The crowd in the Forum Theatre rose to its feet in applause as Diane Cox accepted her commendation for bravery from Thousand Oaks Mayor Jacqui Irwin at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

"In a situation like this, nobody knows what they will do," Irwin said. "But what Diane did was truly, truly amazing. Every time I hear this story, I get choked up."

On the night of Aug. 12, 2007, Cox ran to the aid of Sandra Ruiz, who was being attacked by a man wielding a meat clever in the courtyard of the apartment complex where Cox and Ruiz lived. Lying on the ground, was Ruiz's 6-year-old son, Sev'n Molina, who died in the attack. Ruiz suffered life-threatening injuries, and Cox was struck in the face with the meat clever, Thousand Oaks Police Chief Dennis Carpenter said.

A second resident, Pratish Bhrattacharjee, was also honored for his role. He was unable to attend Tuesday's meeting.

As Carpenter recounted the details of that harrowing night, Cox stood near with her hands folded before her.

Cox answered a frantic knock at her apartment door that evening from a woman, who told her that a man was beating up a woman and child in the courtyard. No one was attempting to help them, the woman told Cox.

As she ran into the courtyard, Cox saw Sev'n lying on the ground in a pool of blood and Ruiz being attacked by a man later identified by police as Calvin Sharp.

Cox ran at the man and grabbed him from behind. She tried to pull him off Ruiz, while yelling at him to stop, Carpenter said. Sharp redirected his attack on Cox, striking her in the face. She grabbed his hand and pinned it to the ground.

Bhrattacharjee was watching television with his wife when he heard screams coming from the courtyard. It was dark and he could not see the commotion but heard the screams of a woman and a child, Carpenter said.

Bhrattacharjee's wife called 911 as he ran down to the courtyard and came upon Cox being attacked. He helped her hold Sharp's hand on the ground, which kept him from inflicting anymore injuries. After officers arrived, Bhrattacharjee tended to Cox's wound.

On Wednesday, Carpenter, a 33-year veteran of law enforcement, said it was one thing to pull someone from a burning car, but to intervene with an attacker wielding a meat clever, "something like that takes incredible courage."