![]() When Navarro contracted COVID-19, the couple and Navarro’s son were trapped at home. At the same time, Silva’s fiancee, Ashley Navarro, was working as a licensed vocational nurse at a local hospital, including on rotating shifts on a COVID-19 unit. She’s gotten more used to it, in part because she has seen how happy being a cop has made her little brother - amazing, she said, considering the recent challenges he’s faced.Īs the COVID-19 pandemic set in across L.A., Silva continued going to work, both in the Central Division and along skirmish lines during the protests last spring and summer. That’s why I’m here.” A tough yearĪlondra Garcia, Silva’s older sister, said that, like their parents, she had worried about her brother’s safety when he told her he was joining the LAPD. And I want to do as much as I can to contribute. They don’t put in for here,’” Silva said with a laugh. They were like, ‘Everyone gets sent here. Silva graduated from the police academy in 2019, and after a probationary period in the Rampart Division, he requested a permanent placement in the Central Division - which made him stand out. To maintain his composure, Silva recalled the melody and lyrics of one of his favorite songs: “Changes,” in which the late Tupac Shakur raps about crime, poverty, police brutality and the crack epidemic. The young men were just venting frustration and anger - which Silva could understand - in an immature way, he thought. Silva watched the protesters’ eyes and hands for threats but saw none. ![]() But his brain was working overtime, he said, trying to focus on his training while processing thoughts about the rage directed at him. Silva, who is also Black, normally patrolled some of L.A.'s most impoverished neighborhoods, but that evening, he had been given protest duty.Īs the slurs landed, Silva appeared unfazed, even calm, as a video of the encounter that later went viral shows. The demonstrators, who were Black, were protesting a grand jury decision not to charge officers in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in her home in Louisville, Ky. Los Angeles Police Officer Michael Silva stood stoically on the steps of LAPD headquarters one night last fall as several young protesters, two in horror masks, taunted him with racial slurs and flashed the middle finger in his face.
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