LAPD deems officer's death a ‘tragic accident’ amid new accusations Transcript

Speaker 1: (00:00) Bombshell allegations tonight, was an LAPD officer who died during a training exercise targeted by other officers? The department says his death was an accident, his family says it was something more sinister. Eyewitness News reporter Jory Rand live in downtown with more on the investigation into that officer's death, Jory? Speaker 2: (00:18) Mark, the lawyer for the family of late Officer Houston Tipping, making some explosive allegations saying Tipping was killed because he was investigating an alleged rape by four of his fellow LAPD officers. The LAPD understandably has a much different explanation on exactly what happened. And we do want to let you know in our story there is video of Officer Tipping in training that is not video from the incident in which it led to his death. Exactly how LAPD Officer Houston Tipping died depends on whom you believe. Tipping was killed after suffering injuries during a training exercise earlier this year. Today, the LAPD reported the findings of an internal investigation into Tipping's death to the LA Police Commission and said it was simply a tragic accident. Speaker 3: (01:04) Officer tipping then lifted the student officer from the ground and the student officer's arm went around Officer Tipping's neck, wrapping towards the front of Officer Tipping's chest and throat. As the two fell to the floor, Officer Tipping's neck remained in that grasp. Speaker 4: (01:20) The impact on the ground with the arm of the officer in that position around the backside of Officer Tipping's neck, in that instance is where the fracture occurred. Speaker 2: (01:30) But the lawyer representing Tipping's mother alleges a conspiracy. Speaker 5: (01:34) I think murder is what occurred. I'm accusing these officers of using intentional force, which then resulted in a tragedy. Speaker 2: (01:42) Brad Gage says Tipping not only didn't have proper protection during the training. He says he doesn't believe the LAPD's story, that there were no cameras rolling and says Tipping's extensive injuries are not explained by the coroner's report. But on top of that, Gage says Tipping was investigating four of his fellow LAPD officers of an alleged July, 2021 gang rape and that one of those four officers accused was the one involved in his death. Speaker 5: (02:08) I'm certainly alleging that at least one officer engaged in a use of force in order to try and scare or harm Officer Tipping in order to prevent him from further investigating a claim of rape. And I'm not convinced that that officer really meant to kill Houston. I think he was probably hoping to scare and it just got out of hand. Speaker 2: (02:32) Gage says he wants a criminal complaint filed, and if that does not happen by the LA County District Attorney George Gascón in 45 days, he says he will then sue. At which point he can take depositions, request more information, and he says "From that point we'll see where it goes." Speaker 1: (02:49) Hello, I'm Mark Brown. Get more great ABC7 content by clicking the subscribe button for our YouTube channel and download the ABC7 Los Angeles streaming app on FireTV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku to watch on your tv.