The California Highway Patrol Officer was remembered as “an incredible man with a big smile” on Wednesday, remembering someone who suffered from a medical emergency earlier this month and cared for others during the funeral after crashing a patrol vehicle in Culver City.
Officer Miguel Cano, 34, was driving a cruiser near Bristol Parkway and Green Valley Circle around 12:30am on July 2nd. According to the CHP, Kano and his partner arrested a suspected DUI who was allegedly carrying “a large amount of cocaine.”
Kano tells his partner he’s not feeling well, and after a while their cruiser leaves the road and hits a tree. Authorities said he was given the overdose reversal drug Narcan as a precaution.
He was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he died. Both the other officers and the suspect suffered minor injuries. The crash happened just a block from CHP’s West Los Angeles office, headed by officers.
Kano joined CHP in 2023. He lives in Moreno Valley and was married to his wife Melissa for ten years. They were married at a modified bullfighting ring in Zacatecas, Mexico, her home country. The couple had no children.
“If I could go back in time and tell someone that I would lose the love of my life at the age of 30, I wouldn’t believe them,” Cano’s wife said in a prepared statement read by Cano’s sister Erica Montenegro at the funeral at Calvary Chapel Downey.
“If I didn’t feel this pain because I could love someone else, I wouldn’t take it. Despite my heartache, the last decade with Michael has been the best decade of my life.”
Kano’s cousin explained that he was someone who could light up his room and feel precious to everyone around him.
“When someone like Michael leaves us, the world changes,” he said.
Captain Henry Castillo, who leads CHP’s West Los Angeles Station, described Cano as a stellar officer with a strong work ethic.
“He was an incredible guy with a big smile and an even bigger personality,” Castillo said of an executive who spent his teenage years at Vista del Lago High School in Riverside County.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and CHP commissioner Sean Duryee attended the ceremony, where Duryee praised Cano’s parents Tino and Maria for raising such a son.
“They instilled him with honor, integrity, empathy, love for his neighbor, love for his God,” Dury said.
During a meeting with Cano’s family, Dury said he learned a lot about the executives – especially his big heart.
“One of the things I took away from meeting my family was that they all knew exactly how Michael felt about them. They know that the Kano family has no regrets. There’s nothing that isn’t said.
Dury shared the story of Cano’s father talking about the day he died when he last saw his son. As his father was preparing to set out on a trip to Mexico, Kano hugged him parting and hugged him. However, before heading out for the shift, Kano once again accepted his father and came back twice more to tell him he loved him.
“It stood out to me as an example and as a way we think we could honor Michael and follow his example,” Dury said.
“Make sure you have no doubt what you love, what you care about, how you feel. You can tell them you love them. Wrap your arms around them and hold them in. Life is incredibly valuable.
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