Families of fallen LAPD officers past, present attend memorial ceremony
Families of fallen Los Angeles Police Department officers — some who died recently, others decades ago — gathered on Wednesday, May 3 to remember their loved ones.
“I recognize that these ceremonies are bittersweet,” said LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
The chief was speaking from behind a podium in the shade of a tent erected in the front courtyard of LAPD’s headquarters downtown. Before him were about 100 family members, L.A. city councilmembers and other public officials. Behind them sat rows of LAPD officers in full uniform.
Off to Moore’s side, one after another, officers marched to the front of the ceremony to give a brisk salute to the audience. Nearby, four mounted LAPD officers sat silently on their horses.
A fifth horse had no rider: A saber rested on its saddle and empty boots pointed backwards in its spurs served as a symbolic representation of the hundreds of officers LAPD has lost in its 137-year history.
On Wednesday, LAPD hosted the ceremony to remember all 239 officers who have died while on active duty over that time. Moore told the audience that while he hoped the memorial would remind the officers’ families they had the department’s support, he knew events like these also might bring back painful feelings.
“I recognize that it renews the pain,” he said, “that it amplifies yet again the loss that each of these fallen represent to you and the generations that have followed.”
The ceremony, which remembered the lost officers ahead of National Police Week later this month, highlighted what has been a deadly period for LAPD officers.
Moore said during his tenure, 12 officers have died in the line of duty. Most of those deaths came as COVID-19 swept through the department, sickening thousands of officers.
The coronavirus killed six LAPD officers in 2021, one of the deadliest years in decades for LAPD. The last time that many active duty LAPD officers died in one year was 1983. In total, since the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19 has killed nine officers.
Other officers fell to violence, both on the street and inside LAPD itself.
Among those honored Wednesday was Juan Diaz, a rookie who in 2019 was shot to death while off-duty in Lincoln Heights.
At the time, LAPD said Diaz got into an argument with a man he saw man tagging a wall. As Diaz was driving away from a taco stand, the man returned and shot him to death.
Family members of Officer Houston Tipping also attended Wednesday. Tipping died in a training accident in 2022 — LAPD said he was grappling with another officer when they fell, crushing Tipping’s spine.
Tipping’s mother disputed that account and sued the department. Her attorney alleged the officer who grabbed Tipping was the subject of a complaint Tipping reported to the department.
It’s not clear if any other members of Tipping’s family have sued the department over his death.
After a presentation of the names of photos of every fallen officer, family members walked to a memorial wall to place flowers on placards bearing their loved ones’ names.
Overhead, four LAPD helicopters flew in formation. Three rifle volleys were fired in salute to the fallen officers. And nearby, a newly formed LAPD choir sang.