Friends, Colleagues Recall Officer’s Sense of Duty

Shortly after Christmas, rookie Officer Tina Kerbrat received the grim assignment of driving a murder victim’s mother back to the North Hollywood station and questioning the grief-stricken woman about her son.

The task left the 34-year-old mother of two shaken, fellow Officer Alicia Green recalled Monday as she struggled to accept Kerbrat’s own violent death hours earlier.

“She was extremely upset seeing the mother in that way,” said Green, who was one of Kerbrat’s Police Academy classmates. “She told me afterward that she didn’t think she could go through that, that she never wanted to be on that end of things, where her children are hurt.

“When I heard about what happened to Tina, that story kept flashing through my mind.”

Compassionate, with a strong sense of duty to her family and community, Kerbrat entered the Los Angeles Police Academy last April 23, only when she felt her children, Craig, 6, and Nicole, 3, were old enough, friends and colleagues said Monday.

A Los Angeles city firefighter’s wife and full-time homemaker, Kerbrat stood out in her class because she was older than the average recruit, more confident and established, her teachers and commanding officer said. Her classmates called her “‘Mom’ because she looked out for everyone,” said one of her academy colleagues.

“The typical recruit we get now is in their early- to mid-20s and still struggling with an identity,” said Capt. Dan Watson, who was Kerbrat’s commanding officer at the North Hollywood station. “Here we had an assured woman who’d experienced life considerably already.

“I admired her for what she was doing with her life,” Watson said.

The oldest child in a strict Roman Catholic family, Kerbrat seemed to put others before herself.

She helped her mother take care of her younger siblings, and she loyally cheered her father and brother as they raced cars at the Saugus Speedway, family friend and racer Kathy Simpson said.

After she met her husband, Tim, at the speedway, Kerbrat helped the young firefighter build a race car, then accompanied him to the track, as she had her father and brother.

“One thing you could always remember about Tina was a smile,” said former racer Rob Parker, who said the Kerbrats abandoned the expensive hobby out of their sense of responsibility--to raise a family and buy a home.

Kerbrat’s choice of a new career followed in the same vein. She viewed police work as “a chance to do some good, to do some public service,” Green said.

Tim Kerbrat supported her decision and watched proudly as she graduated from the academy last Oct. 5, said neighbor Chuck Hart, a frequent guest at the Kerbrat household in Sylmar.

“He was really proud, really proud. In his heart he knew she was doing the right thing,” said Hart.

At first, Hart thought Tim Kerbrat was joking when he called to break the news. “He called me at 7 o’clock this morning. I was asleep and he said, ‘Tina’s dead.’ I said, ‘Oh, come on, Tim.’ He said, ‘Tina’s dead,’ and he started crying.

“I think she really wanted a job where she could be of help not only to her family but to others also,” Hart said. “I remember her saying once she wanted to be stationed close to the neighborhood, so she could help her neighbors and people in her community.”

Early Monday, Kerbrat became the first female officer in the Los Angeles Police Department’s history to die in the line of duty.

Said Parker: “For two young children and a husband and a bunch of friends, we’d rather have her back than have her a part of history.”

Staff writers Michael Connelly and Charisse Jones contributed to this article.