Law Enforcement News

Alabama Officer Gunned Down While Attempting Arrest
The man responsible for killing a Mobile police officer will be charged with Capital Murder, according to District Attorney Ashley Rich. Marco Perez, 19, allegedly killed 30-year-old Officer Sean Tuder just after 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Peach Place Inn in West Mobile after Tuder was following leads to apprehend Perez. “We will be asking for Perez to be held without bond and he will be booked into Metro Jail tonight,” Rich said. “I am authorizing charges against the suspect for capital murder for killing a law enforcement officer.” “This is a time for grief for us,” Chief Lawrence Battiste said. “We are trying to make sense of how we could have another brother lose his life in less than a year. We're thankful to those who have reached out to us so far, but this is a hard time for us.”
Alabama Media Group, Birmingham

Man Takes His Own Life As Shots Fired, Police Evacuate Residents In Sherman Oaks Neighborhood
Police worked Saturday to determine the circumstances that led to a man taking his own life during a barricade situation inside a home in Sherman Oaks. Officers responded at 3:30 p.m. Friday to a call about a suicidal man in the 4600 block of Burnet Avenue and when police arrived, they heard gunshots, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The home was cordoned off, nearby residences were evacuated and a SWAT team and crisis negotiators were summoned to deal with what was being treated as a barricade situation, police said. Officers announced around 9:20 p.m. that the suspect had been found dead inside the home with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. “It could have been worse because there were people around, people knocking on the door when those shots were fired, our officers are around,” police spokesman Josh Rubenstein said.
Los Angeles Daily News

1 Wounded, 1 Injured After Gunman Opens Fire On Car In North Hollywood; Shooter At Large
Authorities were searching for a gunman who shot a man and injured a woman Monday night in a North Hollywood shooting that was being investigated as gang-related. Gunfire erupted around 7:20 p.m. after the shooter approached a vehicle the victims were in parked on the 6300 block of Bellingham Avenue — not far from the Regency movie theater — and confronted them, according to Sgt. Mike Lopez with the Los Angeles Police Department. Three people were in the car, and two of them were wounded. A man was struck by a bullet and in stable condition, while a woman was struck by broken glass, Lopez said. The victims' bullet-riddled sedan ended up about a block away, near the corner of Sylvan Street and Agnes Avenue, officials said. The shooter fled the scene, but police detained the third occupant of the victims' vehicle and took him into the station for questioning.
KTLA 5

Transgender Male Sought In Stabbing At Downtown L.A. McDonald's
A transgender male suspected of stabbing a 50-year-old man at McDonald's restaurant in downtown Los Angeles was at large Saturday. The stabbing was reported at 4:40 p.m. Friday at the McDonald's at Central Avenue and Olympic Boulevard, according to Los Angeles Police Department Officer Drake Madison. The victim was taken to a hospital in unknown condition. The suspect, described as a transgender male, fled, but is known to investigators, Madison said. The suspect and victim may have known one another, Madison said.
MyNewsLA.com

Employee Hurt In Smash-and-Grab Robbery At Biltmore Hotel Jewelry Store
Police searched Saturday for three men and a woman suspected of carrying out a smash-and-grab robbery of a jewelry store at an upscale downtown Los Angeles hotel. Officers responded at 2:45 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 to a call of a robbery at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in the 500 block of Olive Street, according to Officer Drake Madison of the Los Angeles Police Department's Media Relations Section. The suspects – three men and a woman all believed to be 25-30 years old – used a hammer before fleeing in a silver 1996 Lexus sedan last seen heading west on Fifth Street, Madison said. A store employee was injured during the robbery.
Los Angeles Daily News

Burglars Hit LA Home Of Boxer Manny Pacquiao
A home belonging to Manny Pacquiao in the Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles was ransacked by burglars over the weekend while the boxer was away fighting in the welterweight championship bout in Las Vegas. The burglary was reported in the 500 block of North Plymouth Boulevard at 4:15 p.m. Sunday, according to Los Angeles police. CBS2 confirmed with the family that the home belongs to Pacquiao. The circumstances of the burglary, what was taken and when it was discovered were not immediately disclosed. There were no word of any arrests. The 40-year-old Pacquiao defeated Adrien Broner in a unanimous decision Saturday night at the MGM Grand. This is the latest in a slew of celebrity home burglaries going back to 2016.
CBS 2

Search Underway For Offender Who Walked Away From Los Angeles Re-Entry Facility
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials are looking for an offender who walked away from a re-entry facility in Los Angeles. Randy Rodriguez, 32, walked away from the Male Community Reentry Program in L.A. on Sunday. Authorities were alerted around 11:10 p.m. that Rodriguez had removed his GPS device and had left the program. Local law enforcement agencies were informed of the situation, and an emergency search was conducted. However, Rodriguez remains at large. Rodriguez is described as being 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds. He was received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Nov. 8, 2017 with a four-year sentence for vehicle theft. 
ABC 7

Chase Suspect Drives Car Into Ocean In San Pedro, Attempts To Swim Away
Southern California sees a lot of police chases, but most of them don't end with a suspect driving his car into the ocean, which is what happened in San Pedro on Saturday. Two suspects led Long Beach police from the northbound 710 Freeway at Del Amo Boulevard to San Pedro, where California Highway Patrol officers took over the chase. The original driver jumped out of the car in San Pedro, and the passenger got behind the wheel. He ended up on the Cabrillo Beach boat ramp and stayed in the car, turning the incident into a standoff, police said. After a while, the suspect drove the car into the water. He was seen putting his stuff in plastic bags as the car was sinking.
ABC 7

Deputies Save Lives Of 4 Men Suspected Of Overdosing On Fentanyl At Lynwood Home: LASD
Deputies used Narcan to save the lives of a group of men who nearly died after apparently overdosing on opioids at a home in Lynwood over the weekend, authorities said Monday. Authorities responded to the 2600 block of 108th Street to a medical rescue call Friday night indicating that three men were unconscious and unresponsive, according to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department news release. When Century Station deputies arrived, they found the men foaming at the mouth, with faint pulses, shallow breathing and bloody noses — all signs of a possible fentanyl overdose, the release stated. Deputies administered department-issued Narcan as they worked to save the men's lives.
KTLA 5

Chico's Mass Overdose Highlights Severe New Phase Of Opioid Epidemic
The first victim was outside the house, sprawled on a patio beside the garage. His friends were already performing CPR when Chico police got to the scene. The others are inside, they told police. Four more victims were in the garage, a converted space with couches and coffee tables. One was in the bathroom, having collapsed while taking a shower. Six others were scattered around the house in various stages of intoxication. Drugs and alcohol and the tools to ingest them were everywhere. An officer radioed for help. Send everything, he said: All of the paramedics, all of the ambulances.
San Francisco Chronicle

Marijuana Is Legal In California. So Why Is The CHP Arresting Delivery Drivers?
Cannabis may be legal in California, but the new rules of the road are so confusing that even former California Highway Patrol officers are struggling with them. That became clear on a September morning when a pair of former CHP officers who now run a licensed cannabis distribution business found themselves arrested after a traffic stop on Interstate 5 in Stanislaus County. Rick Barry, 48, and Brian Clemann, 47, were released from custody in Merced hours later, but the CHP kept the $257,000 the two men were transporting and handed it over the the Department of Homeland Security, according to a lawsuit filed in Merced County Superior Court. Barry and Clemann also are suing the CHP in San Francisco Superior Court, where they're seeking a ruling directing state and local governments not to interfere with the legal distribution of marijuana.
Sacramento Bee

What PG&E Bankruptcy Could Mean For Fire Prevention Efforts
The pending bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. amid a flurry of lawsuits over the devastating Northern California wildfires has sparked widespread concern that the utility will be forced to halt a sweeping fire management plan it established in response to the controversy. The Community Wildfire Safety Program, created by PG&E last year, put money and resources into setting up a wildfire monitoring center, hiring contract firefighters, establishing weather stations, implementing a power shut-off system and replacing wooden poles and fire-prone equipment. But wildfire experts and energy policy officials said a bankruptcy judge will probably limit PG&E's ability to invest in that program, endangering what many see as a crucial part of California's effort to prevent future wildfires.
San Francisco Chronicle

Metro Weighs Charging Drivers By The Mile, Adding Freeway Tolls To Cut Congestion
For years, Southern California lawmakers have tried to steer clear of decisions that make driving more expensive or miserable, afraid of angering one of their largest groups of constituents. But now, transportation officials say, congestion has grown so bad in Los Angeles County that politicians have no choice but to contemplate charging motorists more to drive — a strategy that has stirred controversy but helped cities in other parts of the world tame their own traffic. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is pushing to study how what's commonly referred to as congestion pricing could work in L.A., including converting carpool lanes to toll lanes, taxing drivers based on the number of miles they travel, or charging a fee to enter certain neighborhoods and business districts.
Los Angeles Times

Measure W Will Fund Projects To Recycle Rainwater From LA River
With four straight days of rain, the Los Angeles River has come alive. Thanks to Measure W, which was passed by voters last November, projects will be funded and infrastructure will be built to capture, treat and recycle all this rain water. "We lose trillions of gallons of water out to the ocean every year, and if we were able to capture it, we could supply about half of our water needs locally," said Jill Sourial with The Nature Conservancy. Some water reclamation projects like Marsh Park in Elysian Heights are already in use, increasing our water supply, addressing climate change and cleaning urban runoff.
ABC 7