Long Beach Police Officer Anton Fischer didn’t want to fix problems, he wanted to prevent them.
Fischer, 33, was killed in a crash while he was riding his motorcycle to work Thursday afternoon. The 3-year veteran of the LBPD, collided with another vehicle on Ocean Boulevard at 7th Place at about 2:25 p.m., according to police.
Fischer had trained and worked as an emergency medical technician prior to attending the Long Beach Police Academy.
“He said that rather than fixing people who had been injured, he wanted to prevent injuries before they happened. That’s why he became a police officer,” said Rich Chambers, president of the Long Beach Police Officers Association.
LBPD Chief Robert Luna said in an interview that Fischer was extraordinary young man.
“I spent the afternoon at the hospital with his mother and some of his family members and I can tell you, from remarks made by his friends and fellow officers, he was loved and absolutely respected,” Luna said.
Luna noted that Fischer had played linebacker for the University of Hawaii football team. “He still looked like a linebacker,” said Luna. “He was a 10-plus in a uniform.”
Chambers said Fischer’s family is mostly in Riverside County, but the officer thought it was important to live in the community he served, and the collision Thursday occurred near his home after he left to go to work as part of the department’s East Division directed enforcement team.
“It’s a coveted position,” said Chambers, “and it was pretty remarkable that he got that job at such a young age. He aspired to be with SWAT, and from what I’ve heard about him I have no doubt he would have made that team.”
Fischer’s girlfriend, Kaylie Lopez, was also heading to work and was driving behind Fischer when the accident occurred. Lopez is also an LBPD officer who was in the academy class a year earlier than Fischer. “She’s a fantastic young lady, and obviously grieving right now,” said Luna.
On Friday morning, an honor line of police vehicles drove down Long Beach Boulevard from 11th Street to the 405 Freeway accompanying the vehicle carrying Fischer’s body as it was being transferred from St. Mary Medical Center to the LA County Coroner’s Office.
In honor of Officer Anton Fischer pic.twitter.com/M6rB0BdVx8
— Long Beach POA (@LBPOA) June 5, 2020
Fischer is survived by his mother, Geneva Fischer and his 12-year-old son Cristopher. Services are pending, though Luna noted that attendance likely won’t be as large as it might have been because of the COVID pandemic’s distancing regulations.
“His mother told me something that will always stick with me,” said Luna. “She said, ‘I raised a good man,’ and as simple as that sounds, hey, he was a great man and I’m hoping that the memory of who he was and how he carried himself and how he worked so well with people will always be an inspiration to our officers.”
