Thousands are expected to converge on downtown Los Angeles early Tuesday to honor LAPD Officer Robert J. Cottle, killed March 24 in Afghanistan while on Marine Reserve duty.
Cottle, 45, was traveling with three other Marines in the Marja region of the country, which has been the focus of an intense U.S.-led offensive against Taliban forces in recent weeks.
Their armored vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, killing Cottle and another Marine and seriously wounding the two others, said LAPD Capt. John Incontro, who oversees SWAT operations.
Here are details about the memorial:
TRAFFIC
The funeral procession will start at the new LAPD headquarters and end at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Portions of 1st Street, Broadway, Spring Street, Temple Street, Hill Street, and Grand Avenue will be closed as early as 6 a.m., according to the LAPD.
TRANSPORTATION
Metro bus service in downtown Los Angeles will be affected. A funeral procession will begin at 8:45 a.m. at the Police Administration Building, located at 100 W. 1st St., and will proceed to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 555 W. Temple St. Numerous Metro bus lines in the Civic Center area will be detoured from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., at which time bus service will return to its regular schedules. Metro bus lines affected by the detours will include: 2, 4, 10, 14, 30, 31, 37, 40, 42, 42A, 45, 48, 55, 60, 68, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81, 83, 84, 90, 91, 92, 94, 96, 302, 333, 355, 439, 445, 485, 487, 489, 714, 730, 740, 745, 770, 794 and Silver Line, according to the L.A. Department of Transportation.
Cottle, who joined the LAPD in 1990 and won a coveted SWAT position six years later, is the first active LAPD officer to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, police officials said.
A veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq, Cottle had deployed to Afghanistan in August last year and was scheduled to return home this summer. Officers recalled a friend who stood out even in the rarefied air of SWAT for the intensity he brought to the LAPD's most demanding assignment and the care he showed for other officers who had turned him into one of the unit's leaders.
