Law Enforcement

Jury rules against banker in LAPD beating lawsuit
A former banker and movie executive who said police beat him with batons in a bizarre street confrontation lost his $20 million excessive force claim on Friday against the Los Angeles Police Department. During the three-day trial, Brian Mulligan acknowledged that he had used a drug mixture known as bath salts in the weeks leading up to the May 2012 incident. Police officers said he appeared delusional, wandering the streets with crumpled $100 bills falling out of his pockets and made animal sounds when they confronted him.
Associated Press

LAPD officer awarded $260,000 over arrest by Pomona police
A jury has awarded a Los Angeles police officer $260,000 after finding that Pomona police used excessive force on the young cop and unlawfully arrested him. The verdict reached Wednesday evening was a final step in a nearly two-year effort by Sergio Arreola to clear his name after the 2012 encounter that left him fired from the LAPD and facing a possible prison sentence. "This was about showing the officers and showing Pomona that they can't be treating others the way they treated me," Arreola, 27, said.
Los Angeles Times

Police search for home invasion suspects in Woodland Hills
Police are searching for two robbers who forced their way into a Woodland Hills home before dawn Saturday morning, ransacked the residence, pistol-whipped a resident and made off with an estimated $30,000 in cash and a handful of expensive Rolex watches. The robbers forced the residents into the house in the 21000 block of Wells Drive just before 2 a.m., overtaking one who was opening a gate to pull into the driveway.
Los Angeles Daily News

Man stabbed multiple times at Venice Beach
A man suffered multiple stab wounds when he was attacked, allegedly by four people, on Oceanfront Walk at Rose Avenue on Venice beach, a police sergeant said Sunday. The stabbing occurred at 9:55 p.m. Saturday on Oceanfront Walk at Rose Avenue, said Sgt. Robin Richards of the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific Station. Police were contacted by the victim from the Venice Breeze Suites hotel about 14 blocks away from the scene. "He was stabbed several times,'' Richards said.
City News Service

Alleged camera thief inadvertently snaps selfie
A man suspected of burglarizing the outside of a Harbor City home inadvertently snapped a selfie using the home security camera he stole, police said. Police released a still photo of the subject this week. The picture was captured as the man stole cameras the morning of Jan. 19 from a home on Batey Avenue in Harbor City, said LAPD Detective Don Eldridge. Armed Robber Wanted in Dollar Store Heist Eldridge said detectives are taking the normal steps required to find the burglar but admitted that, thanks to the image, their job should be easier.
NBC4

Shooting in Boyle Heights' neighborhood dispute injures 2
A shooting in an apartment complex that left two men hospitalized was the result of a neighborhood dispute, police said Saturday. Both men are in their early 20s, Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Eddie Ortiz said. One suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach, the other was being treated for a bullet graze to the hand. The shooting was reported at 9:05 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Dundas Street in Boyle Heights.
City News Service

Police: Encino jeweler shot by brother-in-law
A suspected jewelry thief now faces attempted murder charges for allegedly shooting his brother-in-law Jan. 8 in Encino, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Amir Wolf, 47, was pulling into the driveway at his home in the 4900 block of Rupert Lane when an armed man approached on foot and shot him as he exited the vehicle. The suspect, who was not immediately identified by witnesses, fled to a vehicle parked on a nearby street.
San Fernando Post-Periodical

City Government

Judge throws out initiative to create L.A. city health department
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has thrown out an AIDS activist group's proposal to create a separate city health department, saying it was in conflict with state law over health care. The court ruling in cases filed by the city and county of Los Angeles invalidates the initiative headed for the June ballot from the AIDS Health Care Foundation that would have required the city to create its own health department, instead of being served by the county.
Los Angeles Daily News

Garcetti joins call to give $15 minimum wage to some hotel workers
Mayor Eric Garcetti has joined the ranks of supporters of a sharp rise in the minimum wage for workers at large hotels in Los Angeles. Several members of the City Council are preparing to release a formal proposal that large hotels pay their workers about $15.37 an hour, nearly double California's $8 minimum wage. "If it gets passed by the council, I would definitely sign it," Garcetti told The Times in an interview on Thursday.
Los Angeles Times

LAFD plan would let firefighters draw salary, pension at same time
With city officials saying Los Angeles Fire Department staffing has dropped to critically low levels, city officials proposed Friday looking at a plan to let veteran firefighters draw a salary and a pension at the same time to postpone their retirements. Councilman Mitch Englander and the council's Public Safety Committee asked for details of using a Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP) for three to five years to help bolster the number of firefighters on duty until new classes are trained.
Los Angeles Daily News

For Los Angeles, list is a first step toward improved quake safety
The University of California's release of data on nearly 1,500 older concrete buildings across Los Angeles marks a key step in the city's efforts to improve earthquake safety. Now the hard part begins. UC researchers spent several years compiling the list of buildings, a first-of-its-kind effort to help identify a type of building that earthquake experts have long said poses the greatest risk of death.
Los Angeles Times