Sep 18, 2008 9:58 am US/Pacific
LAPD Mourns Officer Killed In Metrolink Crash
LOS ANGELES
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LAPD Officer Spree Desha, 35, was one of 25 people killed during the Metrolink crash and derailment in Chatsworth.
CBS
Officer Spree DeSha was remembered Thursday as a tough and compassionate member of the Los Angeles Police Department who wanted to be in law enforcement from the time she was a child.
DeSha was among the 25 people killed in Friday's Metrolink crash near Chatsworth. DeSha, 35, was in the forward passenger car of Metrolink Train 111 when it slammed head-on into a Union Pacific freight train, sending the locomotive through the crowded passenger car. In addition to the 25 people who died, 135 were injured.
"Spree was and always will be a police officer. This became the essence of her being. It was not an occupation or a job -- it was a passion," Deputy Chief Jim McDonnell told the hundreds of uniformed officers and city leaders at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
DeSha was a seven-year department veteran who had only recently transferred to a position at Parker Center. She was preparing to take the exam to become a sergeant in the department.
DeSha's girlfriend, fellow LAPD Officer Laura Gerritsen, called their relationship the "best six years of my life."
"She was a giver who never once stopped to think about what she might need. She held nothing back when it came to showing how much she cared," Gerritsen said.
Services for DeSha got under way with a procession through downtown Los Angeles, beginning at the LAPD's Parker Center headquarters with a riderless horse configuration that traveled along Temple Street to the cathedral.
During the service, friends and family described DeSha as thoughtful and compassionate. Several years ago she shaved her waist-length hair for wigs for cancer patients, and she was known for her ability to speak with children who had been abused and molested.
But she was also tough, according to Officer Wesley Lin, who was DeSha's partner in Wilshire Division.
"She was a great partner. She was articulate, passionate, funny, intelligent. She always put in an honest day's work," Lynn said.
"Most importantly, when push came to shove, Spree was always ready for a good fight."
As a child, Spree watched "Miami Vice" and made her younger sister Mariah act as her rookie partner, her parents said.
"She had a plastic toy pistol as a child. Spree told us many years later that she would hide it in her pants when she accompanied us to the grocery store, skulking around the aisles she would stalk other shoppers," her parents, Allan and Sha Moran, wrote in a letter that was read on their behalf.
On Monday, Desha's parents and girlfriend attended roll call at the department's North Hollywood station and paid tribute to her.
"She was very loving and giving, and she gave her life for the city of Los Angeles and for the citizens of Los Angeles, and I know she gave her life willingly and loved everybody here," said Sha Moran.
"And she would have given her life for her brothers and sisters of the Los Angeles Police Department in one minute. She didn't mind a bit to give herself," she said.
Following the funeral service, Shea received a 21-gun salute.
Helicopters flew over the cathedral in a missing man formation and doves were released.
"The loss of a police officer touches a particular nerve down deep in our soul and it hurts," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
SLIDESHOW: Metrolink Crash
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