‘Our Angel on Horseback’

More than 1,000 people gathered Monday at the Oxnard First Baptist Church to remember Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Lisa D. Whitney, who died last week when a pickup truck plowed into her unmarked patrol car.

One after another, Whitney’s friends and family members recalled how the 28-year-old senior deputy had recently been promoted to the department’s sex crimes unit, how two years ago she was named patrol officer of the year and how as a member of the sheriff’s Mounted Enforcement Unit she represented her department with a level of professionalism that was above reproach.

Whitney’s husband, Scott Whitney, a sergeant with the Oxnard Police Department, described his wife as an aggressive officer who loved her job. The couple met eight years ago at the police training academy. Last Friday they would have celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary.

“Lisa, I know you’re watching over us,” he said as he stood in front of his wife’s mahogany-colored casket. “My heart is filled with sorrow and I am lonely, but I will be strong for you as you have always been strong for me.”

Described as upbeat, hard-working and always ready with a smile, Lisa Whitney was also an avid equestrian. Besides belonging to the Mounted Enforcement Unit, she participated in her department’s Mounted Color Guard and was a mounted patrol instructor.

Senior Deputy Elmo Sheeran recalled how Whitney, a resident of Oxnard, was often asked by department officials to ride at high-profile events, which he referred to as “Lisa details.” Though he never discussed it with her, Sheeran said he was so impressed by Whitney that he envisioned her one day replacing him as trainer of the Mounted Enforcement Unit.

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“She was a professional in every sense of the word,” Sheeran said. “She stood out.”

And she brought the same dedication to her new assignment as a sex crimes investigator.

Scott Whitney recalled the first night in their new home a couple of weeks ago. At 2 a.m., his wife was called out to investigate a rape. He tried persuading her to stay, but she responded: “Scott, if I don’t do it, who will?”

She was on her way to an interview with a witness in that case last Wednesday when a pickup slammed into the side of her car at Telephone and Hill roads. Minutes earlier, a transformer explosion had knocked out power to the intersection’s traffic signals.

Vehicles were taking turns crossing the intersection after first stopping--as required by law--when Whitney entered the intersection and was broadsided by the truck, driven by Tanya Dawn Pittman. Authorities on Monday continued their investigation of the crash.

Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said it was just like Whitney to squeeze in an extra interview at the end of the day.

“Lisa displayed courage and valor by the way she lived,” Brooks said. “[She] will be missed, but she will never be forgotten.”

The Rev. David Laughrey recalled the day he married Lisa and Scott five years ago, and how the couple had exchanged white roses during the ceremony in hopes of honoring and linking their love unconditionally to one another. He urged the crowd to take comfort in the knowledge that “our angel on horseback continues to live.”

Hundreds of police officers stood and saluted the flag-draped casket as it was placed in a hearse. In a massive motorcade of patrol cars and motorcycles, it was whisked away for a service at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

Two dozen motorcycle officers led the procession, followed by four of Whitney’s colleagues from the mounted patrol. Sheeran led Whitney’s horse, Duke. Her boots were in the stirrups, turned backward.

The skirl of bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” was followed by a 21-gun salute and a trumpeter sounding the lonely notes of taps. Sheriff Brooks presented Scott Whitney and his mother-in-law, Jan Bryant, with American flags.

A representative from the California Highway Patrol also presented Scott with a California state flag that had once flown over the Capitol. Three helicopters roared over the cemetery, with one on either side veering away from the middle chopper, which flew in the “missing man” formation.