Slain Officer Remembered by Community She Protected

Nearly a decade after Tina Kerbrat became the first female officer in Los Angeles history to die in the line of duty, she will be honored by the community she lost her life protecting.

In a ceremony Saturday morning at Sun Valley Park, city officials and community activists will honor Kerbrat by dedicating a large bronze plaque with her Los Angeles Police Department badge number and a brief inscription in English and Spanish.

More than 40 family members, including her two children and widower, are expected to attend the event.

“We’re remembering someone who gave the ultimate sacrifice to make this community better,” said John Eshbach, president of the Sun Valley Neighborhood Improvement Organization, which coordinated the memorial project. “We want to show that we appreciate that she was here protecting us.”

The organization will unveil a recently completed plaza at the park’s northeast corner. At its center will be Kerbrat’s bronze plaque.

Kerbrat was a 34-year-old rookie with the North Hollywood Division in 1991 when she was killed at Sunland Boulevard and Cantara Street, near the corner where her memorial is being placed.

It was about 12:30 a.m. on Feb. 11 when Kerbrat and her partner pulled their patrol car alongside two men drinking near the corner. One man opened fire, shooting Kerbrat in the face before either officer could get out of the car, according to police accounts. Kerbrat’s partner, Officer Earl Valladares, returned fire, killing the gunman, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, and taking the other man into custody.

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More than 4,000 mourners attended her funeral and Cardinal Roger Mahony officiated at Kerbrat’s funeral Mass at St. John Baptist de la Salle Catholic Church in Granada Hills. She was buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

At the time, Kerbrat’s son was 6 and her daughter was 3.

“It was such a shock to everybody,” said Frank Barrett, Kerbrat’s uncle. “It was an extremely difficult time for the family and it’s taken a long time to get over.”

Barrett will attend Saturday’s ceremony, as will Kerbrat’s mother, Kerbrat’s children Craig and Nicole, and her widower, Tim, a Los Angeles city firefighter.

“We’ll have about 42 to 45 family members there,” Barrett said. “We’re all saying, ‘Finally!’ This is long past due.”

Eshbach said the neighborhood organization has been working for years to get funding to erect the memorial. The plaza and memorial cost about $165,000, which was paid by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, a federally funded program started seven years ago by Mayor Richard Riordan to improve run-down neighborhoods throughout the city.

“We also had a lot of in-kind donations,” Eshbach said.

Jose Andrade, who has lived two blocks from the park for 17 years, said the memorial and plaza will be a special part of the neighborhood. “It’s so good that we give her this honor. She deserves it,” he said.

The Saturday event feature an LAPD concert band and a local mariachi group.

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Saturday’s ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at Sun Valley Park, 8133 Vineland Ave., at Vineland Avenue and Lorne Street.