CHP officer remembered for his big heart, smile at funeral in Downey

DOWNEY — A California Highway Patrol officer was remembered Wednesday as "an incredible man with a big smile" and someone who made others feel valued during a funeral service following his death earlier this month when he suffered a medical emergency and crashed his patrol vehicle in Culver City.

Officer Miguel Cano, 34, was driving the cruiser around 12:30 a.m. July 2 near Bristol Parkway and Green Valley Circle when the vehicle crashed. According to the CHP, Cano and his partner had arrested a DUI suspect who was also allegedly had "a large quantity" of cocaine.

Cano told his partner he was feeling ill, and moments later, their cruiser veered off the road and struck a tree. He was given the overdose- reversal drug Narcan as a precaution, authorities said.

He was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he died. The other officer and the suspect both suffered minor injuries. The crash occurred just blocks from the CHP's West Los Angeles office, where the officers had been headed.

Cano joined the CHP in 2023. He lived in Moreno Valley and had been married for 10 years to his wife, Melissa. They wed in a converted bullfighting ring in Zacatecas, Mexico, her native country. The couple had no children.

"If I could go back in time and have someone tell me that I would lose the love of my life at the age of 30, I wouldn't believe them," Cano's wife said in prepared remarks read by Cano's sister, Erica Montenegro, during the funeral Wednesday at Calvary Chapel Downey.

"If I had the choice to love someone else so I wouldn't be feeling this pain, I wouldn't take it. Despite my heartache, the past 10 years with Michael were the best 10 years of my life."

Cano's cousin described him as someone who could light up a room and make everyone around him feel valued.

"When someone like Michael leaves us, the world shifts," he said.

Captain Henry Castillo, who leads the CHP's West Los Angeles station, described Cano as a stellar officer with a strong work ethic.

"He was an incredible man with a big smile and an even bigger personality," Castillo said of the officer, who spent his teen years at Vista del Lago High School in Riverside County.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee attended the ceremony, with Duryee praising Cano's parents, Tino and Maria, for raising such a son.

"They instilled in him honor, integrity, empathy, love for his neighbors, love for his God," Duryee said.

In meeting with Cano's family, Duryee said he learned many things about the officer -- most notably, his big heart.

"One thing that I took away from meeting with the family is how everyone of them knew exactly how Michael felt about them. They know there's no regret in the Cano family. There is nothing left unsaid. There is no doubt about how they feel about each other."

Duryee shared a story Cano's father told him about the last time he saw his son -- the day Cano died. As his father was preparing to leave for a trip to Mexico, Cano hugged him goodbye. But before heading out for his shift, Cano returned twice more to embrace his father again and tell him he loved him.

"That stood out to me as an example and a way that I think we can each honor Michael and follow his example," Duryee said.

"Make sure the ones that you love, the ones that you care about have no doubt how you feel. Be able to tell them that you love them. Wrap your arms around them and give them a hug. Life is so precious. Northing is more important, nothing, than the relationships we have with each other and those that we love."