Lawyer representing the family of a police officer who died during training said he was attacked because he was about to report a sexual assault by fellow officers, as published by The US Sun.
Houston Tipping, 32, suffered a fatal spinal cord injury after falling while holding another officer during a gripping exercise May 26 at the Los Angeles Police Academy.
Brad Gage, a lawyer hired by the victim’s mother, Shirley Huffman, stated that Tipping was investigating a sexual assault case that occurred 10 months before his death.
“We have uncovered evidence that Houston Tipping may have been injured and later died as a result of retaliation against a whistleblower,” the attorney said at a news conference Monday.
Gage said Tipping wrote a report of the assault, which allegedly involved four officers raping a woman.
The attorney claimed that one of the officers under investigation was present when Tipping suffered the horrific injury.
In a wrongful death lawsuit, Huffman claimed that Tipping was “repeatedly hit in the head hard enough to bleed” during training that led to his death.
An autopsy ruled the death accidental and found that Tipping also suffered rib fractures that suggested the use of a CPR machine called a LUCAS device.
However, according to Gage, “other medical reports show that the LUCAS device was never used.”
The lawyer also raised questions about the lack of footage from the day of the alleged accident.
“LAPD claims no video was taken of the training on this day. We don’t think that’s accurate,” he added.
Tipping was a five-year LAPD veteran.
Gage said he found a report of the alleged sexual assault, which he says involved four officers raping a woman in the Los Angeles area.
However, he did not share the report.
Gage said: “Officer Tipping made a report and I have seen it, where he reported the case that there was a sexual assault and indicates that an object was placed in the sexual organ of the female victim.”
The lawyer added:
“I think the officers were very brazen and thought they were above the law, but no one is above the law. “I am sure that these actions are being covered up. The idea of a code of silence or a cover-up by a police department shouldn’t be shocking or surprising to anyone.”
LAPD has denied the allegations and said officers performed CPR to try to save Tipping’s life immediately after the fall.