It’s not everyday that you get to run into your son on the job, especially when you’re both hard at work saving lives in Los Angeles County. As fate would have it, that’s exactly what Eric Lee Sr. and his son experienced while responding to a call earlier this month on Glendora Mountain Road.
“I knew he was working that day and that’s the area that he works, but I wasn’t certain that he would get the call,” Lee, a Sergeant with the L.A. Sheriff's Department said.
“It was an amazing experience for me. Just having him by my side, having him assisting me in treating the patient.”
You may read that and think that the Oct. 3 run-in was a father-teaching-son moment, but Lee said that’s actually not the case.
Though he will mark 27 years with LASD in November, he just returned to work after studying to be a paramedic with the Special Enforcement Bureau. He had previously served the SEB as a sergeant on the SWAT Team.
His 22-year-old son, Eric Lee, Jr, has been an EMT with Care Ambulance Service for the last two years.
“It’s kind of crazy because he’s been doing the EMS thing a lot longer than me,” Lee said. “[My son] was actually helping me during EMT school — I would call him with questions and he was actually helping me study.”
A Family History of Service
It’s rare to have two members of the same family choose to enter a career in service, let alone get the privilege of serving in the same county.
That’s what makes it rather extraordinary that the pair are not the only Lees who have dedicated their careers to serving L.A.
Lee’s father is a retired deputy fire chief, who up to the point of his retirement was the highest ranking officer ever in the L.A. County Fire Department, Lee said.
He added that his father was also the first Black battalion chief, first black assistant fire chief and first black deputy fire chief in the department. Lee’s mother also served L.A., and is a retired LASD sergeant.
Growing up, the 47-year old said he really had no interest in either career path - but his mom encouraged him to apply to the sheriff’s department in 1994 and after a ride along, he was hooked.
“I don't know what it really was that attracted me,” Lee said. “I think it was just the freedom of being out there, being outdoors, responding to calls and trying your best to help people with their problems.”
His son’s story is a little different, he’s wanted to be a firefighter since he was kid.
“It didn’t surprise me when he went out on his own, put himself through EMT school and got the job with Care Ambulances,” Lee said, adding that all were steps toward making his goal of eventually becoming a firefighter in the county.
Handling the spotlight
With a family history like the Lees, both Sr and Jr remain humble, even after several calls from the media to ask about their on-the-job run in. Lee said he hadn’t thought much of the photos taken of them that day, but he’s happy that their moment can have a positive impact on the department.
“With the bad light that has been shed on law enforcement in the last couple years, I think it’s always good to have some type of feel good story out there,” Lee said.
“So people can humanize the badge, to a certain extent, and see that we’re regular people with feelings and emotions and all of those things.”