She partakes in fitness activities nearly every day, is a mother of two, and oh, did we mentioned that she has been paraplegic from the waist down for close to four years?
There’s very little that Kristina Ripatti-Pearce doesn’t do. Ripatti-Pearce is a former Los Angeles Police Department officer who is paralyzed but has just completed Race Across America, the longest transcontinental bike race in the United States, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
Paralyzed LAPD officer completes 3,000 mile race from Oceanside to Annapolis.
Kristina Ripatti-Pearce trains for the 2010 Race Across America, the longest-running cross-country bicycle race in the United States. She is a former Los Angeles police officer who was shot and paralyzed in 2006. (Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)
As was first reported by Paralysis Accident Lawyers, Ripatti-Pearce, 37, is a paraplegic ex-LAPD officer who was paralyzed from the chest down during a shoot out in 2006. Despite the odds, Ripatti-Pearce has been training in a number of sports and has dedicated her life to not being reduced to the limitations of her paralysis.
On June 21, 2010 Ripatti-Pearce finished what is considered to be one of the hardest and most endurance testing races in the world: Race Across America. As captain of her bicycle relay team, Ripatti-Pearce used a hand-propelled bicycle to travel from Oceanside to Annapolis, a trek that is 30 percent longer than the Tour de France. Each day, cyclists cover close to 500 miles, eventually passing through 14 states.
“I was riding to show anything is possible with hard work and dedication,” said Ripatti-Pearce, who, along with her husband and current LAPD officer, Tim Pearce, were asked to join the team of endurance cyclist Mark Burson.
The team consisted of Ripatti-Pearce and three able-bodied bikers, all looking to raise money for a nonprofit organization called Operation Progress. Their goal is to lower the number of violent gang-related crimes in South Los Angeles. Operation Progress was started by LAPD officers, and even though she might not be an active member of the force, Ripatti-Pearce still takes pride in the fact that she put her life on the line so others could be safe.
Our firm congratulates Ripatti-Pearce, her husband, and their team on this amazing accomplishment. We look forward to seeing what other goals she can achieve while overcoming the challenges of living with paralysis.
If you or a loved one have been involved in an accident and suffered a spinal cord injury, we urge you to contact our bilingual offices as soon as possible following the accident at 1-800-655-6585 or please click here for a free consultation with an experienced San Diego spinal cord injury attorney. We handle all cases on a contingency fee basis, which means that you owe us nothing until we recover money on your behalf.
