. Wounded, Hammack backed out, but went back inside the room firing his pistol and was shot four more times. Hammack and another deputy shot the drug suspect to death. Hammack died from his wounds.

Palmdale named its youth activity center for Hammack and his award will be displayed there.

``We're going to hang this in the activity center so people can see what Rich meant to us and the community,'' said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford, who accepted the award for Hammack.

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Honored for bravery and service, from left, are sheriff's Deputies Brian Torsney, Greg Pruyne and Jeff Bishop. Richard Hammack, killed in a 1992 gun battle, was also lauded.

Greg Botonis/Daily News