Always on the clock

Sgt. Jeff Van Es was waiting his turn at a stop sign at the intersection of Pomona Avenue and 18th Street in Costa Mesa on the way to church when he first heard the “pop, pop” of gunshots.

“Did you hear that?” Van Es asked the car’s driver, retired helicopter pilot John Susman. As he rolled down the window to check, several more shots rang out, this time clearly through the air.

Moments later, the two noticed several young men running on 18th Street and then jumping into a blue Toyota Camry. Although off duty from his job as a pilot police officer with the Airborne Law Enforcement Unit at John Wayne Airport, Van Es dialed 911, reported the situation and the two followed the suspects, intending only to stay with the lone officer who met up with them until backup arrived.

But they ended up assisting Costa Mesa Officer Frank Christian in arresting the group when the vehicle pulled over and it appeared that the suspects would flee. Inside the car, they found the passengers armed with baseball bats, knives and other “makeshift weapons,” police said.

In recognition of their work, Van Es, Susman, Christian, Park Ranger Matt Pallo and Gang Officers Scott Stafford and Robert Hanson were honored at Tuesday night’s City Council Meeting with the Costa Mesa Mayor’s Award for their arrest of eight known gang members that April night.

“It was everybody working together and doing their part of the job,” Van Es said. “The end result is [multiple] gang members were taken off the street and now that part of town will be safer.”

After interviewing the group, police determined that the seven suspects in the car approached a rival gang member and got into a fight, police said. The rival, a 17-year-old who was later arrested at his Newport Beach home, pulled out a handgun and fired several shots at the group approaching him, police said.

No one was harmed in the shooting.

Six of the suspects arrested were minors and none of them were charged as adults, the Orange County District Attorney’s office said.

The two adults arrested at the scene — Deyvis Ramirez, 19, of Costa Mesa, and Michael Seward, 18, of San Clemente — have been charged with one count of felony possession of a deadly weapon and one count of felony street terrorism, with an enhancement for criminal street-gang activity, said District Attorney’s spokeswoman Farrah Emami.

Both are scheduled to appear in court today for pretrial hearings at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.

“It’s not like we’re off doing some Rambo thing, catching crooks,” said Van Es, who has flown with the A.B.L.E. unit for the past 14 years and been an officer for the past 18. “But when you see something happening in front of you, you can’t ignore it just because you’re off the clock.

“You’re always a policeman.”

After all they went through, Van Es and Susman still managed to make it to church with 10 minutes to spare.