“The Los Angeles Police Department officer who was killed during a training exercise, in what officials called a "tragic accident," was allegedly targeted for investigating a gang rape by fellow officers, according to his family.
LAPD officer Houston Tipping's mother has filed a wrongful death claim against the city. Lawyer Bradley Gage told NPR that the 32-year-old was deliberately assaulted after submitting reports concerning a female victim who claims she was raped by four LAPD officers, including one who was part of the training during which Tipping was killed.
"They used that training as a cover to kill him in retaliation for his whistleblowing activity," Gage said.
The department did not respond to NPR's request for comment regarding Gage's claims about the incident or the alleged sexual assault.
Gage disputes the official account, arguing that Tipping was beaten by several officers who "repeatedly struck [him] in the head and body severely enough that he bled, required stitches, suffered a lacerated liver and three broken ribs." He said UCLA medical experts who have reviewed Tipping's autopsy report concluded that the officer's injuries do not square with the department's version of events.
"If it happened the way they say it happened, how did he end up with six staples in his head and a lacerated liver?" Gage asked.”
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/08/1127580159/houston-tipping-lapd-death-lawsuit
