Many of the regular readers will be familiar with the story of Officer Kristina Ripatti from the LAPD. She was shot while trying to apprehend a robbery suspect and paralyzed from the waist down.
The fateful night on Leighton and LaSalle avenues turned Ripatti, Pearce and her partner, Officer Joe Meyer, into household names for many.
After Ripatti chased down James Fenton McNeal, a 52-year-old convicted murderer who’d just held up a gas station, the man had whirled and shot her in the torso and twice through her arm. Pistol aimed at her head, he prepared for the kill.
Before McNeal could get off the fatal round, Meyer dashed up, drew down and blew him away. Four shots ripped through McNeal, ending his criminal career permanently. Then the big cop dropped to his knees, cradled his stricken partner and proceeded to save her life by blocking the flow of blood from her wounds.
People around the world anxiously monitored Ripatti’s struggle for life in the hospital. She emerged to a sea of blue as cops lined up to pay tribute.
But the reason for this post is this great story about Kristina walking again, with the help of some leg braces, but she walked:
From the story:
After a five-kilometer run along the beach, Southwest Division approached the finish line. Ripatti was still on point, rolling hard, Pearce just behind her.
"For Kris!" the cops chanted, the rhythm of the cadence propelling them forward. "For Tim!"
And, with all this progress, they pulled up short in unison. Ripatti slipped out of her wheelchair and onto a padded mat. At her side was Taylor-Kevin Isaacs, her enigmatic, brilliant fitness guru. He had a huge surprise in store.
As the cops milled around, Isaacs and Pearce strapped Ripatti into a sturdy set of leg braces. The thick exoskeleton looked like something out of a Batman movie, its silvery frame enveloping her legs and ending at the tips of her toes.
Secured to the braces and a pad across her back, Ripatti struggled to her feet. Gripping the handles of a walker, she steadied herself. The cops stood silently, watching.
And then one began to clap. Then another. Then another. Soon, they were all applauding as she moved her black tennis shoe tentatively forward. Then the other, again and again.
Ripatti, paralyzed from the chest down, was walking.
A great story and great testament to never giving up, keep on fighting Kristina!
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- LAPD Officer Shot
- LAPD Officer In Need
- The Story of LAPD Officer Ripatti
- Extreme Makeover Helping A Downed Officer
- Honoring Heroes
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