Attorneys Mark Geragos and Brad Gage are representing the parents of Officer Houston Tipping.
Tipping died during an LAPD training session in 2022. Family attorneys say months before that Tipping had started an internal affairs investigation into fellow LAPD officer David Cuellar after a woman said Cuellar sexually assaulted her.
Both officers ended up in the same LAPD training class and that is where Tipping's parents say Cuellar volunteered to partner with Tipping for a grappling exercise, then hit and kicked him to the point where he broke three of Tipping's ribs and perforated his liver.
Gage says Cuellar then intentionally broke Tipping's neck.
"(Cuellar) does a pile driver, paralyzing him, puts Houston in the hospital," Gage told the jury in closing arguments Friday. "Three days later he is brain dead."
LA City attorney Steven McGuire is representing Cuellar and the LAPD. He cited testimony from five other officers who witnessed the incident, all of whom said Tipping actually picked up Cuellar, then fell awkwardly on his own head.
McGuire says testimony from medical experts showed the broken ribs and liver injuries were attributed to CPR and medical efforts to save Tipping.
Trial begins in deadly LAPD training accident
"It didn't come from the baton, being punched, kicked - we didn't see evidence of that," said McGuire. "Clearly the broken ribs came from the CPR."
The Tipping family is seeking more than $50 million in damages.
The case now in the hands of the jury, which will resume deliberations on Tuesday, after the holiday.