Wife Chronicles Slain SWAT Officer's Life Behind and Beyond the Badge

LAPD Officer Randy Simmons died in February 2008 during a SWAT raid on a Winnetka home

By Janet Kwak and Julie Brayton

| Saturday, Aug 25, 2012 | Updated 2:40 PM PDT

Lisa Simmons says she would cry, laugh and scream while writing about the life of her husband, Officer Randy Simmons, who was killed during a SWAT raid on a Winnetka home in February 2008. She says it started as a historical record for the couple's two children and turned into a chronicle of a man who was much more than a devoted officer. Janet Kwak reports from Downtown LA for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Aug. 24, 2012.

Wife's "Inspirational" Chronicle...

Link
Embed
Email

Copy

Embed this video

Replay

Four years after Randy Simmon's death during an LAPD SWAT raid, his wife wrote a book about his life. She says it started as a historical record for the couple's two children and turned into a chronicle of a man who was much more than a devoted officer.

"I woke up at five every morning and started writing," recalls wife Lisa Simmons. "A couple times I had to start and stop, because you're reliving everything."

Those moments are shared in her new book, "41D: Man of Valor," named after Randy Simmons' police radio handle.

Lisa Simmons says she first started writing the memoir in 2010 – two years after Randy Simmons was killed during a SWAT raid of a house in Winnetka.

A devout Christian, a mentor to at risk children, and a minister to the poor, colleagues remember the slain officer as “dynamic.”

"In all my life, I've never seen anything like Randy," said LAPD Officer James Hart, Simmons’ partner for eight years. "He was such a dynamic man, and a lot of people didn't know what he was doing away from work."

Behind the badge, Lisa Simmons says there was more to man she was married to for 17 years. Stories she's now sharing for those who will never get to meet him.

"It's my life," Simmons said. "It's our life together as a family. It's inspirational."

It took two years for Lisa Simmons to complete the book about her husband. She says the journey has been therapeutic and healing for herself and her two children.