UPDATE, AUG. 2, 5:37 P.M.: Officer Daniel Ackerman, who died early Saturday after physical exercises the previous morning, will
be memorialized with full law enforcement funeral honors and in
accordance with his family's wishes, the Buena Park Police Department announced.
Public viewing will be 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary, 4471 Lincoln Ave., Cypress.
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Ackerman's funeral begins at 10 a.m. Friday at Seacoast Grace Church, 5100 Cerritos Ave., Cypress. Immediately following the church service, there will
be a funeral procession from the church to the officer's final
resting place at the Forest Lawn in Cypress.
Due to the memorial services for their fallen comrade, his department canceled a DUI checkpoint originally scheduled for Friday night in Buena Park.
ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 1, 8:54 A.M.: Buena Park Police Officer Daniel Ackerman showed signs of exhaustion while participating in a
SWAT physical fitness training exercise Friday morning.
By early Saturday morning, the 31-year-old single father was pronounced dead.
Ackerman was taken to St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton around 8:15 a.m. Friday after showing what Police Lt. Gary Worrall described as “signs of exertion.” He remained in critical condition there until his passing at 3:40 a.m. Saturday morning.
The Orange County Sheriff's Coroner is investigating the cause of death of the officer, who joined Buena Park PD as a Police Explorer in October 1995 before becoming a reserve police officer in April 2001 and a full-time cop in June 2005.
The Tustin resident is survived by his mother, sister, daughter, and extended family.
“At this time, the family is requesting no media contact,” reads a statement from Worrall. “Flowers or donations for the family can be made in Officer Ackerman's memory in the care of the Buena Park Police Association.”
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.