Black Lives Matter Calls For Removal Of LAPD Chief Michel Moore

The Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter and relatives of people killed by the Los Angeles Police Department called for the removal of Police Chief Michel Moore Tuesday, for what they termed his lack of leadership and failure to serve the city's Black community. "We are here because our community continues to be abused," Pastor Stephen "Cue" Jn-Marie of The Row Church said during a news conference outside LAPD headquarters downtown, on the day of the city's Police Commission meeting. The Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents LAPD detectives and officers, called BLM-LA's action as "yet another half-backed stunt disguised as a serious solution." "With all the published financial and nepotism accusations swirling around the BLM leadership, we suggest they get their own house in order and focus on actually accomplishing something, anything, that will make L.A. safer," LAPPL said in a statement.

Westside Current

Man Accused Of Killing LASD Deputy Scheduled To Appear In Court

The man accused of killing a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy in an ambush-style shooting was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. Kevin Salazar, 29, was arrested Monday in the deadly shooting of 30-year-old Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer. He faces criminal charges during Wednesday’s scheduled hearing in Lancaster. Clinkunbroomer was shot and killed in his patrol vehicle as he was leaving the Palmdale Sheriff Station. The sheriff's deputy was in uniform in a marked patrol car when he was shot near the intersection of Sierra Highway and Avenue Q at a red light. A tipster told police they recognized the suspect car in a wanted flyer. Sources told the NBC4 I-Team the tipster thought they’d been involved in an unreported road rage incident with the same car and driver in the last week. Sheriff’s department SWAT officers arrested Salazar at his Palmdale home Monday after an hourslong standoff. “Our deputies gave this suspect an opportunity to peacefully give up. That is not the right that was afforded to our deputy,” an impassioned Sheriff Robert Luna said in a news conference Monday. 

NBC 4

Deaths Of 2 Models Found In Downtown L.A. In Same Week Appear To Be Unrelated, LAPD Says

The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday there appeared to be no connection between the deaths of two models found in separate luxury apartments in downtown L.A. within the same week. On Sept. 10, 32-year-old Nichole Coats was found dead inside her apartment in the 700 block of South Grand Avenue, according to an LAPD news release. Her death is not being investigated as a homicide, according to the LAPD and the L.A. County medical examiner’s department. No further information about her death was available Tuesday. About a mile away, a second model, 31-year-old Maleesa Mooney, was found two days later in her apartment in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street while officers were responding to a radio call for a welfare check, according to the LAPD. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. The LAPD said in a statement Tuesday there was “no evidence to suggest that the deaths of Ms. Coats and Ms. Mooney are related to one another.” The LAPD is still investigating the cause of death for both women; no further details about the case will be released during the active investigation. Still, LAPD Officer Tony Im said Tuesday the circumstances of Coats’ death showed nothing “that stood out to us that would make it a homicide, so we need the coroner to do an examination of the body to see what caused the death.”

Los Angeles Times

Las Vegas Teenagers Charged With Murder Of Former Bell Police Chief

Two Las Vegas teenagers are facing murder charges after they allegedly posted a video of them deliberately running over a former police chief. According to police, the alleged murder happened over a month ago on Aug. 14 in a residential area about 10 miles away from the Las Vegas Strip. Investigators said that former Bell Police Department Chief Andreas Probst was riding his bicycle a little before 6:05 a.m. when a 17-year-old intentionally rammed him during what police called a joyride. The 64-year-old suffered life-threatening injuries and later died at a nearby hospital. "We are devastated by the senseless murder of Andy. Andy's life was robbed by two individuals who did not believe that the lives of others matter," said daughter Taylor Probst. Police said the suspects recorded themselves running over Probst and then posted it online. At least one of the teens can be heard saying "hit his [expletive]" while chuckling. The driver honked the horn at Probst before striking him, sending him over the car's hood. One of them yelled that Probst was knocked out to which the other responded "we need to get out of here."

CBS 2

Homeless Man Convicted Of Murders In LA, Santa Monica Charged With Killing Cellmate

A serial killer who pleaded guilty last year to a crime spree in Los Angeles and Santa Monica that left five men dead and seven others injured, along with the killings of his aunt and uncle in Texas, has been charged with murdering his cellmate in a Kern County prison, authorities announced Monday. Ramon Alberto Escobar is set to be arraigned Thursday in connection with the Feb. 24 strangulation of Juan Villanueva at North Kern State Prison, according to the Kern County District Attorney's Office. The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation of seven prior murder convictions. Escobar is also accused of committing an assault with malice by an inmate serving a life sentence, according to the Kern County District Attorney's Office. Villanueva -- who was sentenced in Los Angeles County to life with the possibility of parole for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 -- was discovered unresponsive in the cell that he occupied with Escobar, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said earlier this year.

Westside Current

Arson Suspect Spotted Leaving Scene Of Hollywood Fire

A man was seen walking away from a fire that had just been set in a Hollywood intersection early Wednesday morning. The incident occurred around 3:50 a.m. near Wilcox and Franklin avenues along the border of Hollywood and Hollywood Hills. The man who allegedly set the fire was seen walking westbound on Franklin and eventually disappeared into a nearby building, an OnScene.TV stringer news reporter said. The reporter called 911 as flames shot into the air near a Prius that was parked on the street. Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters responded to the scene and quickly doused the flames. The fire did cause damage to the tire and back bumper of the Prius.

KTLA 5

Santa Monica Man To Plead Guilty In Cryptocurrency Money Laundering Scheme

A Santa Monica man charged with using his cryptocurrency cash exchange business to launder millions of dollars in alleged criminal proceeds will plead guilty on Sept. 27 to a federal charge, officials said Tuesday. Charles Randol, 33, has agreed to plead guilty to failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, a crime that carries a sentence of up to five years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He is expected to enter his plea before U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera in downtown Los Angeles. From October 2017 to July 2021, Randol owned and operated a virtual- currency money services business known as Digital Coin Strategies LLC. The company offered cryptocurrency cash exchange services for a commission, according to his plea agreement. Randol met anonymous customers in person to complete transactions, controlling and operating a network of automated kiosks in Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties that converted cash to Bitcoin and vice versa, and conducted Bitcoin-for-cash transactions for unknown people who mailed large amounts of U.S. currency to him, including to post office boxes that he controlled, court papers show.

Westside Current

Indiana Deputy Shot In Head During 2021 Welfare Check Making Strides In Recovery

A deputy who was shot in the head is making an extraordinary recovery. In 2021, Posey County Deputy Bryan Hicks nearly died when he was shot while responding to a welfare check. Leroy’s Tavern in Evansville hosted an event to celebrate Hicks' recovery on the anniversary of the shooting, WEHT reports. “Just celebrating his accomplishments. I mean, two years ago right now, he was in a coma. We didn’t know if he'd survive or what. Now, he’s driving and working out ... and just crushing it,” his wife, Tammy Hicks, told 44News. Posey County Deputy Kendel Tieken, the officer who rescued Hicks following the shooting, agreed with Hicks' family that his recovery is nothing less than miraculous. “It’s an absolute miracle. God works in mysterious ways. It’s surreal that it happened, but it was one of those instances where we experienced it. We got a job to do. You saw what happens; you just do your job. I just went in. I didn’t think about my well-being. All I could think about was Bryan on the ground …and he needs our help,” Tieken told WEHT. Hicks has now regained the ability to drive and workout at the gym independently — significant strides toward autonomy, which initially seemed unimaginable.

PoliceOne

9 Pennsylvania Juveniles Captured After Detention Center Escape

Nine teenagers who escaped from a detention center in Pennsylvania after overpowering staff and crawling under a fence were captured less than 12 hours later, state police said Monday. “It probably was planned, but poorly planned,” said Pennsylvania State Police Trooper David Beohm. Beohm said the first four were taken into custody shortly before 6 a.m. after they went to a home and knocked on the door. They turned themselves in because they were cold and tired, Beohm said. Police caught up with the other five after a pickup truck and trailer were reported stolen. After a brief car pursuit, police found four of them in the vehicle. The last teen ran off and was caught in a field a short time later. State and local police were called late Sunday to take control of the juvenile center in Morgantown, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. Beohm said the escape happened after the boys, all between the ages of 15 and 17, wrested the keys away from two staff members. They got out of the building and went to the recreation yard, where they found a spot to crawl under the fence, Beohm said. All were captured less than five miles from the detention center.

Associated Press

Fire Crews Battles Residential Fire In East Hollywood

A fire at a three-story apartment building in East Hollywood Tuesday evening was knocked down in 34 minutes. Firefighters responded to the building in the 1600 block of North Mariposa Avenue, between Western and Vermont avenues and Hollywood and Sunset boulevards, around 6 p.m. regarding a residential fire, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Margaret Stewart. “Firefighters initiated an offensive attack and located heavy smoke compartmentalized behind a Ponet (fire) door,” Stewart said. It took 70 firefighters to contain the fire on the second floor of the apartment building that spread up the wall to the third floor, Stewart said. Two residents were assessed for possible smoke inhalation. There were no reports of anyone being taken to a hospital. It’s unclear what may have sparked the fire, and the cause is under investigation.

MyNewsLA

DNA Evidence Helps Officials Narrow Down Death Count In Maui Wildfire To 97

Authorities in Hawaii have adjusted the number of deaths from the deadly Maui wildfire down to at least 97 people. Officials previously said they believed at least 115 people had died in the fire, but further testing showed they had multiple DNA samples from some of the victims. The number of those who are missing also fell from 41 to 31, Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said. John Byrd, laboratory director with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, said during a news conference Friday afternoon that the current number of dead should be considered a minimum, because it’s possible that toll could rise. Determining the death toll from the Aug. 8 wildfire in Lahaina has been especially complicated because of the damage caused by the fire and the chaos as people tried to escape, officials said. In some cases, animal remains were inadvertently collected along with human remains. So far, 74 of the deceased have been positively identified, Pelletier said. The Lahaina fire is the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. Caught in a hellscape, some residents died in their cars, while others jumped into the ocean or tried to run for safety. The blaze reduced much of the historic town to ash.

Associated Press

LA City Council Members Call For Charter Reform

As a Los Angeles City Council committee continues to discuss ways to establish an independent redistricting commission and the possibility of expanding the council, council members Tuesday introduced a motion calling for reforming the City Charter. Council President Paul Krekorian, Council President Pro Tem Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilman Tim McOsker filed a motion Tuesday directing a report back with best practices for a charter reform process and options to create a commission to provide recommendations for the 2024 or 2026 ballots. According to the motion, the current charter was developed in the late 1990s through two charter reform commissions that conducted an “extensive review and analysis of every section of the prior charter.” Officials say that process was conducted due to widespread dissatisfaction with the city at the time, which included a failed secession movement in the San Fernando Valley. 

MyNewsLA

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.