A memorial service honoring fallen Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Shiou Deng took place on Thursday morning in Covina.

Family, friends and members of the LAPD gathered at Forest Lawn Covina Hills Mausoleum to mourn and celebrate the fallen officer.

Sgt. Deng was killed on June 23 after responding to a crash on the southbound 405 Freeway in Brentwood.

At the time, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell confirmed Deng was helping people involved in a crash when another car came by and hit him. The crash prompted a several-hour closure of the freeway as police conducted their investigation.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass remarked at the memorial service that Deng was the "gold standard of selflessness."

"Everything I've learned about the sergeant has been consistent with a man with the utmost integrity and character," she said.

McDonnell described Deng, a 26-year veteran, as a caring man who was a "true leader." Deng joined the department in 1998, working in both the Central and Southwest divisions before transferring to LAPD's Mental Evaluation Unit, where he served for more than 16 years.

"That assignment takes a very special kind of person, somebody with patience, somebody with compassion and somebody who can show up during someone's worst moment and bring calm to the chaos," McDonnell said at the memorial service. "That was Shiou. He wasn't just good at it, he was made for it."

In 2023, Deng was promoted to sergeant and transferred to the West LA division. McDonnell said he wasn't just a sergeant at West LA, but that he was "the heartbeat of the watch, a guy who kept morale up."

After the deadly crash, flags across the city and over the State Capitol were ordered to fly at half-staff. "Our city grieves today and offers an unpayable debt of gratitude," Bass said at Thursday's memorial service.