STORIES
If you have a moment, check out some of our most personal stories about life beyond the typical press releases and tweets. Through these stories, hopefully you get a glimpse about the people "behind the badge".
Featured
If you have a moment, check out some of our most personal stories about life beyond the typical press releases and tweets. Through these stories, hopefully you get a glimpse about the people "behind the badge".
Sgt. Leonard R. Luna Jr., a ten-year member of the Hawthorne Police Department, and one of my best friends, had already died by the time I finished my code 3 run to the hospital.
2013 would prove to be a landmark year for the Community Affairs Unit of the Hawthorne Police Department. The year started with a fresh approach to integrating HPD into the community and turning “US” and “Them” into “We”.
Leslie Zepeda died the day after Christmas. She had no time for a final hug, a final kiss, one last chance for her family to tell her how much they loved and cherished her. Scared, confused, in pain, she only had time to say, “It hurts.” And then she died. Leslie was 11 years old. Nobody should die like that when they are 11 years old.
The last photograph ever taken of Officer Andrew Garton was snapped only minutes before his death. It shows Andrew riding his motor, pointing off into the distance as he did a job he clearly relished, working with the fellow officers he considered his brothers.
When I met Duvi she was 15, two of her sisters, Cecilia and Ana were graduating from the South Bay Regional Law Enforcement Explorer Academy. She followed in their footsteps and graduated, also. I remember teasing her because when she was in uniform she wouldn’t smile, she always said it didn’t look professional.
When those kids are my age, what will they be like in 2052? Will they fly hover cars and use laser beams? It’s possible, that’s one thing I know for sure, cause if you would have told a 24-year-old me what kind of technology and equipment the 54-year-old me is using, I never would have believed you.
I've seen much of death over the years, but this one stuck with me. Maybe because I'm a father, maybe because my own children mean more to me than life itself, maybe because as I breathed for that child I couldn't help but see in my mind's eye the faces of my own son and daughter.
I've done a poor job of assembling my group of friends. I hang out with about 30 journalists, 15 comedy writers and a few lawyers. It's as if the only lesson I took away from all those heist movies and A-Team episodes was that when times are dire and the authorities won't help, you need buddies to make libel-free parodies.