Los Angeles Police Officer Kristina Ripatti is paralyzed from the chest down after being shot by a robbery suspect Saturday night in South Los Angeles.
Ripatti remains hospitalized after surgery at California Hospital Medical Center, and although doctors have said she could recover some movement, she is unlikely to walk again, LAPD officials said Friday.
"We are holding out hope. But there are permanent effects," said Lt. Paul Vernon, LAPD spokesman.
Ripatti, 33, was shot twice by a 52-year-old ex-convict, James Fenton McNeal, who had allegedly robbed a gas station before confronting her. An instant after McNeal shot Ripatti, Ripatti's partner shot and killed McNeal.
Ripatti is a 10-year veteran of the LAPD and the mother of a 15-month-old girl. Peers call her one of the Southwest Division's highest-performing officers, admired by colleagues for her acumen, drive and superb physical fitness. Tall and lithe, Ripatti is married to another member of the department, Southeast Division gang officer Tim Pearce.
Pearce was on patrol Saturday night in Watts when the radio call of "officer down" was broadcast over police frequencies. He sped to the scene and arrived about 15 minutes after his wife was shot, Vernon said. She was bleeding on the ground and being treated by other officers when he got there, Vernon said.
Officers at the scene reported that members of a neighborhood gang stood by taunting them as they tried to help the wounded Ripatti, said LAPD Capt. James Craig, head of the Southwest Division, who arrived after Ripatti had been taken by ambulance to California Hospital.
Such confrontations, pitting groups of onlookers against police officers and even paramedics, have occurred after other shootings in South L.A. But the events Craig described were especially disquieting, with officers attempting to treat the critically wounded Ripatti while dealing with a threatening crowd.
Officers also tried to treat McNeal for his injuries, Vernon said, but he had no vital signs and died at the scene.
Vernon sought to dispel rumors that officers handcuffed McNeal and threw him off the porch where the shooting occurred. They handcuffed him, as they are taught to do, because wounded suspects have been known to abruptly revive and attack again, but they did not throw him, Vernon said.
McNeal had a 33-page rap sheet that includes a conviction for a second-degree murder in 1973 and a robbery in Inglewood five years later, followed by other prison sentences and robberies, Vernon said.
