[Editor’s Note: Culver City flags flew at half-mast yesterday to honor the fifth anniversary of the violent freeway death of 41-year-old Police Dept. Lt. Curt Massey. Below is a story from Nov. 23, 2010, when tribute was paid to the memory of Lt. Massey.]
Re “Holding Each Other Together”
They frontloaded the tragedy-scarred drama at last night’s City Council meeting.
Two months before the second-year anniversary of Culver City police Lt. Curt Massey’s violent death at the hands of an impaired wrong-way freeway driver in the pre-dawn hours, the community’s new delegate to Congress, U.S. Rep.-elect Karen Bass (D-Culver City), announced the establishment of a memorial adjacent to the “horrific scene.”
Both the suddenness and the flagrance that stopped the young officer’s life in mid-deed have gripped Culver City ever since. His family and his colleagues say he seemed so different, so undeniably apart from the rest — long before having dedicated his purposeful life to reversing the trajectory of wayward young people. Three times Officer of the Year and also a Medal of Valor winner, he was saluted as a cop to remember.
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Lt. Curt Massey at right
Last night, a mood of impenetrable solemnity was struck when Ms. Bass said:
“In August, the state Legislature passed a resolution I authored to name the eastbound stretch of the 10 Freeway overpass at National Boulevard for Lt. Massey. By making his name a part of our city landscape, we hope to honor Lt. Massey’s lifetime of service as an indelible part of his community.”
A Portrait to Remember
A solid wall of uniformed police officers lining the rear wall of Council Chambers formed an impressive and validating backdrop during Ms. Bass’s presentation and when the mourning survivors of Lt. Massey, including his widow, Melody, his mother, Padric Davis, and his stepfather, John Davis, came forward to acknowledge the memorial.
In a way, the leadup to the ceremony that opened the Council meeting resembled a silent movie.
When family members entered Chambers, there was a series of reflexive but mute embraces exchanged with Police Chief Don Pedersen and numerous officers who served with Lt. Massey throughout his 17 years on the department. His abrupt killing at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, at the age of 41, however, still is too fresh, too raw for those on either side to manage more than elegant but wordless messages of sympathy.
Some in the crowded audience felt a momentary chill when Ms. Bass said:
“My heart goes out to Lt. Massey’s wife, Melody, and his three children, Emily, Nicholas and Christian who have endured his terrible loss with grace and dignity. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful man with all of us.”
Not Alone in Agony
No one doubted Ms. Bass intensely intended each syllable.
They remembered she herself suffered a nearly identical tragedy a little more than two years before Lt. Massey’s death.
Also without warning, Ms. Bass, divorced and single, lost her only child, Emilia Wright, when the young woman and her husband, Michael Wright, were killed in a pre-dawn 405 Freeway accident days before the 2006 election when Ms. Bass joylessly won a second term in the state Assembly.
The denouement of this unusually touching scenario should have nudged even a stone.
With understandable difficulty, Melody Massey stepped to the microphone for riveting remembrances of her husband, and she almost surmounted the emotions swimming inside of her. At the finish, as one, the audience rose. Grimly and respectfully, they ushered the family out of Chambers with an ovation.
COUNCIL NOTES — Fire Chief Chris Sellers reported the department learned last week from the Insurance Services Office that it has retained its Class 1 rating, a prestigious award both practically and symbolically. Among 44,000 fire departments nationwide, Culver City is one of but 44 to attain this rating, only one of 12 in California…Bob Howells and his wife Katherine, from the Lakeside Villas housing complex adjacent to West Los Angeles College, returning to Chambers in quest of relief from self-described “unbearable” bus noise, delivered a resolution from their homeowners association. Two months after filing their initial complaint with the City Council, the Howellses and resident Steve Mills practically begged the Council and college to reach an accord that will end bus service inside the campus. The problem, said Mr. Howells: 120 CulverCityBus trips daily, from before 7 a.m. until after 10:30 p.m. Mrs. Howells calculated 11,520 bus trips have rattled the windows of Lakeside residents since their Sept. 27 plea to Council members…
