BID Ambassador Steve Rhodes spends most days patrolling Westchester Town Center on his bicycle, providing a comforting environment, assisting shoppers and giving directions to those who are lost. But on March 9, Rhodes took on a new role as the guardian angel to Peggy Bierke.
On her way to a dental appointment, the elderly Playa del Rey resident apparently passed-out, slumped over the steering wheel of her Buick Skylark in the Bank of America parking lot.
By the time Rhodes rode up to investigate, the noonday sun had made the car a sweltering box, and Bierke was having trouble breathing.
“All the doors and windows were closed, so I began to rap on the window, but she didn’t move at all,” Rhodes said. “At first, I thought she was dead, but then I saw her taking some very shallow and labored breaths, and I knew we had to get her out of there.”
Rhodes and the bank’s security guard scrambled to call 9-1-1 and open the doors and windows to ventilate the car.
Following instructions from the 9-1-1 operator, he moved her into a reclining position and tried to cool her off as paramedics arrived. Bierke, still unconscious, was taken to the hospital, where she spent four days in the Intensive Care Unit until being released. She continues to recover at home.
“He was my guardian angel,” Bierke said later. “I’m so appreciative of Steve coming along and helping me.”
Paramedics said Bierke certainly could have died had she remained in the steaming car much longer, but after a long battery of tests, doctors are still not quite sure what caused her to black out in the first place.
“I’ve had MRIs and all kinds of tests,” Bierke said. “They’ve changed my medication, but they’re not sure what it is. I had just passed the fire station driving down Westchester Parkway when I started to see double lines on the road. I thought, “I’ll see if I can just get to the dentist.’ I parked the car, and that’s the last thing I remember before I woke up in the hospital.”
“I was just doing my job,” said the modest Rhodes. “I’m just glad she’s OK.”
Don Duckworth, Executive Director of the Westchester Town Center BID, said, “Situations like this are exactly why having an ambassador program is important.”

BID Ambassador Steve Rhodes

Karen Dial, President of the BID and H.B. Drollinger Co., championed the program, which began last summer to provide an added level of safety and to help customers feel more comfortable when shopping in the area, and Duckworth said, “The incident with Peggy Bierke underscores the wisdom of her guidance for a bicycle ambassador.”
“It means that there is another set of eyes watching our business district,” he said. “Steve is looking out for situations like this as well as other potential issues such as maintenance needs and lost shoppers – anything our ambassador can do to help. We want him to take the initiative and do just that.”
The BID contracts with City National Security Services to provide the ambassador for the area, and City National’s Chief Operating Officer Cedric Sutherland said he is proud of the actions Rhodes took that day.
“He was quick-thinking and did everything he was supposed to do,” Sutherland said. “We were very happy to recognize him right after the incident and hold him up as a model for our other employees to emulate. He did an outstanding job.”
As for Bierke, she said having an ambassador in the area is “very important, not just because of what happened, but because it makes everything just a little safer for all of us.”
The 39-year Playa del Rey resident added that she’s looking forward to reuniting with Rhodes once she’s feeling better.
“I feel like I’ve had nine lives and cheated death a lot,” she said. “I’ve had a heart attack, a stroke, and now this. Thanks to Steve, I guess it just wasn’t my time to go. I’m looking forward to thanking him personally.”