Zero-Bail Policy Reinstated For LA County

Starting Wednesday, zero-bail policy is coming to Los Angeles County. This comes as a Superior Court judge says keeping people locked up because they can't afford bail is a serious constitutional violation. Supporters of the no-bail policy say this is a fair system. On the other hand, those involved with law enforcement argue it is the degradation of crime. Los Angeles County Deputy DA John McKinney explained that LASD will not be detaining suspects over crimes like theft, shoplifting, drug use, vandalism, batteries and a list of other nonviolent crimes due to the no-bail policy. It also means those who get arrested over the aforementioned allegations would be released immediately without having to pay bail before their arraignment. "Judge [Lawrence Riff] made the point of saying that he implored California officials like the sheriff, the chief of police, the district attorney, the city attorney. He implored them to testify to explain why he shouldn't issue this order. And he was surprised when no one stood up to challenge it," McKinney said.

FOX 11

Woman Shot, Killed By Neighbor In South Los Angeles: LAPD

A woman is dead and her neighbor is under arrest after a shooting in the Vermont Vista neighborhood of South Los Angeles Tuesday night. The shooting in the 8700 block of South Vermont Avenue occurred around 9:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Officers found a 31-year-old woman with multiple gunshot wounds, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Her neighbor, a man in his 40s, was taken into custody early Wednesday morning, though the events leading up to the shooting have not yet been made public. “We’ll take him back to our station and try to determine what actually happened,” said Officer Adrian Gonzalez.

KTLA 5

Hit-and-Run Driver Strikes And Kills Woman In Tarzana

A woman was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Tarzana Tuesday night. Police received calls around 10:40 p.m. that there was a person who has been hit by a vehicle near the Braemar Country Club on Reseda Boulevard. When first responders arrived to the scene they found a woman who was already deceased lying in the middle of the street. They also found vehicle debris scattered in the street. According to the LAPD Valley Traffic Division, they don't know if the woman was in the marked crosswalk along the sides. At this time police don't have a description of the driver or the vehicle that hit her. They are asking that anyone who was in the area at the time of the accident and might have seen something to call (818)644-8000.

NBC 4

Man Arrested In Connection With Reported Kidnapping At East Los Angeles Bus Stop

A man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a reported kidnapping of a woman who was trying to board a bus in East Los Angeles, police announced. It comes after authorities issued an alert, seeking the public's help in finding both the suspect and the victim. Police say the suspect, whose full name wasn't immediately released, was arrested on Tuesday by officers with LAPD's Newton Division. The incident occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. Monday at a bus stop on E. Third Street, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The alleged kidnapping was captured on surveillance video, but the department has not released the footage. Authorities said the woman was trying to board a Montebello Transit bus when she was confronted from behind by the suspect. The bus driver and a passenger attempted to intervene before the man broke a window on the bus and retrieved a handgun from a nearby car. The department said the man pointed the weapon at the bus driver and "appeared to coerce the female into the nearby vehicle," which then sped away east on Third Street toward the eastbound 60 Freeway.

ABC 7

City Council Votes To Accept Donation Of Controversial LAPD Robot Dog

Amid lingering concerns about surveillance and safety, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to accept the donation of a nearly $280,000 dog-like robot for the Police Department’s use. The 8-4 vote followed more than a dozen public comments urging council members to vote against the controversial device, which would be paid for with a donation from the Los Angeles Police Foundation. Council members also approved a plan to have the Los Angeles Police Department provide quarterly reports on deployment of the device, including where and why it was deployed, the outcome and any issues. “This item is being painted as merely an acceptance of a donation, but it really represents an expansion of the current boundaries around policing and surveillance,” Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez said before voting no. “This is not the vision of the community that I believe Los Angeles should be.” Although the vote was a majority in favor, none of the council members Tuesday explained why they endorsed the move. Councilmember Traci Park, who voted for the device, previously dismissed the suggestion that the robot would put the department “on a path towards a dystopian, Orwellian future of state surveillance.”

Los Angeles Times

LA Woman Who Ran Health Care Fraud Scheme Sentenced To Prison

A San Pedro woman was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months behind bars for her role in a scheme that submitted phony claims to a labor union health plan at the Port of Long Beach. Sara Victoria, 46, was also ordered to pay $551,810 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Victoria pleaded guilty in December to federal charges of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. Victoria admitted in her plea agreement to owning three businesses between 2017 and 2021 that provided sexual services as well as chiropractic and acupuncture treatments. Knowing that longshoremen and others involved in the shipping industry in Long Beach had health insurance under the International Longshore and Warehouse Union-Pacific Maritime Association benefit plan that generally covered all chiropractic services without a deductible, co-pay or out-of-pocket expenses, Victoria offered dock workers cash kickbacks or sexual services in exchange for authorization to submit false claims for services not actually rendered, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court show.

MyNewsLA

3 Suspects Sought In Armed Robbery At Westfield Culver City Mall

Police sought the public's help Tuesday to find three armed robbery suspects who assaulted a victim before stealing his belongings outside the Westfield Culver City mall. Officers responded around 8 p.m. Friday to the parking lot of the mall in the 6000 block of Sepulveda Boulevard, according to the Culver City Police Department. Police said three suspects approached the victim after he left Sheikh Shoes, then asked where he was from while one of them brandishing a handgun. The victim tried to walk away but was punched several times by the suspects until he fell to the ground, police said. The suspects then snatched jewelry from the victim's neck, took his iPhone 12 and ran back inside the mall. All three suspects were described as men between the ages of 18 and 25. The first suspect was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and red pants, while the second suspect wore a white shirt and black pants and had a tattoo of the letter B on his face. That suspect was armed with a black handgun. The third suspect was wearing a white shirt, police said.

Westside Current

Teens 18 And Younger Thought To Have Stolen Over 150 Cars In LA County

Police believe a group of masked teens 18 and younger is responsible for a string of car thefts and at least 20 robberies – two of which resulted in people being shot – in three Los Angeles County cities. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said some five people have been arrested thus far, but they believe as many as 20 are involved. The group is tied to at least 20 robberies in Lancaster, Palmdale and Los Angeles. “So far, since April 12, we’ve connected them to at least 20 robberies, many of those businesses. A couple of those are street vendors. At least one is a carjacking of a woman just sitting in her car in a Walmart parking lot,” LASD detective Benjamin Casebolt said. In addition to all the robberies, detectives say the group has worked together to steal more than 150 cars, mostly Kia and Hyundai sedans. “It appears to be a crew of young males. The MO is the same. They are stealing cars and using those cars in robberies. And once they are done with the robbery, they’ll either leave it sitting in a street or they’ll even sell it to a tow yard or someone who’s willing to buy without looking into the validity of the car,” Casebolt said. In just the month of May, the group is thought to have hit several businesses in Lancaster, including a gas station and liquor store on Beeches Avenue, another gas station at 4th Street and Avenue L, and a Pizza Hut on Avenue K.

NBC 4

Good Samaritans Jump In To Save CHP Officer Pinned To The Ground By Suspect

Everado Navarro is still in disbelief that a seemingly calm interaction between a man and a California Highway Patrol officer could escalate to a life-or-death brawl so quickly. "I think about my kids at that moment," said Navarro. "And at the same time, I did think the officer may have a family as well." According to the CHP, the brawl happened last Friday at about 5 p.m. near the I-5 Freeway on-ramp and Main Street in Santa Ana. At first, two motorcycle cops approached the suspect, who was accused of yelling at drivers, but only one remained after they issued the man a warning. With only one officer at the scene, the suspect returned wanting to fight the patrolman, according to CHP. "Like he actually grabbed his bike, the officer's bike," said Navarro. The suspect was able to overpower the officer, pinning him to the ground. With the officer In a dire situation, Navarro jumped in to help. "I punched the guy in the ribs but it felt like nothing," said Navarro. "He just continued grabbing the officer down. At that moment, my only concern was to avoid the person from grabbing the officer's gun."

CBS 2

Georgia Officer Shot In Head While Responding To Domestic Fight

A Covington police officer was shot in the head while responding to a domestic fight at a hotel late Tuesday night, according to authorities. The suspect was shot dead by other responding officers, Lt. Daniel Digby told Channel 2 Action News at the scene. The wounded officer was taken to a hospital and is said to be stable, the news station reported. Officers were called around 10:30 p.m. to the Oyo Hotel along Alcovy Road, just off I-20, about a fight between a man and a woman, the news station reported. When the first officer arrived, he encountered the armed man and gunfire was exchanged. “The second officer arrived on scene shortly just after that and engaged the subject,” Digby said. “The subject sustained gunshot wounds and is deceased.” The man’s name was not released. The officer was being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital. Investigators, including the GBI, collected evidence at the scene through the night and into Wednesday morning.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Illinois Deploying 30 ‘Peacekeepers’ In Chicago Over Memorial Day Weekend To Help Violence Prevention Efforts

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration will be sending a newly created team of street outreach workers to Chicago neighborhoods during the Memorial Day weekend to help with the city’s violence prevention efforts. The workers are with the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Citywide Crisis Prevention & Response Unit, whose goal is to address street conflicts through mediation and de-escalation. According to the governor’s office, the unit will send out over 30 workers — whom the state is calling “peacekeepers” — to various neighborhoods. The unit will work with community groups and various city and state agencies on the violence prevention efforts. The announcement of the strategy comes ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, the unofficial start to summer and a time of year when Chicago has historically seen especially high tallies of shootings. The new unit also signals the approach that Pritzker and new Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have said they want to take in addressing crime in the city, which has seen an increase of gun violence since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Instead of solely relying on traditional law enforcement in fighting crime, Pritzker and Johnson have championed more holistic approaches.

Chicago Tribune

CDC Investigates Six-State Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Cookie Dough

A six-state salmonella outbreak has been linked to Papa Murphy's cookie dough, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday. At least 18 illnesses have been reported, with two hospitalizations, the CDC said. Six of the cases are in Washington state, with four each in Oregon and Idaho. The sickened patients ranged in age from 14 to 68. No deaths have been linked to eating the cookie dough. “The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses," the CDC said. "This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella." Health officials have interviewed 14 of the patients about what they ate in the week before they got sick, according to the CDC, with 12 of the 14 saying they ate food from Papa Murphy's. Nine of those 12 said they ate raw chocolate chip cookie dough or raw S'mores bars dough, the CDC said, and one person ate baked cookies made with the chocolate chip dough. The CDC did not specify if the cookie dough the other two interviewed patients ate was raw or baked. 

CBS 2

LA City Council Amends Parking Space Policy For Housing Needs

The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Tuesday seeking to nullify the city’s parking space replacement policy in an effort to accommodate more affordable and supportive housing developments. Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky introduced the motion seeking to nullify a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Transportation and the City Administrative Office, which outlined the parking space replacement policy. The policy set requirements for the number of parking spaces that an affordable housing developer must replace depending on the size and utilization rates of the parking facility. “The mandate of replacing parking without individual analysis of the particular sites can have a detrimental impact on the redevelopment of property for affordable housing,” said Tricia Keane, executive officer for the city’s Housing Department.

MyNewsLA

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 9,200 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.