28th Name Is Added to Peace Officers Memorial

Tears mingled with smiles Tuesday morning as the 28th name was added to a memorial honoring fallen peace officers.

Dozens of family members, friends and fellow officers gathered at the Ventura County Peace Officers Memorial to honor Senior Deputy Lisa Whitney, remembering her as a popular, award-winning officer.

Whitney was killed in a traffic accident last year when a pickup truck plowed into her unmarked sheriff’s car.

Standing at a podium in front of the 7-foot-tall concrete block onto which Whitney’s name was freshly carved, the Rev. David Laughray said he had the honor of marrying Whitney to Oxnard Police Sgt. Scott Whitney in 1993.

“I read recently there is a shortage of heroes,” Laughray said. “But that’s not true for us. . . . Today we salute a hero. God knows there is no hero shortage here.”

In her eight years with the department, Whitney, 28, already had an impressive list of accomplishments. She was an avid equestrian who joined the Mounted Enforcement Unit, eventually becoming a mounted patrol instructor. In 1996 she was named officer of the year. Just three weeks before her death she was promoted to investigator, assigned to the department’s major crimes unit handling sexual assaults.

Although a new investigator, she was dedicated to the job, colleagues said. She was on her way to interview a witness to wrap up a rape case when a truck slammed into the side of her car as she crossed the intersection of Telephone and Hill roads.

A transformer explosion had knocked out power to the traffic signals.

The truck’s driver, Tanya Dawn Pittman, 36, of Ventura, was charged with vehicular manslaughter. Authorities say Pittman was speeding and failed to stop at the broken signal. A blood sample taken from Pittman later that day showed she had methamphetamines in her system, police said. She is scheduled to appear in court Thursday for a preliminary hearing.

Sheriff Bob Brooks said he still remembers when he got the call on Whitney’s accident.

“Sometimes you get that call, and you don’t really know the officer that well,” Brooks said. “But this wasn’t the case. I considered her a friend, everybody’s little sister. . . . It was quite a terrible time, everybody was so devastated.”

Compounding the tragedy, Brooks said, was the loss of Deputy Peter Aguirre, who was fatally shot two years earlier.

From the podium, Brooks said Tuesday’s ceremony was meant to honor Whitney’s life, as well as the lives of all officers killed in the line of duty. The ceremony was held in recognition of National Police Week, a tribute to slain officers each May.

“They will always be missed, but they will never be forgotten,” said Brooks, who along with Whitney’s family went to Washington, D.C., last week for a national ceremony honoring fallen officers.

Seated in the front row was Jan Bryant, Whitney’s mother, who lifted a tear-stained face to the sky as two sheriff’s helicopters flew overhead.

Afterward, Bryant said her daughter would have been proud and humbled by the poignant ceremony.

“She’d probably say something like, ‘All this for me?’ ”

Sgt. Scott Whitney, Lisa Whitney’s husband, said it was hard to describe his feelings after seeing his wife’s name carved into the stone. But somewhere among the mix of emotions, Whitney said he too felt proud.

“Everyone here, they’re honoring her work, her life, what she did,” Whitney said. “She worked really hard.”

Whitney plans another celebration of his wife’s life today at his home in Oxnard, where friends and family will gather to remember what would have been Lisa’s 29th birthday.