Sheriff Robert Luna called for a moment of silence Wednesday at the start of the 56th annual L.A. County Peace Officers Memorial Run after what he described as a heartbreaking five days for his department, which included three former or active deputy deaths.
The gathering honored the lives of the 550 in the L.A. County law enforcement community who have given their lives in the line of duty, according to a figure given by event emcee and KFI host Steve Gregory.
The somber ceremony marked the conclusion of an annual 313-mile run, which was started by Sheriff Peter Pitchess in 1970, and involves a memorial torch relay by deputies and officers throughout the county.
Luna was referring to the deaths of Deputy Hernandez Rodriguez; retired Chief William “Bill” McSweeney; Ava Rodriguez, the daughter of Sgt. Caroline Rodriguez; and Deputy Daniel Chavira.
Chavira’s death hit particularly close to home for many in the Santa Clarita Valley. Departmental sources indicated the 21-year-old had just finished a 16-hour shift at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic and fell asleep on his drive home along San Francisquito Canyon Road. He sustained injuries in a three-vehicle collision and died after being airlifted to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital.
Chavira had family members who worked for the Sheriff’s Department in the Antelope Valley, and he was scheduled to be transferred to the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station within days, according to a statement from the department.
This year, the Memorial Torch Relay also specifically honored three others in the law enforcement community, including Deputy Alfredo “Freddy” Flores, who died in April 2024 from injuries he sustained during a fire at a mobile gun range at Pitchess Detention Center on Oct. 10, 2023.
The honorees recognized at the memorial wall on Wednesday also included: El Monte Police Officer Terry DeWitt Long, who was shot in the line of duty in 1970 and died decades later from complications of those injuries; and Officer Raymond L. Messer, a Lancaster corrections officer who was stabbed to death during a cell inspection in 1951.
Family members of Flores, who laid roses at a memorial for him during a particularly emotional part of the ceremony, also announced a lawsuit earlier this week against the department and the mobile gun range.
The lawsuit alleges that the death of Flores, a 22-year veteran of the LASD, was caused by departmental negligence in the care and condition of the trailer. He succumbed to his injuries after nearly a six-month battle with severe burns over his head, face, arms, back and both hands.
