GOING BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY; WOUNDED OFFICER RECEIVES VALOR MEDAL FOR SUSPECT CHASE.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Staff Writer

Despite being shot in the jaw during a drive-by shooting, San Fernando Police Officer Marshall Mack chased four suspected gang members until they crashed and were arrested, police officials say.

For this, the 35-year-old was awarded the San Fernando Police Department's Medal of Valor on Wednesday. The award has been given to only two other officers in the 10 years it has been offered.

``This is the highest award we give to our employees,'' said San Fernando Police Chief Dominick Rivetti. ``Officer Marshall Mack went above and beyond the call of duty on the night of March 17, 1998, and truly performed a feat of heroism and bravery in the finest tradition of our profession.''

Mack was on his way to work at 8 p.m., when four men suspected of being gang members who stole a van in North Hollywood cruised the 400 block of Huntington Street. Two of them got out of the van and fatally shot Saul De Santiago, 17, a Sylmar High School student, police said.

The four suspects, three of them now on trial for murder, drove off after the shooting, going south on Huntington Street where Mack was talking to a neighbor, officials said.

Mack heard the gunfire half a block away. He hurried to get the license plate off the suspect's vehicle, but got caught in gunfire himself.

``They were shooting at the side of my Forerunner and at me. Next thing I knew I'm all wound up in this thing, going 90 miles per hour after them,'' Mack said Wednesday.

After the suspects crashed into a parked car, they led the police Mack alerted by radio on a brief foot chase before they were arrested and found to be carrying four guns.

Mack was treated and released at a hospital that night.

All four suspects, including one juvenile, were charged with murder and attempted murder of a police officer, Rivetti said.

One of the guns was traced back to an attempted murder in which a victim was shot 11 times two weeks before, police said.

``Without his efforts and willingness to sacrifice his personal safety, four cold-blooded murderers would still be free, continuing to commit their violence on our society,'' Rivetti said of Mack.

The award was handed to Mack during the San Fernando Police Advisory Council Officers of the Quarter luncheon at The Odyssey restaurant in Granada Hills.

Among the officials attending the luncheon was Michael Bostic, LAPD commanding officer, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca.

``He is one of the most courageous officers . . . In the face of that injury, he continued to do his duty. I commend him for his clarity of actions and thought,'' Baca said.

Mack praised the 100 Los Angeles police officers who came to back him up.

``I didn't expect this. I radioed for the LAPD - who came right away,'' he said. ``It was an army and that's what we needed. If they weren't there, there would be no way we'd have enough guys to set up a perimeter.''

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Photo: Officer Marshall Mack was cited for performing ``a feat of heroism and bravery in the finest tradition'' of the police profession.

Evan Yee/Daily News