Married Detectives Thwart Regency Square Car Theft, Earn Medal of Distinguished Service

 Married for three years, Tim and Shanna Berg share a passion for work both on duty and off. 

That passion, manifested in instinct, came to bear in December, at the Regency Square shopping center in Brandon, where the two Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies were off duty and shopping.

That’s when Tim Berg spotted two juveniles “loitering behind the businesses and acting suspiciously around vehicles in the parking lot, possibly casing vehicles to break into.”

As Tim Berg put it in an interview March 16: “There was no reason for them to be back there, there were no benches, nothing.”

A report of the incident was read at the March 16 Awards Recognition Ceremony at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, where the Bergs were awarded a Medal of Distinguished Service, which is handed out each quarter. (See below for additional medal honorees.)

“It’s instinct,” Tim Berg said about the actions he and his wife took during a shopping trip off duty. “It’s just something you do.”

According to the recounting, the Bergs in December drove closer to the suspects and realized one juvenile was in a vehicle, while the other appeared to be acting as a lookout. Shanna Berg called in the incident while her husband, armed with an off-duty firearm, identified himself to the juveniles as an off-duty police officer.

One suspect ran off, the other raised his shirt to reveal the handle of a firearm, which later was identified as a pellet gun. A struggle ensued, with the suspect brought to the ground and Tim Berg assisted by his wife and two civilians.

After receiving their award March 16, the Bergs downplayed the heroism.

“We took an oath in our jobs to protect property and to save life,” Tim Berg said.

Added his wife, “we were fortunate enough that everyone was safe.”

Toward that end, the Bergs said it is important for shoppers to be vigilant.

“If I can give advice, be diligent, be aware of your surroundings,” Tim Berg said. “And have your car keys in your hand so you don’t have to have your head down, looking for them, when you get to your car [in the parking lot]."

The Medal of Distinguished Service is awarded “for an extraordinary accomplishment in the service of sheriff’s office, to an employee who, in the line of duty and knowing the risk:

• "Performs an act of courage involving risk of serious injury for the purpose of saving a human life,

• "Performs an act that was necessary to effect an arrest or prevent the escape of a person who committed an act that seriously exposed any person to death or serious physical injury, or

• "Accepts a risk that would continuously expose one to grave personal danger in the course of an extended investigation."

Also receiving the Medal of Distinguished Service at the March 16 awards ceremony:

• Deputies Christopher Barfield-Craig, James Burgos and James Wofle, for attempting to save the life of a man who drove off the roadway and plunged into a retention pond. Receiving the citizen award for his response as well, Willis Mays. The incident happened in November.

• Deputies Robert Reiniger and David Trombley, for quick thinking in subduing an inmate being transported to Bloomingdale Radiology in October.