The series of photos below, by Cary Anderson, provides a closer view of last Friday morning’s funeral for Culver City police Lt. Curt Massey at Our Lady of Angels Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles. In Police Chief Don Pedersen’s tribute during the funeral Mass, he made two resonating points: that after reviewing the 17-year officer’s record, he was deemed worthy of a promotion from sergeant to lieutenant, and that “many” fellow officers believe Lt. Massey was destined to be the Police Chief someday. Lt. Massey was not just a person who was belatedly elevated to hero status because he had been killed in the line of duty, several speakers said. In life, he really was a hero who performed every task with passion and energy.
[img]334|exact|||no_popup[/img]
[img]335|exact|||no_popup[/img]
[img]336|exact|||no_popup[/img]
[img]337|exact|||no_popup[/img]
[img]338|exact|||no_popup[/img]
[img]339|exact|||no_popup[/img]
[img]340|exact|||no_popup[/img]
Lt. Massey may have been the most zealous of Chief Pedersen’s officers, friends said. Among the encomiums that streamed in was this one by a longtime colleague: “Curt marched to his own drummer, but I hasten to add that was in a positive way. His response to (combating) crime was a model for others. He lived to genuinely help at-risk youths. But then he ‘lived’ for so many causes. Curt was truly one of the good guys in our department. He never got involved in any of the nonsense that seems to go on regularly. He just did his job.”
In the photo with Cardinal Mahoney, John Davis, Lt. Massey’s stepfather, who delivered an extraordinary eulogy, is at the right forefront.
