California police unions slam study naming state best for officers: 'Not what we're hearing'

Several California police unions have come out against a recent WalletHub study that concluded the state was the best place to be a police officer, with critics citing low morale among the rank and file because of law enforcement staffing issues and soft-on-crime polices. The report released by the personal finance website based its findings largely on compensation, training and job hazards and protection. However, it didn't survey officers or sheriff's deputies, said Tom Saggau, who represents several California police unions.

Fox News

14-Year-Old Girl Faces Murder Charges In South LA Shooting

Los Angeles police arrested a 14-year-old girl for allegedly shooting someone to death near a South Los Angeles elementary school. The deadly shooting happened in the early morning hours of March 21. Officers said the victim, 20-year-old Kendra McIntyre, was walking near the southeast corner of 70th Street and Figueroa Street, a block away from Sixty-Eighth Street Elementary School when the suspect shot her. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner said the suspect shot her in the head and neck. Paramedics rushed her to the hospital, where she later died. Detectives investigated the murder for two months before identifying the 14-year-old as the lead suspect. Detectives said the killing appeared to be random. They also recovered the firearm allegedly used in the shooting. They tracked her down on May 6 and placed her in custody at the 77th Division station without incident. The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged her the following day. Investigators urged anyone with information to call the South Bureau Homicide Division at (323) 786-5100. Those wishing to stay anonymous can call LA Crime Stoppers at 1(800) 222-8477 or submit the tip to their website.

CBS 2

Ottawa approves British Columbia's request to make public drug use illegal again

Public drug use became illegal in British Columbia once again on Tuesday after the federal government granted the province's request to scale back its drug decriminalization pilot. The change represents a major policy climbdown for the provincial NDP government more than a year into the three-year pilot program with Ottawa that is aimed at tackling the deadly overdose crisis. 

MSN

One Dead In Stabbing, Shooting At Metro Station In Hollywood

A man who allegedly stabbed a security guard at a Metro B Line Station in Hollywood Tuesday was fatally shot by a guard at the facility, according to authorities and Metro. Officers and paramedics were sent to the 1500 block of North Vermont Avenue at about 9:10 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Fire Department. According to the LAFD, paramedics were directed to the platform level of the station, and they also learned about a second victim nearby at Vermont and De Longpre avenues. "This morning, Metro Contract Security encountered a trespasser during a routine security sweep of an ancillary -- non-public -- area of the Vermont/Sunset Station," Metro's Jose Ubaldo said in a statement. "This resulted in an altercation where Contract Security Guards first utilized pepper spray and then after the trespasser stabbed one of the Contract Security Guards in the leg, a Contract Security Guard fired a weapon in self-defense. The Contract Security Guard has been transported to the hospital in stable condition. The trespasser did not survive his injuries. Metro is working with our Contract Security team to provide the support and assistance they need. The Los Angeles Police Department is leading the investigation."

Westside Current

Facial Recognition Tech Likely To Be Used To Identify Attackers At UCLA, Ex-LAPD Captain Says

The University of California hired a law enforcement consulting firm to lead an independent investigation into UCLA’s planning and police response when violence broke out on campus between pro-Palestinian protesters and counter demonstrators last week, the public university system announced Tuesday. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said as 21st Century Policing Solutions, which also has been hired by other universities for on-campus safety concerns, will try to find the responsible for the violence, the LAPD and FBI will possibly be support the investigation. Among the strategies of locating the attackers, facial recognition technology will likely be used, according to a former LAPD official. "You can take a photo of you right now, and I can take that clip and drop it onto google image. And it will probably tell me who you are,” retired captain Paul Vernon said. The LA Times had also reported UCLA detectives are scanning hundreds of images as they work to identify the attackers. If the FBI gets involved in the investigation, its investigators can obtain cellphone data to prove whether certain attackers were in the area on the night violence unfolded on the UCLA campus, according to Vernon. But Vernon added that charging those responsible may be another challenge.

NBC 4

Driver Of Stolen Lamborghini Killed In Crash After Fleeing LAPD At Over 100 MPH

Los Angeles police have released new video of a stolen Lamborghini fleeing officers at speeds over 100 mph before a violent crash that shredded the vehicle and killed the driver. The incident happened in the San Fernando Valley in the early morning hours of April 6. LAPD West Valley officers were on patrol around 5 a.m. when they pulled up alongside a gray 2019 Lamborghini Huracan. They noticed the driver was asleep at the wheel while stopped at the red light on Sherman Way at Reseda Boulevard. They pulled the driver over on Sherman Way and asked for his documents - learning the Lamborghini had been reported stolen and the driver was wanted on multiple felony warrants. The driver refused to get out of the vehicle, briefly arguing with the officers before taking off down Sherman Way at speeds later determined to have reached 113 mph. The Lamborghini crashed into the center median only a few blocks away near Vanalden Avenue. As officers approached, they found debris scattered all over the street, and the core of the Lamborghini shredded to pieces.

ABC 7

A Young Actress, An Obsessed Stalker And A Hollywood Murder That Changed America

The prosecutor was studying the killer’s confession, trying to understand what was wrong with it. In her first few viewings of the videotape, Marcia Clark had the gnawing sense that he was lying. She took careful notes. She watched to the end, rewound and watched again. On the tape, Robert Bardo was in a room at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, telling his defense-appointed psychiatrist how he had stalked and killed 21-year-old actress Rebecca Schaeffer. He was a misfit from Tucson, a high school dropout who had once worked the grill at Jack in the Box but couldn’t hold a job. He had been fixated on the actress for four years. He taped every episode of “My Sister Sam,” the sitcom in which she played a bubbly, innocent teenager from 1986 to 1988. He wrote her endless letters. He quoted John Lennon lyrics. Once, she sent him a personalized response telling him that his letter was one of the nicest she’d received. Friends had warned her that even the most innocuous personal note could be misinterpreted. It seemed to inflame his fixation. Schaffer’s father, a Portland psychologist, would read Bardo’s letters and perceive no threat. He thought they reflected “just another strange kid who wanted someone to pay attention to him.” Bardo had taken a Greyhound to Los Angeles, rented a cheap hotel and found his way to the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank with flowers and a teddy bear. He insisted on seeing her. A security guard drove Bardo back to his hotel and told him to go home to Tucson. Another harmless lovesick fan wanting to see a star, the guard thought; there were a couple every week.

Los Angeles Times

LA City Council Offers $50K Rewards In Death Of Two Angelenos

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved two separate $50k rewards for information leading to the individuals responsible for the death of two Angelenos. The City Council voted 12-0 to establish the rewards. Council members Monica Rodriguez, Heather Hutt and Traci Park were absent during the vote. The first reward is for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in the murder of Juan Cuevas on Jan. 9, 2019. Cuevas was standing on the sidewalk in front of 4711 Beverly Blvd. when he was approached by someone who had been dropped off by a car near where the shooting occurred. The suspect, who was described only as a male, walked toward Cuevas and shot him. Cuevas then ran to a nearby liquor store and collapsed, according to city documents. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he died. The second reward was reinstated Tuesday, after first being issued on Jan. 7, 2022. The reward is for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in the murder of Marcelis Gude, who was killed on June 15, 2021.

MyNewsLA

Hit-and-Run Suspect Ditches Car At Casino Before Being Arrested In Los Angeles

A man suspected of fatally striking a pedestrian in East Los Angeles ditched his car at a casino before being arrested over a dozen miles away from the scene, authorities said. A CHP spokesperson confirmed to KTLA that the vehicle struck the victim – who has not been identified – just before 11 p.m. Tuesday at the intersection of Atlantic and Olympic boulevards in East L.A. The male driver then fled the scene, the spokesperson said. Authorities eventually tracked the man’s mangled red Toyota Celica down to Commerce Casino and Hotel, just over a mile-and-a-half from the collision site, however, the driver was nowhere to be found. Further investigation by CHP found that the man had traveled to a residence in the 700 block of North Manhattan Place in Larchmont, about 14 miles away from the original crash site. He was taken into custody around 1:10 a.m. Wednesday, CHP said. Video footage obtained by KTLA shows the driver being questioned and taking a field sobriety test before being put in handcuffs.

KTLA 5

Southern California Authorities Solve 33-Year-Old Cold Case Murder 

Police in Ventura County have announced that they solved a murder case which had gone unsolved for over three decades. According to the Ventura Police Department, the body of 42-year-old Danielle Clause was found on a hillside at the top of Tioga Drive in Ventura on July 16, 1991. An autopsy revealed Clause had been sexually assaulted and had died due to multiple blunt-force injuries to her head, police confirmed. “Once investigators at the time explored every avenue, the case was suspended and considered cold,” the Ventura Police Department said in a media release. A breakthrough in the case came 30 years later in 2021, when detectives and forensic specialists retested crime scene evidence for DNA. By using forensic genetic genealogy technology that didn’t exist in the 1990s, they were able to piece together a family tree and verify “distinct characteristics” of the suspect by using phenotyping. Based on their new evidence, detectives identified the suspect as Larry Devon Welch. 

KTLA 5

BWC: Florida Officer Run Over By Trailer As Suspect Attempts To Flee Traffic Stop

An officer has been hospitalized after being run over by a trailer attached to an SUV during a traffic stop, WESH reported. The incident occurred May 3 when Belle Isle Police Department Officer Zachary Mathews pulled a vehicle over near the airport for operating a trailer without tail lights, according to the report. Body camera footage released May 7 shows that when the driver refused to get out of the vehicle, Mathews began trying to pull him out. During the attempt to remove the suspect from his vehicle, he reportedly resisted and began reaching under the seat, which escalated the situation. “In the struggle, Mathews and another officer to remove the driver from the vehicle, the driver shoves the officer and the officer loses his footing and his foot slips and forces him back at the same time. The vehicle is in motion and the trailer kind of runs up on the officer,” explained Deputy Chief Jeremy Millis. The vehicle was eventually stopped by another officer, and the driver was taken into custody after suffering an eye injury that required medical attention, according to the report. “I don’t think there would have been a struggle had the driver not started sort of reaching around inside the vehicle, and later on, they actually recovered a firearm from the same vehicle, too,” Millis added.

PoliceOne

‘Like Watching A Navy SEAL Extraction’: Video Shows Colorado K-9 Locating Missing Elderly Woman

 An 85-year-old woman was rescued thanks to the efforts of a K-9 named Mercury after she went missing during a walk and was found clinging to a tree down a steep ravine, USA Today reported. The Greenwood Village Police Department was alerted by a family member and quickly dispatched Officer Austin Speer and K-9 Mercury, who located her within minutes despite her being out of sight from the roadway, according to the report. “This is a friendly dog, he found you! We’re gonna get you home, OK?” Officer Speer reassured the woman as captured in body camera footage later shared by the police department on Facebook. Mercury, who has been with the department for a year and a half, is trained in tracking missing persons and detecting narcotics, according to the report. The rescued woman was safely returned to her family following the incident. The woman’s son, Pete Holman, expressed his gratitude on Facebook. “I had been searching for her for two hours and Mercury and officer Speer found her in 10 minutes: UNBELIEVABLE! It was like watching a Navy Seal extraction,” Holman stated.

PoliceOne

One Killed In Two-Vehicle Crash In Downtown Los Angeles

One person was killed in a two-vehicle collision near the Harbor (110) Freeway Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles. California Highway Patrol officers responded at 2:11 a.m. to the Martin Luther King Jr. on-ramp of the northbound freeway where they found the wreckage of a white minivan and a gray Dodge Charger, CHP Officer Sergio Garcia told City News Service. Paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department were called to the scene, where they pronounced the victim dead. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

MyNewsLA

Firefighters Called To 3-Alarm Blaze Erupting In Los Angeles County

Firefighters are responding to a growing blaze that erupted in the Lynwood Wednesday morning. The incident was reported shortly after 8 a.m. at a commercial building located in the 5000 block of Cortland Street. Crews found heavy flames showing from the structure and declared it a 2-alarm fire, allowing for additional resources. Officials upgraded the response to a 3-alarm fire as the blaze continued to rage shortly before 9 a.m. There was no word on the cause of the fire or if any injuries were reported.

KTLA 5

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 8,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education.