Gage [the victim’s family’s lawyer] 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.
The LAPD has said many of Tipping’s injuries were the result of attempts to revive him at the academy. Again, Gage claims that is untrue. He said medical records obtained by his legal team show that a LUCAS device, which works as an automatic CPR machine and that was in the training room at the time, was not turned on.
“Had they used the device, it could explain the broken ribs, but we know it was never used,” Gage said.
He added: “The LAPD also tried to claim that the broken ribs could be a cause of the perforated liver. But as I understand it, the ribs were on the opposite side of the liver.”
And regardless of the differing accounts given by the officers who were present, Gage said LAPD training guidelines state that a person is not supposed to be lifted off the ground.
“When you look at all these horrific injuries, the truth is something went seriously wrong here,” he said. “This raises a number of questions that the family would like to have answered.”
