LAPD officer Houston Tipping who died during police training was targeted because he was investigating fellow cops for an alleged gang rape, his lawyer has claimed.
The 32-year-old suffered a fatal spinal cord injury after he fell down while holding another officer in a ‘bear hug’ grappling exercise on May 26 at the Police Academy in what a coroner ruled was an accident.
But Brad Gage, the attorney for Tipping’s mother Shirley Huffman, has made the bombshell claims that the officer was a whistleblower in an assault case that involved four other officers 10 months before his death.
Tipping wrote a report on the alleged assault and one of the cops said to be involved was present when he died, Gage said.
The department said at the time that Tipping, a five year veteran of the LAPD who also served as a bike instructor in the City of Angels, was injured while ‘grappling’ with another officer and referred to his death as a ‘horrible accident.’
But in her lawsuit, Huffman alleges he was ‘repeatedly struck in the head severely enough that he bled’ during the training activity.
An autopsy found Tipping suffered broken ribs that suggested the use of a LUCAS device, an automatic CPR machine, suggesting there were attempts to revive him.
Bu Gage said: ‘The problem with that is other medical reports show the LUCAS device was never used.’
He has also raised questions as to why no security footage was available.
Hellbound and Down 