The mother of LAPD Officer Houston Tipping, who died after suffering a spinal cord injury during a training accident in May, has filed a wrongful death claim against the city.
via: New York Post
Houston Tipping, 32, died three days after an on-duty accident at the department’s Elysian Park Academy on May 26.
Tipping was acting as a bike instructor in a scenario that involved grappling with another officer, LAPD said in a statement after his death.
At some point, “Officer Tipping fell to the floor and suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury,” police said.
Tipping’s mother, Shirley Huffman, filed a notice of claim against the city on Friday, alleging wrongful death and civil rights violations, the Los Angeles Times reported. Such claims are often precede lawsuits.
Huffman’s claim alleges her son was “repeatedly struck in the head severely enough that he bled,” and that he suffered multiple breaks in his neck, causing his death, the Times reported.
Other officers had previously been injured in the exercise, bringing the training into question before Tipping died, the claim says.
LAPD declined to comment on the claim. The department is internally investigating the incident to see if “there are any changes that need to be made,” spokesman Capt. Kelly Muniz told the paper.
Tipping, a five-year department veteran, had worked as a patrol officer in the San Fernando Valley.
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