Law Enforcement News

LAPD And Union Respond To Tyre Nichols Video
Within hours of the Memphis Police Department’s release of several videos showing the Tyre Nichols beating, the Los Angeles Police Protective League along with San Francisco Police Officers Association, San Jose Police Officers' Association, and the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers issued a statement regarding the killing in Tennessee. “The killing of Tyre Nichols at the hands of the five cowardly former Memphis police officers is repugnant and the complete antithesis of how honorable law enforcement professionals conduct themselves every day. These accused individuals were fired, charged with murder and other crimes, arrested, fingerprinted, photographed and jailed, just like any other suspected criminal. Their brutalization of Mr. Nichols was horrific and for his family to have to view the video of Tyre suffering through those evil acts is unfathomable. We pray that they find the strength to deal with this unmitigated loss”.
Fox 11 Video

Lit Firework Tossed Into LAPD Cruiser In Downtown LA
As small crowds of people gather in protest of the police custody death of Tyre Nichols, someone tossed a lit firework at one of the LAPD cruisers, causing the vehicle to catch the firework smoke.
FOX 11 Video

Benedict Canyon Shooting That Left 3 Dead, 4 Wounded Was Not Random, Police Say
At least three people were killed and four wounded Saturday morning in a shooting in an upscale neighborhood in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles, authorities said. Three people were killed inside a vehicle on the street and four were wounded outside, a law enforcement source told The Times. All three killed were women, who were in their mid-20s to early 30s, another law enforcement source said. The suspect or suspects remain at large. Sgt. Bruce Borihanh from the Los Angeles Police Department said the property was a “short-term rental home” and that a gathering was going on at the time. “We called it a gathering, until we can interview some of the people that were here to determine exactly what kind of gathering it was,” he told reporters at the scene. He said the attack was not random. Neighbors reported seeing several cars driving away from the scene within minutes of the gunfire. Authorities towed a black Mazda SUV Saturday afternoon that had bullet holes on both sides of the car and in the passenger-side window. Los Angeles Fire Department officials responded to the shooting at 2:55 a.m. in the 2700 block of Ellison Drive, a street of large hillside homes north of Beverly Hills. Los Angeles police were also on the scene.
LA Times

Drake’s Beverly Hills Home Burglarized, Suspect Arrested
A man was arrested after he allegedly broke into Drake’s Beverly Hills mansion on Thursday night, reports say. TMZ reported officers with the Los Angeles Police Department were called to the "Hotline Bling" rapper’s home after his security observed a stranger leaving the house. Drake’s $75 million mansion is located in the affluent Beverly Crest neighborhood between Bel-Air and the Hollywood Hills. The suspect apparently got away with an object he was seen carrying while exiting the home. Hours after the suspect vanished from the neighborhood, sources told TMZ a man who matched his description was spotted walking down a street in the area. The suspect was subsequently arrested. However, his name has not been released by authorities. According to TMZ, Drake has been targeted at the property before. A 23-year-old alleged intruder was arrested at the Beverly Crest home in July 2022. Drake was not home at the time of Thursday night’s incident.
FOX 11

Man Fatally Shot In South Los Angeles
The coroner’s office Sunday released the name of the man shot and killed in the unincorporated Athens community of South Los Angeles County. Devan Williams was a 25-year-old resident of Los Angeles, according to the coroner’s office. He was pronounced dead in a driveway. Deputies were called at 11:17 p.m. Friday to the 1200 block of West 110th Street between Normandie and Vermont avenues where they found the victim, said the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. Additional information was not available. Anyone with information about this shooting was asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous calls can be made to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or sent to lacrimestoppers.org.
MyNewsLA

Granada Hills Doctor Arrested, Charged On Suspicion Of Participating In Jan. 6 Riot At U.S. Capitol
A Granada Hills doctor has been arrested and now faces four criminal charges for his suspected role in the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to federal court documents. A former friend tipped off the FBI about Facebook posts Austin Brendlen Harris apparently made at the Capitol, according to an FBI special agent’s Jan. 23 affidavit. Body-worn cameras and surveillance footage were used to confirm Harris was in the Capitol that day, the affidavit said. Harris faces two counts of disorderly conduct, one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in the District of Columbia. He was arrested Wednesday, Jan. 25, according to the court docket. The affidavit includes several photographs of Harris at the Capitol and alleges that he was “encouraging rioters” to join him on the Upper West Terrace of the building, among other actions. Harris, an anesthesiologist, posted on Facebook he “was treating trauma patients at the capitol (sic) building” on Jan. 6, according to the affidavit.
LA Daily News

LASD Searching For Missing Palmdale Man, 50
Sheriff’s detectives asked for the public’s help Saturday to find a 50-year-old man who went missing in Palmdale. Anthony Montemayor was last seen around 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 1300 block east Avenue R2, according to the Los Angeles county Sheriff’s Department. Montemayor is Hispanic. He is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. He has short gray hair, brown eyes, a mustache, and a tattoo on his left arm. He was last seen wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and Puma tennis shoes. Anyone who knows his whereabouts was asked to call 911 or the LASD’s missing persons unit at 323-890-5500. Tipsters can also call Crimes Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
MyNewsLA

Authorities Search For Woman, 22, Who Disappeared In Los Angeles County
Authorities are searching for an at-risk woman who disappeared in Los Angeles County on Thursday. Chelsea Roisin Celiz, 22, was last seen on the 8400 block of Olney Street in Rosemead around 11:15 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Celiz is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and requires medication, officials said. She is described as a Hispanic woman who stands 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 110 pounds and has brown eyes and black hair with blonde streaks. She has multiple tattoos on her body including, “CC” on one of her wrists, a female anime character on her right thigh and a voodoo doll on the left thigh, authorities said. Celiz was last seen wearing a blue, green, and yellow Pendleton shirt with baggy green pants. Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Missing Persons Unit at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted to “Crime Stoppers” at 800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.
KTLA 5

SoCal Father Accused Of Intentionally Driving Family Off Cliff Released From Hospital, Jailed
A Pasadena man accused of intentionally driving a Tesla off a cliff in Northern California - with his two children and wife inside - was released from the hospital and jailed on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse. Dharmesh A. Patel, 41, was booked into jail where he was being held without bail and could be arraigned Monday afternoon if the San Mateo District Attorney's Office decides to file criminal charges, that office said. The office didn't indicate when he was released from the hospital. It wasn't immediately clear whether Patel had an attorney to speak on his behalf. On Jan. 2, the Tesla sedan plunged more than 250 feet off a Northern California cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway near an area known as Devil's Slide that's known for fatal wrecks. Patel was seriously injured in the crash. His wife Neha, their 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son survived after their car tumbled down the cliffside. Patel is listed as a doctor at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.
ABC 7

California Has More Than 100 Gun Laws. Why Don’t They Stop More Mass Shootings?
California bans guns for domestic violence offenders. It bans them for people deemed a danger to others or themselves. There is a ban on large-capacity magazines, and a ban on noise-muffling silencers. Semiautomatic guns of the sort colloquially known as “assault weapons” are, famously, banned. More than 100 gun laws — the most of any state — are on the books in California. They have saved lives, policymakers say: Californians have among the lowest rates of gun death in the United States. Yet this month, those laws failed to stop the massacres of at least 19 people in back-to-back mass shootings. The tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have confounded Americans who regard California as a best-case bastion of gun safety in a nation awash with firearms. Inside the state, gun rights proponents say the shootings show that California’s strategy is a failure. Gun safety groups, meanwhile, have already begun mobilizing for more laws and better enforcement. As details emerge in the investigations, numerous shortcomings have been highlighted, even with California’s voluminous law.
NY Times

NYPD Cruiser Smashed As Tyre Nichols Protests Turn Violent
More than 100 people showed up at two protests in Manhattan on Friday night as Memphis police released video showing its officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols, a Black man. There were at least two arrests — including one that came as a protester kicked in a police car windshield in Times Square. “Let him go!” protesters shouted as cops took a man away in handcuffs. Daily News reporters also saw police lead away a woman wearing a red hoodie. She also appeared to be in handcuffs. “It’s not just a few bad apples. There are no good cops in a racist system. I don’t care what color they are,” said protest organizer Karla Reyes at the gathering in Times Square, which drew about 100 people. Five Memphis officers accused of murder in Nichols’ death are Black. The Times Square protest began around 7 p.m., and about 40 minutes later it began moving south on Broadway to Penn Station and Moynihan Train Hall, before circling back to Times Square, when the police car windshield was smashed.
NY Daily News

Video: Michigan Officer Credited With Saving Choking 1-Year-Old Girl
Sterling Heights police Sgt. Anthony Roeske is being credited with saving the life of an infant who was not breathing last week. Officers were dispatched to a home on Fox Hill Drive at approximately 2 p.m. Jan. 17 in response to a 911 call reporting a 15-month-old child was not breathing. Roeske was the first officer to arrive at the home where family members were in the garage with the infant girl, who was not breathing. He took the baby in his arms and performed back thrusts in an attempt to clear its airway. The baby did cough up something that had been obstructing its airway and began crying. The baby was then turned over to the Sterling Heights Fire Department for treatment. A recording of the 911 call indicates the parents were panicked and a statement from the Sterling Heights police described the scene in the garage as "chaotic" before Roeske was able to help the baby regain breathing. The statement credited Roseke's calm actions with saving the life of the baby and calming family members who were understandably upset.
The Macomb Daily

Public Safety News

Homeless Population Up 18% In 3 Of LA's High-Priority Areas -- Hollywood, Venice, Skid Row: Report
The homeless population in three of Los Angeles' high-priority neighborhoods has increased by an average of 18%, according to a yearlong count conducted by the RAND Corp., which released results Thursday. The Los Angeles Longitudinal Enumeration and Demographic Survey -- which focused on Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice -- took place from September 2021 to October 2022 and is separate from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's annual tally. LAHSA is conducting its 2023 count this week and expects to have results by the spring or summer. The report found an increase in homelessness of 32% in Venice, 14.5% in Hollywood and 13% on Skid Row. Jason Ward, the lead author and associate economist at RAND, said the count determined "that there is a lot to be learned by measuring progress on homelessness more regularly than the once-a-year count of unsheltered people conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority."
ABC 7

Firefighters Engage Blaze At Apartment Building In Van Nuys
Los Angeles Fire Department crews engaged a fire that erupted at a Van Nuys apartment building on Friday. According to a report from firefighters, the blaze was reported at around 3:15 p.m. at a two-story "garden-style apartment building" in the 7300 block of N. Lennox Avenue. Heavy flames could be seen escaping through the roof of the building as crews battled the flames with an offensive attack. In all, five units were damaged during the fire, after flames started to spread laterally from the unit where the fire began. One of those units suffered water and smoke damage. It took 46 firefighters just about an hour to extinguish the fire. All occupants of the building were evacuated by officials and no injuries were reported.
CBS 2

L.A. County Relaxes Universal Mask Recommendation As COVID Eases
With coronavirus transmission on the decline, Los Angeles County health officials have relaxed their broad recommendation that everyone mask up indoors while in public. While wearing a face covering is still required in certain settings — such as healthcare facilities and nursing homes — and still encouraged aboard public transit, the decision for most should now be considered a matter of personal preference. That isn’t to say masking is no longer useful, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. “I do encourage people to continue to think of masking as an effective tool to reduce exposure to COVID-19,” she said, as she continued wearing a mask — as usual — during her weekly briefing. Ferrer also continues to strongly recommend that individuals more vulnerable to severe illness keep wearing masks in indoor public settings, especially those that are crowded or have poor ventilation.
LA Times

Local Government News

L.A. City Council Backs Minimum Threshold For Evicting Tenants Behind On Rent
The Los Angeles City Council made some minor adjustments to elements of its tenant protection package Friday, after a lengthy meeting during which council members spent more than two hours meeting privately with the city’s lawyers. The broader tenant protection package was unanimously approved last week. But its various prongs were in different stages of the legislation process, with some elements — such as new “just cause” eviction protections and a timeline for repaying back rent — ready to be signed into law after last week’s vote. Two other provisions still required ordinances to be drafted and approved this week. A proposal that establishes a minimum threshold for eviction for tenants who fall behind on rent was provisionally approved Friday by the council, while a separate item that would require landlords to pay relocation fees in some situations involving large rent increases was tabled until next week.
LA Times