 |
|
|
Los Angeles
Police Protective League
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the union that represents the
rank and file LAPD officers
|
|
|
|
Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch
Daily News Digest
from LA Police Protective League
October 17, 2019 |
Law Enforcement News
Off-Duty NYPD Officer Dies By Suicide
An NYPD sergeant fatally shot himself in his Queens home Tuesday, the 10th city cop to die by suicide this year. Sources said the wife of off-duty Sgt. Linhong Li found him in their home around 9:30 p.m. and called 911. Medics rushed him to Jamaica Hospital, where he died. Li was assigned to the 24th Precinct on the Upper West Side, police sources said. His death comes roughly two months after two officers, Johnny Rios, 35, and Robert Echeverria, 56, fatally shot themselves within a day of each other in their homes. The grim death toll has rattled the department, and the NYPD has retooled its response to department suicides, encouraging all officers to seek mental health counseling if they have suicidal thoughts. A survey of recently retired cops reveals that 44 out of 174 about 25% suffered enough stress to consider getting help at least once in their careers, but just two-thirds of them actually followed through, according to a report last month from the NYPD's inspector general, Philip Eure.
New York Daily News |
|
Pregnant Woman, 2 Men Wounded In Drive-By Shootings In South L.A.
Three people, including a pregnant woman, were hospitalized Wednesday morning with gunshot wounds suffered in two separate drive-by shootings in South Los Angeles committed just five blocks and 30 minutes apart. The first shooting occurred about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Western Avenue and 68th Street in the Chesterfield Square area, where a 29-year-old man was standing on the street when a vehicle drove up and someone inside opened fire, striking the victim, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The victim was taken to a hospital in stable condition and the shooting was considered gang-related, police said. A second shooting was reported about 10:15 p.m. near Western Avenue and 73rd Street in Manchester Square. In that shooting, a vehicle pulled up and opened fire on a 27-year-old man and 36-year-old pregnant woman who were standing near the intersection, police said. Both were struck by gunfire and taken to a hospital in serious condition, the LAPD said.
MyNewsLA.com |
|
Suspected Driver Taken Into Custody After Hit-and-Run Crash Leaves 1 Dead In West LA, Police Say
A suspect was taken into custody after a pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run crash involving a box truck Wednesday morning in West Los Angeles, police said. The man was fatally struck around 6:20 a.m. at Pico and Sepulveda boulevards, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. AIR7 HD was over the area, where a large police presence had responded and officers set up a crime scene tent. The identity of the victim has not yet been released. The suspect's vehicle, described only as a white older-model box truck with faded "Penske'' signage on it, was located a few hours later in the area and the driver was taken into custody. It is unclear if the incident was captured on any city or surveillance cameras. David Iblings, a general manager at a nearby hardware store, says the intersection is dangerously busy.
ABC 7 |
|
Murder Suspect Killed In Sherman Oaks Officer-Involved Shooting
A suspect in a murder and an armed robbery was shot and killed Wednesday morning in a confrontation with Los Angeles police in Sherman Oaks. The suspect, who has not been identified, was believed to have killed a maintenance worker in the 14600 block of Burbank Boulevard on Monday. Then on Tuesday night, he was believed to have robbed a liquor store at Kester Avenue and Burbank Boulevard. The robbery was captured on video and store owner Tarangit Singh described the incident to Eyewitness News. The man came in and started grabbing items, he said. "He pointed a gun at me and told me I'm gonna shoot you," Singh recalled. "I told him do whatever you want, just leave my store. And he just walked away."
ABC 7 |
|
Sex Store Employee Taken Into Custody After Stabbing Robbery Suspect In Hollywood
An employee at a sex store in Hollywood was taken into custody after stabbing a robbery suspect early Wednesday morning, LAPD says. Los Angeles police were called to the area of N. Las Palmas Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard shortly before 2:30 a.m. to investigate a robbery and stabbing. LAPD says the robbery suspect entered the store, tried to take items, and then was stabbed by the employee in the process. The robbery suspect was taken to the hospital for medical treatment but police say the suspect will be booked for the robbery. The store's employee was taken into police custody for assault with a deadly weapon. Neither the robbery suspect or store employee was publicly identified by police
FOX 11 |
|
Security Footage Catches $130K In Film Equipment Being Stolen From South LA Studio
In about six minutes, two thieves seen clearly in surveillance footage made off with about $130,000 of film equipment from a studio in South LA. The two men got into the building using a code and then allegedly broke into director and cinematographer Peter Cote's studio. "They're kind of dragging stuff out, leaving cables. Not people who even know what they have," Cote said. The most expensive thing taken during the heist was a Phantom Flex4K camera valued at over $100,000. "It will raise eyebrows for anybody that knows what it is," Cote said. "It'll shoot a thousand frames a second at 4K. Highly specialized camera, not even a whole lot of here in Los Angeles." Cote also said the thieves used a crowbar of some sort to pry the studio door open at the deadbolt, and then left the crowbar behind.
NBC 4 |
|
String Of Crimes Leaves Sherman Oaks Residents On Edge
Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department were investigating a series of crimes committed within a three-block radius in Sherman Oaks that may be connected, officials said. An armed robbery occurred at 11 p.m. Tuesday at a liquor store located at the intersection of Kester Avenue and Burbank Boulevard. The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash and was last seen running down Kester Ave, LAPD said. Moments later, a woman reported she was confronted by a man on Kester Ave who brandished a knife when attempting to rob her. She was uninjured. On Monday, a Panorama City man was gunned down in broad daylight. The victim, identified as 52-year-old Antonio Rodriguez, was a maintenance worker at an apartment complex located on the 14600 block of Burbank Blvd. Authorities believe Rodriguez was killed during a robbery attempt at the apartment building. Detectives were working to determine if the crimes were linked.
FOX 11 |
|
Man Who Posed As Uber Driver Sentenced To Life In WeHo, Beverly Hills Sex Assaults
A Los Angeles man was sentenced Wednesday to 29 years to life in state prison after being convicted of picking up women by posing as a driver for ride-hailing apps and sexually assaulting them, prosecutors said. Carlos Omar Pichinte, 42, had pleaded no contest Sept. 17 in a series of four attacks in West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office said in a news release. The crime series included incidents in October 2016 and March, April and May 2017, officials said. Pichinte car was outfitted with ride-hailing app decals, and the Los Angeles Times reported he told victims he was an Uber driver but wasn't actually employed by either Uber or Lyft. The defendant would allegedly drive victims to another location, where he sexually assaulted them. He was convicted on one count of forcible rape and two counts of assault with intent to commit a sexual assault.
KTLA 5 |
|
Coast Guard Offloads $92 Million Worth Of Smuggled Cocaine In San Diego
The Coast Guard offloaded more than 6,800 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $92 million in San Diego on Wednesday, contraband that the military branch seized in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Between late July and early October, crews from three Coast Guard cutters, a term used to describe a Coast Guard vessel at least 65 feet long, intercepted the drugs from four suspected smuggling vessels off Mexico and Central and South America. The crew aboard the cutter Alert was responsible for two cases, seizing about 4,000 pounds of cocaine, according to the Coast Guard. Alert is a 210-foot medium-endurance cutter based in Astoria, Ore. The crew on Robert Ward, a 154-foot fast-response cutter based in San Pedro, seized about 1,500 pounds of cocaine during one incident. Seneca, a 270-foot medium-endurance cutter based in Boston, seized about 1,400 pounds of cocaine in one case.
Los Angeles Times |
|
Feds Take Down The World's 'Largest Dark Web Child Porn Marketplace'
Federal prosecutors have filed multiple charges against a 23-year-old South Korean man accused of running what they call the world's "largest dark web child porn marketplace." The now-shuttered English-language site, called "Welcome to Video," contained more than 200,000 unique videos or almost 8 terabytes of data showing sex acts involving children, toddlers and infants, according to the 18-page criminal indictment unsealed here Wednesday, and processed 7,300 Bitcoin transactions worth more than $730,000. According to prosecutors, the vast online store was run by Jong Woo Son, a South Korean citizen currently serving an 18-month prison sentence in his home country after his conviction on charges related to child pornography. The site operated from June 2015 until it was seized and shut down by U.S. authorities in March 2018. At a press conference Wednesday morning, U.S. officials said 337 suspected users of the site had been arrested worldwide to date.
NBC News |
|
Video: Illinois Officers Pull Injured Woman From Burning Vehicle
Zion police released the body camera video from one of two patrol officers who responded to the scene of a burning vehicle Friday night, where a quick-moving fire required them to make a dramatic rescue. They remained calm, worked through the problem, solved it and got her out of there and laid her on the ground. They had to move her a second time because the car began popping as it burned, Police Chief Kirk Henderson said Tuesday, commending police officers Steve Vines and Casey Taylor. They performed just as I would expect anyone in our department to respond. That's just the kind of work we expect from our people, he said. Officers responded to a crash at approximately 11:30 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Sheridan Road and 29th Street, where a vehicle had struck a light. Police and witnesses reported there was a small fire in the engine compartment.
Lake County News-Sun |
|
Public Safety News
Firefighters Struggling To Contain Saddleridge Fire, Containment At 52%
Firefighters working on the front edges of the Saddleridge fire burning between Santa Clarita and Los Angeles were struggling Wednesday, Oct. 16, to dig hand lines around the blaze but made some progress. Cal Fire said containment of the fire Wednesday evening stood at 52%, up from 46% Tuesday night. The acreage burned remained the same at 8,391 acres. It's been really tough to extend these containment lines, said Los Angeles Fire Department Cap. Brandon Silverman. He said the hottest areas of the fire with the most firefighter activity on Wednesday were all in rugged canyons adjacent to the Newhall Pass, all difficult areas to access on foot. Numerous firefighters from around the region were also being assigned to patrol areas already burned, looking for flare-ups and stamping out still-smoldering hot spots, Silverman said.
Los Angeles Daily News |
|
California Earthquake Alerts To Become Available Statewide
Earthquake early warning alerts will become publicly available throughout California this week, the Governor's Office of Emergency Services said Wednesday. The system's statewide debut Thursday will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake that ravaged the San Francisco Bay area on Oct. 17, 1989, as well as the annual Great Shakeout safety drill. The warnings produced by the ShakeAlert system will be pushed through a smartphone app called MyShake and the same wireless notification system that issues Amber Alerts. The state earthquake app, developed at the University of California, Berkeley, is available for download to IOS users through iTunes and through GooglePlay stores for Android phones. The system does not predict earthquakes. Rather, it detects the start of an earthquake and calculates location, intensity and sends alerts to areas where shaking is likely to occur from quakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater.
NBC 4 |
|
Local Government News
Garcetti Gives Update On LA's Homeless Crisis, Unveils New Pilot Program For Skid Row Housing
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced two major updates on the city's efforts to combat the homelessness crisis. At a Wednesday morning news press conference, Garcetti announced that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed city-sponsored legislation which protects transitional housing and low-income housing developments by the city of Los Angeles from lawsuits. The move is expected to accelerate construction by as much as a year and a half, with up to $120 million in savings, according to Garcetti. He also unveiled plans for a new pilot program which will aim to provide housing and services for 100 women living in the Skid Row area. The pilot program will be financed with $1.5 million from the state, pending approval from the city council.
ABC 7 |
|
LA City Council Orders Study Of $30 Minimum Wage For Uber, Lyft Drivers
The Los Angeles City Council this week ordered a study into a proposal to set a $30 minimum wage for drivers for ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft. The move comes as a think tank, the Economic Policy Institute, determined that the average hourly wage of Uber drivers is $9.21. A UCLA Labor Center study also found that a fifth of drivers in Los Angeles receive public assistance and 44% struggle with gas, insurance and maintenance expenses. The council on Tuesday voted to do an independent study on ride-share drivers' average wages and business expenses, and a review of polices in other places around the country. The motion that was approved also asks the city attorney to draft an ordinance that would set the minimum wage. The $30 proposed wage is based on the idea that drivers will need an additional $15 per hour to pay for business expenses, above a $15 hourly minimum wage, city leaders said.
Los Angeles Daily News |
|
|
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About the LAPPL Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,900 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. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at:
www.LAPD.com |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
|
|
|
