Law Enforcement News
Mother Of 4 Killed In Crash With Corvette Driver Who Ran Red Light In Lake Balboa
A driver in a Corvette ran a red light at more than 90 mph before slamming into another car in a horrific crash that left two people dead in Lake Balboa, according to investigators. Video from the scene shows the violent crash left a trail of wreckage in the 6400 block of N. Balboa Boulevard near Victory Boulevard. A sign in the strip mall was damaged by crash debris and part of one car ended up in a restaurant. The impact of the collision was so severe that one of the cars, a Honda Accord, was split into two and overturned on its roof. The sedan's engine ended up in the strip mall parking lot. The Accord driver died at the scene. She was identified Thursday by the coroner's office as Katty Figueroa, a 45-year-old mother of four children. Family and friends gathered at the site of the crash Wednesday night. Photos of Figueroa with her daughters were taped to a traffic light pole at the intersection. Visitors included the victim's father.
NBC 4
Man Shot In Head In Downtown Los Angeles
A man was shot in the head in downtown Los Angeles Thursday evening. The shooting was reported at 8:28 p.m. and Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to Fifth and San Pedro streets where they found the victim, LAPD Officer Rosario Cervantes told City News Service. The victim was taken to a hospital in unknown condition. There was no suspect description.
MyNewsLA
Boyle Heights Gold Line Shooter Carjacks SUV, Crashes: LAPD
A suspect who shot a man on a Metro Gold Line platform in Boyle Heights carjacked an SUV and crashed a half-mile away before he was arrested Thursday night, police said. A man was standing on the platform at the Metro Gold Line Pico/Aliso station on 1st Street near Utah Street when someone with a gun approached him and fired at about 10 p.m. Thursday. The victim was struck in the leg or foot and ran onto a train. He was later hospitalized in stable condition. Other people on the platform at the time were not injured. Witnesses said the suspect ran away. Los Angeles police believe the same suspect then carjacked a woman nearby in a white Lexus SUV and sped away. The suspect then lost control of the vehicle, crashed through a fence at a construction site about a half-mile away, and landed in a trench. The suspect got out of the SUV and tossed the gun, police said. Officers took him into custody at the scene.
CBS 2
LA Police Seek Additional Victims Of Alleged Serial Sex Offender
Los Angeles police Thursday urged any possible witnesses or victims of a man suspected in a series of Southland sexual assaults dating back to 2017 to come forward. Benjamin Parke Belser, 36, was arrested Saturday in the Village Green neighborhood near Baldwin Hills on suspicion of rape, forced sodomy, forced oral copulation and sexual penetration with a foreign object in a series of sexual assaults beginning in 2017, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The alleged attacks occurred in areas including West Los Angeles, downtown and Koreatown, police said. According to the LAPD, Belser was charged earlier this week with a dozen felony counts. Police said Belser would lure women using social media and dating applications. “Beginning in at least 2017, he began contacting women online and used elaborate ruses to conceal his identity,” police said in a statement. “The sexual assaults continued until at least 2022, when (LAPD detectives) began their investigation against Belser.”
NBC 4
Offender Who Walked Away From Los Angeles Reentry Program Apprehended
An inmate who walked away from a reentry program in Los Angeles has been apprehended by authorities, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. On Wednesday around 7:30 p.m., investigators located and arrested 30-year-old Carlos Montes at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. Montes was reported as a walkaway from the Male Community Reentry Program on Saturday after his monitoring device indicated he had left the facility. The community reentry program allows eligible offenders in state prison to serve the end of their sentences in the reentry center, where the program links them to a “range of community-based rehabilitative services” in hopes of helping them transition from custody to the community. Montes had been at the Reentry Program since February 2022 to serve the end of a five-year sentence for second-degree robbery and evading police. He is now likely to face new charges related to his escape.
KTLA 5
Woman Brutally Yanks, Drags Puppy In Broad Daylight In LA's South Gate Neighborhood
A disturbing video shows a woman yanking and dragging a small dog in Los Angeles' South Gate neighborhood. Now, the search is on to find the woman in hopes of rescuing the puppy. "I don't want to see that. I saw just enough to run downstairs and try to prevent her from doing anything. But by then they had driven away," said a witness who shared the video with FOX 11. The witness claims the woman also beat and kicked the dog and put the pup in the car. "She put him in the car and was punching him. I heard a little bit of it," the witness said. The brutal attack happened Monday, February 6 in broad daylight. As of Thursday night, no announcements have been made by officials on the identity of the woman or if any arrests have been made in the horrifying incident.
FOX 11
2 Men Accused Of Using Elaborate Fraud Scheme To Carjack Victims In South Gate
Two men have been arrested in what authorities called an elaborate scheme to steal vehicles in the South Gate area by fraud and force. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials said Thursday they know of 15 people who were victimized by Arnulfo Florentino Lira and Jose Luis Parga, of Bell Gardens, but there could be more victims out there. Investigators believe the men targeted the Spanish-speaking community. The men are accused of using social media to lure their victims. The suspects would meet them at the parking lots of businesses in South Gate, including Walmart and Petco, then use force to carjack them. Officials said the suspects would offer their victims thousands of dollars in cash to transport merchandise in their vehicles to the Central Valley.
KTLA 5
SoCal Man Accused Of Intentionally Driving Family Off Cliff Pleads Not Guilty To Attempted Murder
Dharmesh Patel, a Pasadena man accused of intentionally driving his family off Devil's Slide cliff in Northern California, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges in a Redwood City courthouse on Thursday. Patel faces three counts of attempted murder after allegedly driving his wife and two children off the cliff in early January. "He is charged with three counts of pre-meditated and deliberate attempted murder," said San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Sean Gallagher. "We believe the evidence will show him intentionally driving his family off a cliff with the intent to kill them." According to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, evidence shows there were no signs of braking or skid marks before Patel drove the car over the cliff. He also says there are cameras near Tom Lantos Tunnels that show the Tesla coming out of a tunnel and over the cliff.
ABC 7
8 Arrested For Alleged Involvement In California Thefts Targeting Apple Stores, Other Retailers
Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of taking part in a statewide retail theft ring, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office announced Thursday, Feb. 9. Prosecutors allege that from August 2022 to January 2023, a group of suspects wreaked havoc at retail stores across California, many of them Apple computer stores. The culprits would enter stores and hold customers and employees at bay while stealing items worth thousands of dollars, such as phones and tablets. Riverside, San Bernardino, and Orange counties were among those targeted. According to a criminal complaint, two of the suspects targeted an Apple Store in Rancho Cucamonga, then another in Irvine the very next day. Each suspect faces multiple felony charges, including conspiracy to commit retail theft, organized retail theft, grand theft, theft in the amount more than $500,000, and an aggravated white collar enhancement. The crimes were investigated by numerous California agencies including the California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Theft Crimes Task Force, the Oakland Police Department, Riverside Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Marshal’s Office.
LA Daily News
2nd Indiana Cop Out Of Hospital After Being Shot By Suspect At Point Blank-Range
The second of two southern Indiana police officers shot during a weekend traffic stop has been released from a hospital, a local sheriff said Wednesday. Mitchell Police Officer Christian Anderson was released from IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day said in a post on Facebook. The other wounded officer, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Rhoades, left a hospital Sunday. “We pray for their continued healing,” Day said. Rhoades was shot twice and Anderson once on Sunday. Both officers fired at the suspect, identified by police as Anthony Richmond, 29, of West Baden Springs, who died at the scene in Mitchell, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis., according to Indiana State Police. Richmond fired several shots before he was killed, police said. Richmond fled on foot from officers as they were trying to handcuff him following the discovery of drugs in his car that had been stopped for a traffic violation, police said.
Associated Press
Suspect In Custody After Shooting 2 Maryland Officers, Hourslong Standoff
A suspect sought in the shooting of two Maryland police officers has been taken into custody early Friday after fleeing from the vehicle he had stolen from a detective he shot, authorities said. Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies surrounded the suspect in a wooded area near a shopping mall in Fallston after police used spike strips to disable the stolen vehicle, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said, and he was taken into custody about 5:45 a.m. “Our community is safer with this individual in custody where he belongs.” Gahler said at a Friday morning news conference. The suspect, earlier identified as David Linthicum, 24, wasn't injured during the arrest and charges were pending, Gahler said. He was expected to be transferred to the custody of Baltimore County Police. Authorities believe the suspect had fled with a rifle, so they were searching the area for a weapon, Gahler said. When the arrest was made, Gahler said the suspect had ammunition with him.
Associated Press
Public Safety News
LA County COVID-19 Hospitalizations Dips Below 700
The number of COVID-19-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals dipped just under 700, while health officials reported 1,086 new COVID-19 infections and 17 more virus-related deaths in their latest data. The new cases gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,685,649. The daily case numbers released by the county’s Department of Public Health are undercounts of actual virus activity, due to people who use at-home tests and don’t report the results, and others who don’t test at all. The majority of those who die with COVID-19 are elderly or have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, hearts disease or hypertension. According to state figures, there were 699 COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals as of Thursday, down from the 773 on Wednesday. Of those patients, 76 were being treated in intensive care units.
MyNewsLA
If The Big One Hits, Here's How SoCal Search-and-Rescue Teams Would Look For Survivors
More than 20,000 people have died in the massive earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria last week. Even now survivors are being pulled from the rubble, but as time passes hopes are diminishing for further rescues. The magnitude 7.8 quake was a reminder to Southern California about how vulnerable we are to major temblors as well. Los Angeles County has sent a search-and-rescue team to help in Turkey. And in Sherman Oaks on Thursday, Los Angeles city firefighters and other agencies demonstrated how they would respond if the big one hits here. Among the tools are search-and-rescue dogs like Bear. During the demonstration, Bear turns a corner and suddenly picks up a scent. When his trainer gives the command, off he sprints and finds the person he's looking for. "I'm really looking for an alert," said Bear's trainer, Tai Trinh, with the Los Angeles Fire Department. "These K9s, when they find a scent they start barking, scratching and basically go crazy on it."
ABC 7
Local Government News
Candidates For Los Angeles City Council District 6 Face Off In Debate Hosted By Homeless Nonprofit
Six of the seven candidates running to replace Nury Martinez on the Los Angeles City Council squared off in a debate hosted by the homeless nonprofit organization Hope the Mission in North Hills. "We are so thankful to be able to host this so we can be able to give that opportunity, so the community at large can learn about the candidates," said Hope the Mission CEO Ken Craft. The candidates are running for the District 6 seat. Nury Martinez resigned the seat in October amid controversy over a leaked audio recording of her making racist comments. "Everyone up here is running to replace a member of the city council and bring with them new ideas and new leadership," said candidate Marisa Alcaraz. The debate was centered around the homeless crisis. Candidates were asked about different issues and discussed how they would take action if they were elected. "Something is broken within the system. And I'm going to bring my approach of being outcomes-driven to really make sure we start to see a change within this crisis," said candidate Imelda Padilla.
ABC 7
