Colleagues and friends gathered at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills on Wednesday to bid farewell to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Houston Ryan Tipping, who died after suffering a spinal cord injury during a training accident at the agency’s Elysian Park academy.
Tipping’s father fought back tears as he paid tribute to his son, publicly professing “how much I love my son, how proud I am of him.’â€
“My son Houston was naturally kind,†he said. “He genuinely cared about people. He had the perfect character to be an LAPD officer.â€
According to LAPD Chief Michel Moore, Tipping was “an officer who held such promise for this city.â€
Tipping, 32, died May 29. He is survived by his parents, Richard and Shirley; his stepfather, Bob; his siblings Kat and Tyler; and his girlfriend, Brittany.
The five-year department veteran worked out of the LAPD’s Devonshire Division.
City News Service contributed to this story.
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