Law Enforcement News
Los Angeles mayor’s race: Caruso holds slim lead over Bass
The race to become the next mayor of Los Angeles remained too close to call Wednesday morning, and it may be several days before one of the candidates is declared the winner. With about 44% of votes counted, developer Rick Caruso had a 51% to 49% lead over U.S. Rep. Karen Bass. The contest seesawed throughout the night without either candidate ever leading by more than a few thousand votes until Caruso opened up a 12,000-vote lead in the update Wednesday morning.
KTLA
Shooting Wounds Man Near Jack In The Box On Nordhoff Street In North Hills
A man is in the hospital Tuesday after he was shot in North Hills. Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were called at 9:55 p.m. Monday to 15651 Nordhoff St. west of the 405 Freeway in front of a Jack in the Box, where they learned the victim and a suspect were inside a vehicle talking, LAPD Officer Lizeth Lomeli told City News Service. The victim got out of the vehicle and walked away. The suspect followed him, shot the victim in the abdomen and ran away in an unknown direction, Lomeli said. The victim was taken to a hospital in stable condition. There was no suspect information. Commuters to California State University Northridge pass by the Jack in the Box just after they exit the 405 Freeway at Nordhoff Street on their way to the campus.
LA Daily News
LAPD Could Soon Add Boston Dynamics’ $300K Robot Dog To Its Arsenal
The Los Angeles Police Department could soon receive a nearly $300,000 robot that commanders insist will make standoffs safer. Dubbed “Spot,” the four-legged, all-terrain, dog-like robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics has been seen by millions in social media videos, earning intrigue from some and distress from others due to its uncanny, too-realistic gait. Earlier this year, three Spots danced to BTS on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. And the robots have made appearances at technology conferences around the world as Boston Dynamics has sought to advertise its decades of research into how robots could become more ubiquitous in industry and daily life. Now, LAPD wants one. The price tag for just one Spot with several advanced features — like a robot arm and an infrared camera — is $277,917. The city won’t have to pay, however: The Los Angeles Police Foundation is donating the robot.
LA Daily News
South Gate Shooting Leaves One Man Dead
A man was shot and killed Tuesday evening in South Gate. Deputies responded at 6:49 p.m. to the 3000 block of Firestone Boulevard, between State Street and Long Beach Boulevard, where they found the victim, according to the Sheriff’s Information Bureau. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. Anyone with information about this shooting was asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be called in to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submitted online at lacrimestoppers.org.
MyNewsLA
San Diego Meth Trafficker Who Hid Out In Rural Minnesota Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, one man “dominated” the San Diego methamphetamine market as border restrictions hampered smuggling routes and the price of the drug “skyrocketed,” a federal prosecutor said Monday. Reyes Espinoza, who lived with his family in San Ysidro but also split time between Mexico and a rural hideout in northern Minnesota, was coordinating the cross-border movement of 40 to 100 pounds of meth each week during much of 2020 and the first part of 2021, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Sutton told a judge in San Diego federal court. Sutton estimated that Espinoza, the lead defendant in a 60-person federal indictment filed last year, was making a profit of $2,000 to $3,000 per pound of meth — or roughly $80,000 to $300,000 in earnings per week. “He was getting good money from this crime,” Sutton said.
LA Times
SoCal Mom Accused Of Faking Baby's Cancer To Rip Off Donors
An El Monte woman is pushing to get her money back after an Arizona mom faked a baby's cancer to make money off the woman and the donors who stepped in to help. FOX 11 spoke with the California woman, who says she was scammed hundreds of dollars and spent months planning a fundraiser for the alleged fraud suspect and her baby – who the California woman was told was going to die soon. "So many people came together that day with open hearts and open minds and we were manipulated," said Ashley Jimenez, the alleged fraud victim. "It's really heartbreaking." All Ashley wanted to do was to help baby Natalia. And she went all out, as Ashley held a "Tacos for Cancer" event at the San Gabriel Valley Airport back on June 2022. She even landed sponsors and teamed up with several vendors, including her own business, Tacos La Toxica. "Typically, this would cost around $20,000 to $50,000," Ashley explained. "This was free."
FOX 11
California Murder Suspect Caught While Allegedly Stealing Shopping Cart Filled With Laundry Detergent
A murder suspect was caught after allegedly stealing a shopping cart jam-packed with laundry detergent in La Verne on Tuesday. The man was seen bolting out of a Vons supermarket on Foothill Blvd. while pushing a shopping cart filled with over 20 large bottles of Tide laundry detergent, said La Verne Police. The store’s manager was seen chasing after the man in the parking lot. When the suspect was arrested, police discovered he was wanted for murder with a $2 million warrant out for his arrest from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office. He was held until detectives from the San Bernardino office took him into custody. The gallons of Tide laundry detergent were safely returned to the grocery store, police said.
KTLA 5
Bodycam Captures Officer Helping Save Baby With RSV After The Infant Stopped Breathing
Officer Richard DuChaine is being praised for his quick actions that may have saved a baby’s life. Officer Richard DuChaine and his partner, Officer Charles Owen, responded Thursday to a call about a 1-month-old with RSV who was not breathing, according to the Kansas City Police. DuChaine performed chest compressions and then back thrusts on the baby girl before EMS providers arrived. She started to breathe again. He turned the baby on her side, and he and his partner checked the infant for obstructions. "And then once I got her flipped over on her back and I started doing the thrusts I started feeling her heart and then after she finally started coming to I could feel her heart racing," DuChaine said. The child was hospitalized, and the officers visited her there.
Fire Rescue 1
California Sheriff’s Office Discontinues Daytime Patrols Due To ‘Catastrophic Staffing Shortage’
One California sheriff’s office is reportedly suspending daytime patrol services due to a “catastrophic staffing shortage.” The suspension will take effect Nov. 20. According to KRCR News, the Tehama County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) is continuing to experience barriers to recruitment and retention due to pay disparities. "A drastic rise in attrition, coupled with the inability to present enticing recruitment efforts have resulted in an unprecedented staffing shortage," TCSO wrote in a statement shared by KRCR News. The release also states the department was forced to reassign deputies to fill vacancies at courts and jails due to staffing issues in their custody division, according to the report. As the TCSO works with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to find other resolutions, the CHP will be responding to calls when TCSO is not patrolling during daytime hours. Nighttime patrols will not be impacted.
PoliceOne
How This Police Sniper's 100-Foot Shot Stopped A Deadly Threat
Since Joseph Fix was a child, his dream was to be in the Army one day. He achieved that dream and once in the Army, he was driven to become one of the best. He became an Army Ranger assigned to 3rd Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning, Georgia. After honorably serving four years, he left the Army and used his GI Bill to earn an Associate's Degree. Eventually, he applied for and was hired by the Detroit Police Department in 1997. Police work seemed a natural transition from the military. After listening to gunfire and responding to homicides for seven years in Detroit, he was ready for a change of location, but not a change in his career. He discovered what he described as “a great community” when he was hired by the Township of Clinton Police Department in 2004. Clinton Township is a jurisdiction with a population of about 100,000 with a 90-person police department. Fix also additionally challenged himself by joining the on-call Clinton Township Police Special Response Team (SRT). Here he was able to put his Ranger skills to good use as a tactical team member and would soon be cross-trained as a sniper. Officer Joseph Fix was promoted to sergeant early in 2021.
PoliceOne
Public Safety News
Water Rescue Underway After Two Vehicles Spotted In LA River
Two cars were spotted in the Los Angeles River on Tuesday morning, prompting a full river rescue response from the Los Angeles Fire Department. One white car and one black car were seen in the rushing water and passed the Washington Street Bridge just after 8 a.m. Firefighters in the rescue team were working to determine whether there were people trapped inside the cars. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was trapped, or who those people might be. Around 8:30 a.m., LAFD firefighters said the vehicles appeared to be unoccupied, but a search was underway.
NBC 4
LA County Reports 1,433 New COVID-19 Cases
The Los Angeles County Health department reported 1,433 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the county. The county saw a slight uptick in cases over the weekend, reporting 2,978 positive COVID-19 cases. Additionally, the county reported that eight people passed away from the virus, bringing the death toll to 34,023 since the pandemic began. Four-hundred-and-forty people are currently hospitalized in LA County due to COVID-19, a slightly lower figure compared to the numbers reported over the past two days (448 & 442). Overall, Los Angeles has totaled 3,307,995 cases of COVID-19 sine the pandemic began.
CBS 2
COVID-19 Still A Leading Cause Of Death In L.A. County, Even Amid ‘Milder’ Omicron Surge
The coronavirus continues to play an outsized role in the mortality rate in Los Angeles County, new data from the Department of Public Health show. According to an analysis from the county health department, COVID-19 was the second-leading cause of death in the first six months of 2022, illustrating the outsized impact the pandemic has had on mortality rates despite widespread availability of vaccines and the arguably less-severe Omicron strain. By contrast, COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in the nation’s most populous county in the first six months of 2021, a span that includes the deadliest surge of the 2½-year pandemic. And for the comparable period in 2020, COVID-19 was the second leading cause of death, even though the coronavirus did not begin to spread widely until March.
LA Times
Local Government News
Traci Park Takes Early Lead In LA Council's 11th District Seat
Traci Park took the lead over Erin Darling tonight in the race to replace City Councilman Mike Bonin in the 11th District -- garnering 22,685 votes, or54.68%, compared to Darling's 18,804 votes, or 45.32%, according to initial numbers released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. The race is a contest between two lawyers with different viewpoints on how they would approach the position. The 11th District stretches along the Westside of the city along the Pacific Ocean. Bonin decided not to run for a third term, but his legacy looms large in this race. One of the more progressive members of the council, Bonin was one of two dissenters on adjusting the 41.18 ordinance that made it illegal for encampments to be within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. “I have called out irresponsible and failed approaches to homelessness and homeless interventions that we have seen in our community,'' Park said.
WestSide Current
