Law Enforcement News
2 Teenagers Killed In Porter Ranch Crash, 8 Others Injured
A hospitalized motorist is expected to face criminal charges following his recovery for triggering a three-vehicle crash in Porter Ranch that killed two teenagers who were inside his vehicle and injuring eight other people, authorities said Sunday. The crash was reported at 5:35 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22 in the 11000 block of N. Reseda Blvd., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s Brian Humphrey. A speeding black 2007 Honda CRV going south on Reseda veered into northbound lanes and struck a black 2012 Toyota Venza and a black 2015 Volkswagen Jetta, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. A 16-year-old boy killed in the crash was identified as Magnus Robinson, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office website. A spokesperson at the agency could not be reached to determine Robinson’s place of residence. Robinson was trapped inside wreckage of the Honda and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. He was one of six occupants inside the CRV.
La Daily News
1 Killed, 2 Injured In South Los Angeles Shooting, Police Say
One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting in South Los Angeles early Sunday, police say. Los Angeles police say the shooting happened just before 2 a.m. near the area of San Pedro and 62nd streets. Three people were transported to a hospital, where one died. One victim is in stable condition, and the other victim's condition is unknown. The three people were together when they were shot, and one of the victims ran inside a liquor store for help, police say. Police say there is no suspect information at this time.
ABC 7
Mike Bonin Remains In Middle Of City Council Race, Though He Dropped Out 9 Months Ago
It’s been nine months since Mike Bonin, a progressive stalwart representing the Westside of Los Angeles, beat back a recall attempt and then, just one week later, declared he would not seek a third term on the City Council. But while his name is missing from the ballot, Bonin and his legacy remain front and center in the campaign to represent Council District 11. Erin Darling has Bonin’s endorsement and has vowed to continue some of Bonin’s policies, while his rival in next month's election, Traci Park, has hammered Darling as a “Bonin clone” who will continue policies that she contends have exacerbated homelessness and rising crime. Independent expenditure campaigns have poured more than $1 million into mail, videos and fliers that depict Bonin and Darling as liberal extremists, more wedded to their leftist ideology than to the good of their district, which stretches from Pacific Palisades to Los Angeles International Airport. A mailer funded by the Los Angeles Police Protective League — which represents rank-and-file LAPD officers — depicts Bonin and Darling as “Twins,” (wearing identical suits, like the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito characters in the movie) and chastises the duo for “rampant homelessness with no solutions [and] violent crime with fewer neighborhood police patrols."
Yahoo! News
Dad Attacked By 3 Robbers On His Way To Work In South LA Area
A dad was attacked by three suspects on his way home from work in the South Los Angeles area. Now, the family is seeking justice for the dad and is asking for the public's help as their breadwinner recovers from severe injuries. The dad, 53-year-old Elias Camacho, is hoping witnesses come forward because he says there were witnesses videotaping the attack. He is hoping those videos could help authorities identify and find the suspects. The attack happened while Elias was walking to work for an overnight shift when a group of men approached him and began beating him down with a metal chair. English is not Elias' first language so he said he couldn't make out what the suspects were saying, but he says he thought he was going to die. Elias was eventually able to get away from the attacker and run to a parked ambulance near the scene. Elias' daughter told FOX 11 that in the 20 years her dad had lived in the community, he had never gone through anything like this.
FOX 11
Six Masked Suspects Steal Jewelry, Handbags At Gunpoint In Mid-City
Six people wearing masks carried out a robbery Saturday afternoon at a parking lot off Pico Boulevard in Mid-City, authorities said. The robbery was reported just before 2:30 p.m. in the 5000 block of Pico Boulevard, just west of La Brea Avenue, said Los Angeles Police Officer Matthew Cruz. KCBS-TV reported that the robbery occurred in the lot adjacent to Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles, but police did not confirm the exact location. A representative of the popular restaurant chain did not return a message seeking comment. All of the suspects wore black masks, and four were armed with handguns as they held up two victims, Cruz said. The group made off with jewelry and handbags and fled in a gray sport utility vehicle and a black car. No injuries were reported.
Yahoo! News
Los Angeles Cannabis Dispensary Hit By Smash-and-Grab Burglars
Police are looking for a group of men who burglarized a cannabis dispensary in Beverly Grove Saturday morning. It happened around 6:05 a.m. at Serra on the 8100 block of West 3rd Street. Los Angeles Police responded to the shop and found the front glass doors shattered and items thrown on the ground. Investigators believe four men used “prying tools” to break the glass and gain entry into the business, where they smashed displays and grabbed cannabis products and paraphernalia. The four suspects have been described as Hispanic or Black men, one of whom was wearing a black sweatshirt that said “Compton,” another of whom was wearing a black hoodie and gray pants, a third who was wearing a camouflage backpack and a fourth who was wearing all black except for a pair of white shoes. Anyone with information about the burglary should contact the Los Angeles Police Department Wilshire Station at 213-473-0476.
KTLA 5
Woman Arrested For Allegedly Stabbing Boyfriend To Death At Compton Home
A woman was arrested for allegedly stabbing her boyfriend to death at a home in Compton Sunday, authorities said. The assault occurred around 4:30 a.m. in the 900 block of North Essey Avenue, near Bullis Road and Rosecrans Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Paramedics rushed the man, who was in his 20s, to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The woman was arrested at the scene of the homicide on suspicion of murder, the Sheriff’s Information Bureau reported. No further information was immediately available. The homicide bureau urged anyone with information about the assault to call them at 323-890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
MyNewsLA
LA City Attorney Files Charges Vs. Protesters At August Council Meeting
Two people who disrupted an Aug. 9 meeting of the Los Angeles City Council to protest an ordinance banning homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers have been charged with a combined 13 misdemeanor counts, officials said Saturday. Ricci Sergienko, 31, was charged by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office with battery on a police officer, attempting to rescue a prisoner and four counts of resisting arrest or delaying or obstructing a police officer. A 46-year-old audience member at that day's council meeting was charged with nine counts, including willfully and unlawfully disturbing and breaking up a lawful assembly and meeting, resisting arrest, obstructing a public officer, peace officer and an emergency medical technician, trespassing and defacing public property. “The right to peaceful protest is a long-cherished American freedom,'' City Attorney Mike Feuer said. “When protest stops being peaceful, and threatens our most basic democratic systems, we must act.” During the public comment period that day, a woman attempted to climb over the barrier separating the council from members of the public. While police attempted to take the woman into custody, Sergienko tried to prevent officers from arresting her, police said.
NBC 4
The Reality Of Legal Weed In California: Huge Illegal Grows, Violence, Worker Exploitation And Deaths
At sunset from atop Haystack Butte, the desert floor below shimmers with a thousand lights. Illegal cannabis farms. At this hour and distance, serene hues cloak the rugged enclave of Mount Shasta Vista, a tense collective of seasonal camps guarded by guns and dogs where the daily runs of water trucks are interrupted by police raids, armed robberies and, sometimes, death. So many hoop houses pack this valley near the Oregon border that last year it had the capacity to supply half of California’s entire legal cannabis market. Proposition 64, California’s 2016 landmark cannabis initiative, sold voters on the promise a legal market would cripple the drug’s outlaw trade, with its associated violence and environmental wreckage. Instead, a Los Angeles Times investigation finds, the law triggered a surge in illegal cannabis on a scale California has never before witnessed.
St Louis Post-Dispatch
Retail, Commercial Crime ‘Totally Gotten Out Of Control': California City Mulls Options To Curb Offenses
It starts off small — intoxicated people wandering off the streets into Jerry's Pizza and Pub. Some leave without any trouble, or comply with requests to go. But others create a ruckus at the longtime downtown Bakersfield eatery, which prompts customer complaints. That then leads to a loss of business, said Jose Jimenez, Jerry's Pizza general manager. "If it happens in a particular hour of the day, customers won't come in at that hour," Jimenez added. "And, we're seeing a little bit (of that) happening for our lunch rushes. They're not as busy as they used to be." Lower-level crimes aren't classified as serious felonies — such as murders and sex crimes — but their effects are no less detrimental on a business's bottom line. Local retail and commercial establishments have been flooded with those repeatedly committing various crimes, which led the Bakersfield City Council to ponder solutions to stop offenders during its Wednesday meeting.
Bakersfield Californian
Thousands Attend Joint Funeral For Fallen Connecticut LEOs Killed During Shooting
Thousands of police officers from around the country gathered in a football stadium in Connecticut on Friday for a joint funeral for two officers who were shot to death in an apparent ambush. The service for Bristol officers Dustin DeMonte and Alex Hamzy was being held at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field — the University of Connecticut's 40,000-seat stadium in East Hartford. DeMonte, Hamzy and Officer Alec Iurato were shot on Oct. 12 in what police believe was an ambush set up by a 911 call made by the shooter, Nicholas Brutcher. Iurato, who survived a gunshot wound to his leg, struggled to get behind a police cruiser and fired a single shot that killed Brutcher. Brutcher's brother, Nathan, also was shot and survived. At the time of the shooting, DeMonte was a sergeant with 10 years experience on the force and Hamzy was an officer for eight years. They were promoted posthumously to lieutenant and sergeant, respectively.
Associated Press
Public Safety News
Panorama City Fire Threatening At Least 1 Structure, 6 Vehicles
Firefighters Sunday were battling a blaze in Panorama City that they say was threatening at least one commercial building and half a dozen vehicles. The fire broke out just after 2:30 p.m. in the 14600 block of W. Titus Street, spurring the closure of Titus Avenue between Van Nuys Boulevard and Cedros Avenue. Firefighters said the fire involved a large mulch pile and has extended to three parked tractor-trailer rigs. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
CBS 2
Little Change To LA County's COVID Hospitalization Total
Los Angeles County's coronavirus hospitalizations increased by three people to 392, according to the latest state data released Saturday, while the number of those patients being treated in intensive care decreased by 18 to 41. The latest numbers come one day after local health officials reported that COVID-19 mortality is down this year, though the impact of COVID-associated deaths remains "significant and concerning.'' An analysis by the LA County Department of Public Health found that a vast majority of increases in all-cause mortality were due to COVID-associated deaths. The agency said Friday it reviewed COVID and non-COVID mortality rates for four six-month periods from January through June, 2019 to 2022, and compared it to the 10-year period ending in 2019, prior to the pandemic -- when the all-cause mortality rate had been stable with a slight downward trend. According to the health department, when the pandemic began, the all-cause mortality rate for the first half of 2020 increased from just under 300 deaths per 100,000 people to almost 336 deaths per 100,000.
NBC 4
Law Enforcement News
‘My Duty Is To Represent My Constituents': Kevin De León Says It Will Take A Recall To Remove Him
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León says the only way he will step down from office is if he is forced to in a recall election from the voters in his council district. "My duty is to represent my constituents," he told NBC4 on Sunday. "They are the ones who elected me. If they are the ones who say that I need to leave, then I will respect that decision by them." De León has been under pressure from fellow Democrats including Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and President Joe Biden to resign from office following the release of racist comments in a secret meeting he attended at the LA County Federation of Labor. During the taped meeting then Council President Nury Martinez made disparaging comments about fellow council member Mike Bonin. Martinez alluded to Bonin, who is white, as using his African American son like a fashion "accessory." De León appeared to compare the boy to a "Louis Vuitton handbag." De León told NBC4 on the station's "News Conference" program, that he regretted making what he said was a "flippant remark" and that he was actually referring to Martinez’ taste in high end purses.
NBC 4
The Way Los Angeles Is Trying To Solve Homelessness Is ‘Absolutely Insane’
In 2016, the people of Los Angeles overwhelmingly passed Proposition HHH, a ballot measure that raised $1.2 billion through a higher property tax to create 10,000 new apartments for the homeless. “The voters of Los Angeles have radically reshaped our future,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “giving us a mandate to end street homelessness over the next decade.” Six years later, neither the mandate nor the money has proved to be nearly enough. In 2016, Los Angeles had about 28,000 homeless residents, of whom around 21,000 were unsheltered (that is, living on the street). The current count is closer to 42,000 homeless residents, with 28,000 unsheltered. Prop HHH has built units, but slowly, and at eye-popping cost. The city says that 3,357 units have been built, and the most recent audit found the average cost was $596,846 for units under construction — more than the median sale price for a home in Denver. Some units under construction have cost more than $700,000 to build. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, the candidates vying to replace Garcetti, don’t tend to agree on much, but they agree that HHH hasn’t lived up to its promise. “To spend that kind of money per unit makes no basic common sense if you know anything about building,” Caruso told me.
NY Times
