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Tag: officer

  • Two arrested on sex-trafficking charges after advertising brothel on fliers, Irvine police say

    Two arrested on sex-trafficking charges after advertising brothel on fliers, Irvine police say

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    Irvine police arrested two men this week on pimping and pandering charges after they advertised a brothel on fliers that were placed on neighbors’ cars, a department spokesperson said.

    The fliers included contact information that led officers a home in the city’s Cypress Village neighborhood, Sgt. Karie Davies said.

    The fliers, in essence, said, “Call for a good time,” she said.

    “They were super original and very discreet,” Davies said.

    Qiyin Jiaqiyin, 51, of Irvine and Xiaoming Ding, 36, of Whittier were arrested and booked into the Orange County Jail, Davies said, where they’re each being held on $500,000 bail.

    Three victims, women in their 20s and 30s, were offered assistance and left the location after the arrests, Davies said.

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    Liam Dillon

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  • Former CIA officer who spied for China sentenced to a decade in prison

    Former CIA officer who spied for China sentenced to a decade in prison

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    Former CIA officer who spied for China sentenced to a decade in prison

    A former CIA officer arrested for espionage has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide classified information to Chinese intelligence officials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, of Honolulu, had arranged for himself and a relative, who also previously worked for the CIA, to meet with Chinese security officers in Hong Kong and provide classified material in exchange for $50,000, according to his plea agreement. Ma pleaded guilty in May.Ma was later the target of an FBI undercover operation after applying to work as a linguist at the bureau’s Honolulu field office.“The FBI, aware of Ma’s ties to PRC (People’s Republic of China) intelligence, hired Ma, as part of an investigative plan, to work at an off-site location where his activities could be monitored and his contacts with the PRC investigated,” the DOJ said in a news release.During the course of his monitored employment with the FBI, Ma allegedly took a digital camera into the FBI office to photograph sensitive documents that he would then take to his handlers in China.Ma’s attorney, Salina Kanai, told CNN Thursday that “the judge had to weigh a host of mitigating and aggravating factors, many unique to Mr. Ma’s case,” adding: “We are glad that in considering so many variables, the court came to the same conclusion that the government and defense did – that ten years of imprisonment is the just sentence for my client.”The Justice Department said that “under the terms of the plea agreement, Ma must cooperate with the United States for the rest of his life, including by submitting to debriefings by U.S. government agencies,” and noted he has already been cooperative during multiple interviews.

    A former CIA officer arrested for espionage has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide classified information to Chinese intelligence officials, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

    Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, of Honolulu, had arranged for himself and a relative, who also previously worked for the CIA, to meet with Chinese security officers in Hong Kong and provide classified material in exchange for $50,000, according to his plea agreement. Ma pleaded guilty in May.

    Ma was later the target of an FBI undercover operation after applying to work as a linguist at the bureau’s Honolulu field office.

    “The FBI, aware of Ma’s ties to PRC (People’s Republic of China) intelligence, hired Ma, as part of an investigative plan, to work at an off-site location where his activities could be monitored and his contacts with the PRC investigated,” the DOJ said in a news release.

    During the course of his monitored employment with the FBI, Ma allegedly took a digital camera into the FBI office to photograph sensitive documents that he would then take to his handlers in China.

    Ma’s attorney, Salina Kanai, told CNN Thursday that “the judge had to weigh a host of mitigating and aggravating factors, many unique to Mr. Ma’s case,” adding: “We are glad that in considering so many variables, the court came to the same conclusion that the government and defense did – that ten years of imprisonment is the just sentence for my client.”

    The Justice Department said that “under the terms of the plea agreement, Ma must cooperate with the United States for the rest of his life, including by submitting to debriefings by U.S. government agencies,” and noted he has already been cooperative during multiple interviews.

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  • Spotty redactions and public records reveal names of deputies in case against DA advisor

    Spotty redactions and public records reveal names of deputies in case against DA advisor

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    One deputy was convicted of driving drunk with a loaded gun in the car. Another was suspended for failing to promptly report an on-duty traffic accident. An experienced detective was accused of lying on his job application. And a commander was demoted to captain for turning a blind eye to a cheating scandal in a popular law enforcement relay race.

    For five months, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office has fought to keep secret the names of eight Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies at the center of the case against Diana Teran, a top district attorney’s office advisor accused of misusing confidential personnel records as part of an effort to track cops with disciplinary histories. She is now facing six felony charges under what legal experts say is a “novel” use of the state’s hacking statute.

    Courtroom testimony during a preliminary hearing last month showed that the allegedly confidential records in question were actually court records. But state prosecutors still fought to hide the deputies’ names and the details of their past behavior by redacting identifying portions of key documents in the case.

    After comparing gaps in the government’s redactions to hundreds of public civil suits, appeals and publicly posted disciplinary records, the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Public Press identified seven of the deputies and tracked down court and public law enforcement records that shed light on the allegations against them and their efforts to overturn their punishments. In five of the seven cases the disciplinary actions were reduced or overturned.

    “This just shows how Attorney General Rob Bonta has wasted the time of several Los Angeles judges by asking them to keep these court records secret,” said Susan Seager, the UC Irvine law professor who has been fighting on behalf of the LA Public Press for the release of the deputies’ names since May. “Anyone can go to the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse today and find all the deputy lawsuits challenging their discipline and post them online. What happens in our public courts belongs to the public.”

    Bonta’s office has argued that releasing the deputies’ names would be a violation of state laws that keep police personnel records secret, as members of the public would then be able to connect the deputies’ names to their past conduct and discipline.

    A review of the deputies’ legal filings shows that at least half of the identified officers were disciplined for incidents involving an allegation of dishonesty. The punishments included everything from terminations to demotions to suspensions.

    None of the deputies agreed to speak on the record, though one said he had never been officially informed about the case. James Spertus, the attorney representing Teran, said the news organizations’ efforts called into question the state’s theory of the case.

    “The fact the court orders at issue in Ms. Teran’s case were located independently by the LA Times and the LA Public Press establishes the arguments that we have been trying to make since the case was first filed,” he said Monday. “She does not need ‘permission’ to ‘use’ public court orders.”

    The California Department of Justice did not immediately offer comment.

    In a statement, Steve Johnson, the president of the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association, vehemently disagreed with release of personnel information which he described as “stolen,” even though they were court records, and said that it would endanger deputies, families and peace officers who serve the community.

    *****

    The allegations at the center of the case against Teran date to 2018, when she worked as a constitutional policing advisor for then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell. Her usual duties included accessing confidential deputy records and internal affairs investigations.

    A few years after leaving the Sheriff’s Department, Teran joined the district attorney’s office. While there, in April 2021, she sent 33 names and a few dozen related court records to a subordinate to evaluate for possible inclusion in either of two internal databases prosecutors use to track officers with histories of dishonesty and other misconduct.

    One is known as the Brady database — a reference to the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brady vs. Maryland, which says prosecutors are required to turn over any evidence favorable to a defendant, including evidence of police misconduct.

    According to a 2021 Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office manual, material relating to dishonesty, assaults, racial bias and acts of moral turpitude can all be relevant Brady material. Under office policy, prosecutors are required to turn over any material that could call into question the officer’s credibility — even if they believe that information might be false.

    The state Department of Justice alleged several of the names Teran sent to her subordinate to consider including in D.A. databases were those of deputies whose files she had accessed while working at the Sheriff’s Department years earlier.

    However, testimony during the preliminary hearing last month showed she did not download the information from the LASD personnel file system. In most cases she learned of the alleged misconduct when co-workers emailed her copies of court records from lawsuits filed by deputies hoping to overturn the department’s discipline against them.

    But after searching news articles and public records requests, state investigators said they found that 11 of the names hadn’t been mentioned in public records or major media outlets. Thus, prosecutors said Teran wouldn’t have been able to identify the deputies, or know to look for their court records, were it not for her special access while working at the Sheriff’s Department.

    At first, prosecutors charged Teran with 11 felonies under state hacking statutes — but they refused to release the names of the deputies or details of their misconduct, making it difficult for reporters or members of the public to fully understand the allegations at the center of the case.

    After the Los Angeles Public Press fought in court for more information, in June the state released two of the names. Both deputies — whose records were easily discoverable through a Google search — had been fired for incidents involving dishonesty or false statements.

    Without explanation, prosecutors later dropped the two counts against Teran involving those deputies, as well as a third count. According to what Spertus previously told The Times, the alleged victim described in the third count — identified as Deputy Doe 11 in court records — was a civilian employee and not a deputy.

    Last month, L.A. Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta tossed out two more of the counts against Teran following a four-day preliminary hearing at which he determined there was enough evidence to move forward to trial on the six remaining counts.

    At the same time, in response to motions filed by lawyers for The Times and LA Public Press, Ohta ordered the release of unredacted exhibits that would identify most of the deputies. But he held the release of that information for three weeks to give the state time to file for appellate relief — which it did, arguing in a petition that the deputies’ “disciplinary matters here do not implicate any Brady obligations and/or were determined to be unfounded by the superior court in the litigation of those matters.”

    The court of appeals denied the request.

    But the redacted documents already made public contain distinctive notes and markings, as well as identifying dates and apparent redaction oversights, which make it possible to match them to public court records containing the deputies’ names.

    On one exhibit, state prosecutors left public the department identification numbers corresponding to Deputy Does 7, 8 and 9. On another, they left public a connected civil case number. In at least four cases, handwritten margin notes and signatures made it possible to match redacted exhibits to the public versions of the same documents already in L.A. Superior Court records.

    To narrow down which court records to scour for matching pages, reporters created a database of disciplinary files already made public by the Sheriff’s Department then searched those records for a series of dates referenced in an affidavit the state filed in June to justify the charges.

    Of the seven deputies identified through those methods, at least two had legal appeals easily discoverable through a Google search. One had been demoted as part of an incident covered in 2013 both by The Times and by the news blog Witness LA.

    Then-commander Patrick Jordan was knocked down to captain after a cheating scandal at the 2012 Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay race, a 120-mile foot race that draws teams of law enforcement officers from around the world.

    A team representing the Sheriff’s Department swapped out a deputy for an ineligible runner who was not a department employee. Though court records indicate Jordan didn’t learn about the switch until the morning after the race, he was later demoted because he failed to report it. He appealed unsuccessfully to the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, which upheld his discipline.

    In 2016, a judge denied Jordan’s final attempt to reverse the disciplinary action. One of the documents in his civil case matches an exhibit in the Teran case, including a handwritten mark in the margin and a description of the discipline imposed. His employee identification number matches the one listed in another exhibit. Jordan could not be reached for comment Monday.

    Another case involved a deputy working in Court Services. In 2009, Gerald Jackson used force on an incarcerated person who allegedly assaulted him and a fellow deputy, according to records from the lawsuit Jackson filed to overturn his discipline.

    A civil lawsuit filed by the incarcerated person — which was ultimately dismissed — alleged that Jackson struck the jailed man’s eye repeatedly with a container, and beat and pepper sprayed him after a verbal altercation.

    Jackson was investigated and eventually discharged in 2012, but court records show a judge reversed the decision two years later, when Jackson argued that the Sheriff’s Department had missed the deadline to impose discipline on him. A review of his court records showed that one document matches an exhibit in the Teran case, including a reference to the case number of another deputy who was involved in the same incident.

    Most of the cases involved deputies who entered their own disciplinary histories into court records when they filed suit. But in one case Sheriff’s Department officials brought the matter into the public record when they sued to challenge a decision by the Civil Service Commission to reduce a deputy’s discipline from discharge to a 15-day suspension.

    Andrew Serrata, a former police officer from the defunct Maywood Police Department, was hired by the Sheriff’s Department in 2011 and later fired when the department realized that Serrata had incorrectly answered questions on his application related to his legal history, liabilities and debt.

    Serrata had successfully been sued by an ex-girlfriend, had his wages garnished for several months, and still owed money — all of which he failed to disclose properly on his job application, according to a 2013 letter the department sent notifying him of its disciplinary decision.

    Serrata — whose employee number matched one listed as a Deputy Doe in the Teran case — later appealed his discharge to the Civil Service Commission. The Sheriff’s Department pushed back, vigorously petitioning the court to overturn that decision and writing that Serrata’s claims were “simply, inherently unbelievable, and inexplicable for one filling out a form which warns that dismissal would result from misstatements.”

    Ultimately, a judge sided with Serrata and the commission, and he kept his job until he retired in 2021. When reached by phone Monday, he declined to comment for this story.

    The other deputies reporters identified faced discipline for allegations ranging from criminal convictions to crashes, according to records from the civil lawsuits they filed to challenge their punishments.

    David Carbajal damaged his patrol vehicle and failed to promptly notify his supervisor about the damage or fill out the required forms to report the situation, resulting in a 10-day suspension.

    Rachel Levy got into an altercation with a driver and used profanity after already being relieved of duty stemming from a separate incident. She was fired but ultimately successfully appealed her discipline to a 30-day suspension.

    Salvatore Guerrero was discharged after a complaint stemming from a call for service in which a woman accused him of inappropriate behavior, including returning to the residence while off-duty. A judge ultimately ruled that the evidence did not support the allegations.

    Jordan Kennedy pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to driving drunk with a loaded duty weapon in his car. He was notified of the planned punishment — a 20-day suspension — while he was deployed overseas with the military. When he returned, he said he’d never been properly notified of the disciplinary decision, and a judge eventually ordered the department to overturn it.

    They could not be reached for comment, or did not respond.

    Jonathan Abel, an expert on Brady material and associate professor at UC Law San Francisco, reviewed court records from the seven deputies’ cases reporters identified.

    “There is nothing untoward about investigating these types of things,” he said, explaining that although dishonesty is the “core” of Brady material, past convictions could be a sign of “moral turpitude.” And sometimes uses of force can be relevant, as in cases in which a defendant accused of assaulting an officer aims to show the officer had a pattern of using excessive force.

    “To build that [Brady] list, you would have to sink a few dry wells,” he continued, explaining the need to evaluate material that might ultimately be irrelevant. “How can you know whether something’s Brady or not until you’ve read the documents?”

    A family member of one Deputy Doe — who asked to remain anonymous to avoid negatively affecting the deputy’s current job — said she’d been following the Teran case, even before the Sheriff’s Department reached out to alert the deputy to it several weeks after the matter became public. By that point, state prosecutors had already released two of the deputies’ names.

    “It almost feels like they keep getting punished over and over,” she said.

    This article was published in partnership with Los Angeles Public Press, a nonprofit news organization for the residents of Los Angeles County. Subscribe to its newsletter, and follow it on Instagram, X/Twitter, and Threads.

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    Keri Blakinger, Emily Elena Dugdale

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  • Police Commission forwards three LAPD chief finalists’ names for mayor’s consideration

    Police Commission forwards three LAPD chief finalists’ names for mayor’s consideration

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    The Los Angeles Police Commission has forwarded the names of three finalists for LAPD chief to Mayor Karen Bass — but like much else about the search process, the identities of the front-runners have been kept a secret.

    The announcement came as the commission returned from closed session at the end of a special meeting Wednesday. Commission President Erroll Southers said the board had “discharged its duties as set forth in the city charter…and will be forwarding a list of recommended candidates to the mayor,” according to a recording of the meeting.

    He then made a motion to adjourn the meeting, without further comment. The brief announcement went largely unnoticed outside the commission, which did not issue a news release or otherwise publicly announce the decision.

    The move brings the city one step closer to ending what has been a months-long search for what is widely considered one of the most high-profile and challenging jobs in law enforcement. The post has been vacant since February, when former Chief Michel Moore retired.

    Under the city charter, the commission — a five-member civilian body that acts like a board of directors for the LAPD — is required to select three finalists for Bass to consider. But if the mayor is unsatisfied with the choices, she can ask commissioners to send additional names or continue the search. Whomever she picks will then need to be confirmed by the full City Council.

    Bass has declined through a spokesman numerous requests for comment from The Times about her priorities for chief, and she did not reschedule an earlier interview about the topic that she had canceled.

    Zach Seidl, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said in a text message there was “[n]othing to share about the search at this time other than the Mayor is continuing to work with urgency on this search and her work to make LA safer.” He did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the mayor had started considering the finalists.

    Wednesday’s announcement squares with a previous timeline given by commissioners, who said they hope to finish evaluating what could be dozens of candidates and offer Bass their top three suggestions by the end of August.

    That hasn’t stopped fevered speculation among LAPD rank-and-file and command staff about who their next leader will be.

    There were at least 25 applicants for the job.

    Among the outside executives who received second interviews, according to sources, were Jim McDonnell, a one-time LAPD assistant chief and former Los Angeles County sheriff; former Houston and Miami chief Art Acevedo; and Robert Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief who works for the L.A. County district attorney’s office. A high-profile former chief from a West Coast department was also said to have applied, but that name has never been confirmed.

    Those entries, confirmed by multiple sources, add another dynamic to what many consider a wide-open race to be the city’s next top cop.

    The department veterans who received second interviews, sources said, are: Assistant Chief Blake Chow, who oversees LAPD special operations; Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides, commanding officer of the department’s South Bureau; Deputy Chief Donald Graham, who heads the Transit Services Bureau; Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, head of the Detective Bureau; and Cmdr. Lillian Carranza of the Central Bureau.

    Finding the city’s next police chief is one of the most closely watched decisions made by any mayor.

    Bass and commissioners have in recent months embarked on a citywide listening tour to canvass residents, officers and business owners about what they want to see in the next chief. The mayor has also made regular visits to police roll calls across the city.

    During the community forums, many attendees pushed for the selection of an insider who is attuned to policing in a city as vast and diverse as L.A.

    Others talked about the importance of picking someone who understands the complicated history between the department and the communities it policies. And yet, unlike in other recent chief searches, a growing number of people within the LAPD are pushing for an outside candidate to breathe new life into the organization.

    The process has been shrouded in an unusual level of secrecy.

    Although the names of candidates have occasionally been withheld to protect the identities of those working in other cities, officials this time have also declined to reveal how many people applied for the position, only saying that the number was “more than 25.” Sources have since told The Times that the number was more than 30.

    In the absence of information, the search has been the subject of almost daily rumors inside the department. A LinkedIn post by a former LAPD sergeant-turned-policing consultant went viral after it claimed to reveal a list of semi-finalists. Among those named in the post was Anne Kirkpatrick, the current police commissioner in New Orleans, who quickly issued denials of any interest in the LAPD job.

    At stake is the chance to lead the country’s third-largest local police force at a crucial time in its history. Whoever gets the job will be inheriting a wary department eager for clear leadership and a city worried about crime and the use of force.

    One of the key questions facing Bass is whether an outsider would be better at introducing reforms in the organization, rather than someone who has come up through the ranks here and already understands the political and labor landscape.

    The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the powerful bargaining body for the city’s rank-and-file officers, has not publicly staked out its position on the insider-outsider debate.

    One of Moore’s former assistant chiefs, Dominic Choi, was picked as interim leader. Moore has stayed on as a consultant on the chief search, and Choi has said he will not seek the job permanently.

    More risk management than crime-fighting, the job of running the LAPD — a vast, multibillion-dollar organization with more than 10,000 employees that operates under an intense microscope — involves balancing demands that are often at odds:

    Even though violent crime numbers have started to level out, with the exception of robberies, anxiety over public safety remains high among many Angelenos; the number of police shootings has also increased, raising concerns from the Police Commission. Meanwhile, any new leader, particularly one from the outside, will be expected to be a quick study and hit the ground running.

    Prognosticators have said Bass’ selection will indicate a lot about what direction she thinks the department is headed. Picking someone from within the organization to follow in Moore’s footsteps would signal that the mayor is looking to continue some of the reforms he started but would stop short of the wholesale changes that some have called for.

    Choosing an outside candidate would signal that the mayor is seeking a new direction for the department, some observers say. The city has hired only two outside chiefs in the past 75 years: Willie L. Williams and William J. Bratton. Both selections followed seismic scandals: the Los Angeles uprising in 1992 and the Rampart scandal of the late 1990s that saw more than 70 police officers implicated in unprovoked shootings, assaults and evidence-planting.

    Experts say the LAPD job is one of the toughest in law enforcement.

    Any serious candidate will have to have a proven track record as an experienced leader. The chief must be comfortable speaking extemporaneously — and often in front of cameras — about the work of the police department through the progressive lens of the city’s elected leaders, including the mayor and City Council.

    Whoever gets the job will need to navigate through many challenges at once, while dealing with the myriad issues confronting the city, including homelessness and the fentanyl crisis.

    The next chief will also have to recruit and inspire a new generation of officers, some of whom weren’t even born when the department was forced to undergo sweeping changes in the wake of the Rampart scandal and who grew of age in the Black Lives Matter era.

    The Olympics and the World Cup also loom as security challenges in coming years. Others are keen to see how the next chief will tackle a much-maligned discipline system that, depending on whom one asks, either lets too many bad cops off or has been weaponized to favor the well-connected.

    In March, the city hired the Northern California-based headhunter Bob Murray & Associates to conduct the nationwide chief search — the same firm that helped pick Bratton more than two decades ago.

    Joel Bryden, a vice president for the firm, said he could not discuss the search, referring questions to city officials.

    “It’s our hard and fast rule,” said Bryden, one of the two main recruiters on the chief search. “We at least have kept everything confidential even though leaks have occurred, some accurate, and some not.”

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    Libor Jany

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  • LAPD releases video of officer fatally shooting 18-year-old from unmarked police car

    LAPD releases video of officer fatally shooting 18-year-old from unmarked police car

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    Newly released video from the Los Angeles Police Department on Monday shows how a confrontation last month between a plainclothes vice officer and an unarmed 18-year-old ended in a fatal shooting.

    The family of Ricardo “Ricky” Ramirez Jr. recently announced they were asking the state prosecutor to file criminal charges. They plan to sue the city for wrongful death.

    Around 10:25 p.m. on July 13, Ramirez was in a silver Cadillac with three other occupants, all wearing ski masks. Sgt. Michael Pounds began to follow them. Authorities believed they were “in a possible dispute with the driver of another vehicle,” according to a release from the department.

    The video shows the Cadillac blocking a Toyota Camry at 66th and Figueroa streets. All four of the Cadillac’s occupants get out, surrounding the Camry. Other cars behind the Camry begin to back up before it speeds away.

    “Follow that car because they were all masked up. Follow that car. Follow that car,” one officer says over radio traffic. There is a call for a marked police officer to pull the Cadillac over.

    Instead, Pounds — who was originally conducting a prostitution enforcement detail along Figueroa Street in South L.A. — followed the Cadillac 10 blocks without lights or sirens until it stopped, blocking both lanes of traffic on the 400 block of 66th Street near the intersection with Flower Street.

    Video shows Ramirez get out of the Cadillac and run toward the driver’s-side door of Pounds’ unmarked vehicle. Immediately, Pounds fires through the window, shooting Ramirez in the chest. Ramirez falls to the ground, crawls away and collapses in the street.

    Officers arrive and handcuff Ramirez before calling for an ambulance and starting CPR.

    Police said in a July 18 statement that two passengers exited the Cadillac and approached Pounds’ vehicle from either side, but only Ramirez is visible in the video.

    “It is a parent’s worst nightmare to hear their child has been killed, now seeing the video the horror worsens: Ricky was shot in cold blood with both of his hands outstretched with clearly no gun,” Ramirez’s father, Ricardo Ramirez Sr., said in a statement.

    “I saw my boy brought into this world and, horribly, I saw him taken out of this world by a trigger-happy cop,” Ramirez’s mother, Renee Villalobos, said in the same statement.

    The family’s attorney, Christopher Dolan, said there was no reason for Pounds to shoot, and the officer never announced himself as law enforcement. It was a “case of shoot and ask questions later,” Dolan said.

    “We will vigorously prosecute this case to bring Ricky and his family justice,” the attorney said.

    The incident is still under investigation, according to the LAPD.

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    Sandra McDonald

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  • LAPD releases video of officer punching handcuffed man in Watts

    LAPD releases video of officer punching handcuffed man in Watts

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    The Los Angeles Police Department released body cam video footage Thursday that showed an officer punching a handcuffed man during a confrontation over double parking in Watts on Sunday, just as another controversial use-of-force incident emerged.

    The video was released as officials grappled with another episode that occurred hours later on Sunday in South L.A. in which an LAPD officer was captured on video using an apparent chokehold while trying to restrain a 17-year-old boy during an arrest. Both incidents are under investigation.

    In the Watts case, video of the incident was originally captured on cellphone by a bystander. Brad Gage, an attorney for Alexander Donta Mitchell, 28, the man who says he was punched, said the officer’s actions left his client with a broken nose and jaw pain.

    The 56-minute police body cam video shows two officers approaching Mitchell’s silver Dodge Charger that is doubled parked and facing the wrong way near the corner of 113th Street and Graham Avenue.

    An officer uses a flashlight to look into the tinted windows of the driver side of the vehicle. A second officer stands by the front passenger-side door.

    Mitchell is later seen rolling down his windows, asking the officer next to him what the problem was. The officer tells him he’s double parked and facing the wrong way before opening the driver’s door.

    Mitchell then tells the officer he’s not on probation or parole and begins questioning why the officer opened his door.

    “Because you’re ignoring me,” the officer says.

    “I didn’t ignore you,” Mitchell says.

    The officer then asks Mitchell to step out of the vehicle, which he does. But things become hostile when the officer says he needs to pat Mitchell down.

    “For what, though?” Mitchell repeatedly asks the officer.

    “For weapons,” the officer tells him.

    “I don’t have anything on me.”

    At that point, the two officers grab Mitchell’s arm and place it behind his back as they attempt to handcuff him.

    “Get your hands off me,” he tells them. “I ain’t got nothing, I can sit in the car. I ain’t on no probation or parole …. I know my rights.”

    Nearly five minutes into the video, the officers repeatedly tell Mitchell to put his arms behind his back. The officers also instruct the crowd that has gathered to stand back. At that point, the crowd can be heard reacting to an officer’s punch, with at least one bystander saying she got it on video.

    The video also captures moments when Mitchell is telling officers he’s having trouble breathing before Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived at the scene.

    Gage said the body cam video “demonstrates further why the police officer
    was not justified in handcuffing or striking Alex.” He said his client was simply on the phone while sitting inside his car.

    “There is no reason to arrest someone for double parking,” Gage said. “The officer opened the door for no reason. The whole thing could have been avoided if they asked him to move the car.”

    Gage said the video does not show other “punches that aren’t shown.”

    Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of obstruction and resisting arrest and was later released with a misdemeanor citation.

    Ed Obayashi, a law enforcement use-of-force expert, lawyer and deputy in Modoc County, said after viewing the video that the incident was easily avoidable, given that Mitchell was simply sitting in his vehicle double parked. But he said the officer decided to take a more aggressive approach.

    “The opening of the car door set it off; it escalated from that point on,” he said. “There is resistance and there is resistance. [Mitchell] isn’t fighting here.”

    Meanwhile, in the second incident in South L.A., video also shot by a bystander shows an officer with his arms wrapped around a shirtless teen’s head while rolling on the ground, police said in a news release.

    The incident occurred about 10:30 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of 70th and Main streets when officers saw people smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol next to a number of double-parked vehicles.

    The officers said they saw the teen appear to place an unknown object under the front passenger seat of the vehicle he was in and then run away. After a foot pursuit, “a noncategorical use of force occurred,” police said.”

    The officers struggled with the teen and at one point shocked him with a stun device, which was ineffective, according to the news release.

    Additional officers arrived on the scene and the subject was arrested, the release said.

    The teen was booked at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall on suspicion of resisting a police officer, according to the department.

    It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney. Two officers who were present were taken to the hospital with cuts to their hands, faces and knees, the news release said.

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    Ruben Vives, Richard Winton, Libor Jany

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  • Woman accused of murder after crash that killed Vacaville officer appears in court

    Woman accused of murder after crash that killed Vacaville officer appears in court

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    The 24-year-old woman accused of murder after a crash that killed a Vacaville police officer last week appeared in a Solano County courtroom briefly on Monday.Officer Matthew Bowen, 32, was killed while making a traffic stop with his motorcycle on Thursday near the intersection of Leisure Town Road and Orange Drive, police said. According to the California Highway Patrol, Serena Rodriguez was believed to be driving under the influence of drugs. She was booked into jail on charges of homicide and driving under the influence, causing injury or death. A felony complaint that the Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed in court accuses Rodriguez of murder and says she “knew and reasonably should have known” that Bowen was a peace officer engaged in the performance of his duties. Dozens of Vacaville police officers attended Monday’s hearing to show support for Bowen and his family. Rodriguez appeared agitated in court as the judge tried to verify her name. She addressed his questions curtly and cut him off at times. She was appointed an attorney from the public defender’s office and is being held on no bail. The arraignment was continued to next Monday, July 22 at 1:30 p.m.”I want to extend our condolences to Officer Matthew Bowen’s wife, his two young children, his parents Mark and Becky who are here, his extended family, his law enforcement family at the Vacaville police department,” Solano County District Attorney Krishna A. Abrams said outside court. KCRA 3 has learned that Rodriguez has a criminal history that includes charges being filed against her in Placer and Sacramento counties over the last few years. In Placer County, she was found guilty of speeding in 2021 and pleaded no contest to vandalism or manufacturing a weapon in jail in 2023. Charges for drugs, petty theft and breaking or removing vehicle parts were dismissed. In Sacramento County, court documents show she pleaded no contest to falsely identifying herself. A charge for drug paraphernalia was dismissed. Those charges date back to March 2023.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.

    The 24-year-old woman accused of murder after a crash that killed a Vacaville police officer last week appeared in a Solano County courtroom briefly on Monday.

    Officer Matthew Bowen, 32, was killed while making a traffic stop with his motorcycle on Thursday near the intersection of Leisure Town Road and Orange Drive, police said.

    According to the California Highway Patrol, Serena Rodriguez was believed to be driving under the influence of drugs. She was booked into jail on charges of homicide and driving under the influence, causing injury or death.

    A felony complaint that the Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed in court accuses Rodriguez of murder and says she “knew and reasonably should have known” that Bowen was a peace officer engaged in the performance of his duties.

    Dozens of Vacaville police officers attended Monday’s hearing to show support for Bowen and his family.

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    Rodriguez appeared agitated in court as the judge tried to verify her name. She addressed his questions curtly and cut him off at times. She was appointed an attorney from the public defender’s office and is being held on no bail.

    The arraignment was continued to next Monday, July 22 at 1:30 p.m.

    “I want to extend our condolences to Officer Matthew Bowen’s wife, his two young children, his parents Mark and Becky who are here, his extended family, his law enforcement family at the Vacaville police department,” Solano County District Attorney Krishna A. Abrams said outside court.

    KCRA 3 has learned that Rodriguez has a criminal history that includes charges being filed against her in Placer and Sacramento counties over the last few years.

    In Placer County, she was found guilty of speeding in 2021 and pleaded no contest to vandalism or manufacturing a weapon in jail in 2023.

    Charges for drugs, petty theft and breaking or removing vehicle parts were dismissed.

    In Sacramento County, court documents show she pleaded no contest to falsely identifying herself. A charge for drug paraphernalia was dismissed. Those charges date back to March 2023.

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.

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  • Copa América chaos hits Los Angeles, with massive brawl during game

    Copa América chaos hits Los Angeles, with massive brawl during game

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    A showing of the Copa América final Sunday night ended in chaos after police said a fight involving at least 200 people broke out at a Colombian restaurant in Los Angeles and at least one person was stabbed.

    Police were called to the 800 block of South Union Avenue about 7:30 p.m. Sunday in response to reports of a fight. When officers arrived, they requested additional help because of the size of the brawl, Los Angeles police spokesperson Norma Eisenman said.

    At least 200 people appeared to have been involved in the melee, Eisenman said.

    Two people were taken to a hospital, including one with stab wounds, she said.

    Details on their conditions, the number of officers responding to the fight and whether anyone was arrested were not immediately available Monday morning.

    Argentina beat Colombia in the final 1-0.

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    Joseph Serna

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  • LAPD chief candidate field narrows to about 10, a mix of outsiders and insiders

    LAPD chief candidate field narrows to about 10, a mix of outsiders and insiders

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    After an initial round of interviews, the number of contenders to be the next Los Angeles police chief has been narrowed to about 10 names, according to multiple sources familiar with the nationwide search.

    The pared-down list is divided between department veterans and outsiders, including several who have deep ties to Southern California law enforcement.

    Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, right, at a mayoral campaign event for Rick Caruso, center, in 2022. At left is former LAPD chief William J. Bratton. McDonnell, a one-time LAPD assistant chief, is said to be among the candidates for police chief.

    (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

    Among them is Jim McDonnell, a one-time LAPD assistant chief and former Los Angeles County Sheriff, whose name has circulated around LAPD headquarters and City Hall for months as a possible candidate. His entry, confirmed by at least three sources, adds another dynamic into what is considered by many to be a wide-open race to be the city’s next top cop.

    The sources agreed to speak to The Times on the condition their names not be used because the search process is supposed to be confidential.

    The department veterans who received second interviews, according to sources, are: Assistant Chief Blake Chow, who oversees LAPD special operations; Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides, commanding officer of the department’s South Bureau; Deputy Chief Donald Graham, who heads the Transit Services Bureau; Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton, head of the Detective Bureau; and Cmdr. Lillian Carranza of the Central Bureau.

    LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides.

    LAPD Deputy Chief Emada Tingirides speaks at an event in August.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton

    LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton speaks at a news conference in April.

    (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

    Capt. Lillian Carranza

    LAPD Capt. Lillian Carranza during a news conference at police headquarters in 2018.

    (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

    The outside candidates who are also scheduled to be interviewed are former Houston and Miami chief Art Acevedo and Robert Arcos, a former LAPD assistant chief who works for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Two female policing executives from outside agencies are also said to have received second interviews.

    Art Acevedo, former police chief of Miami, Houston and Auston, speaks during a protest.

    Art Acevedo, former police chief of Miami, Houston and Auston, speaks during a protest near Capitol Hill in Washington in June 2022.

    (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

    LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Arcos

    LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Arcos at an inspection of officers in 2017.

    (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

    Recruiters are scheduled to conduct another round of interviews with the 10 or so contenders behind closed doors over the next few weeks, according to the sources.

    The process has been shrouded in an unusual level of secrecy.

    Although the names of candidates have occasionally been withheld to protect the identities of those working in other cities, officials this time have also declined to reveal how many people applied for the position, only saying that the number was “more than 25.” Sources have since told The Times that the number was more than 30.

    At stake is the chance to lead the country’s third-largest local police force at a crucial time in its history. Whoever gets the job will be inheriting a wary department eager for clear leadership and a city worried about both crime and the use of force.

    One of the key questions facing Mayor Karen Bass is whether an outsider would be better at introducing reforms in the organization, rather than someone who has come up through the ranks here and already understands the political and labor landscape.

    Bass and members of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners have embarked on a citywide listening tour to canvass residents, officers and business owners about what they want to see in the next chief. During the public forums, many attendees pushed for the selection of an insider who is attuned to policing in a city as vast and diverse as L.A.

    Others talked about the importance of picking someone who understands the complicated history between the department and the communities it policies. And yet, unlike in other recent chief searches, a growing number of people within the LAPD are pushing for an outside candidate to breathe new life into the organization.

    The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the powerful bargaining body for the city’s rank-and-file officers, has not publicly staked out its position on the insider-outsider debate.

    The search began with the February retirement of former Chief Michel Moore. One of his former assistant chiefs, Dominic Choi, was picked as interim leader. Moore has stayed on as a consultant on the chief’s search, and Choi has said he will not seek the job permanently.

    More risk management than crime-fighting, the job of running the LAPD — a vast, multibillion-dollar organization with more than 10,000 employees that operates under an intense microscope — involves balancing demands that are often at odds: Violent crime such as homicides and robberies are up from this time last year; the number of police shootings has also increased, raising concerns from the Police Commission, the department’s civilian watchdog. Meanwhile, any new leader, particularly one from the outside, will be expected to be a quick study and hit the ground running.

    The pool of contenders is more diverse and generally less experienced than in the recent past. At least four women are rumored to have made the cut, and all but two candidates are people of color. A woman has never been in charge in the LAPD’s long history. Nor has there ever been a Latino chief, in a city and department that are both now more than half Latino.

    Commission officials have insisted publicly that race and gender will not be deciding factors in the selection process. Commission President Erroll G. Southers and the body’s other members have repeatedly said they are focused on picking the most qualified candidate instead of “checking any boxes.”

    Southers declined to comment through a spokesperson.

    Prognosticators have said Bass’ selection will say a lot about what direction she thinks the department is headed. Picking someone from within the organization to follow in Moore’s footsteps would signal that the mayor is looking to continue some of the reforms he started but would stop short of the wholesale changes that some have called for.

    Choosing an outside candidate would signal that the mayor is seeking a new direction for the department, some observers say. The city has hired only two outside chiefs in the past 75 years: Willie L. Williams and William J. Bratton. Both selections followed seismic scandals: the Los Angeles uprising in 1992 and the Rampart scandal of the late 1990s that saw more than 70 police officers implicated in unprovoked shootings, assaults and evidence-planting.

    The two current contenders with the most experience are both outsiders. After starting his career with the LAPD, McDonnell left to take the police chief job in Long Beach before a successful run for L.A. County Sheriff. He has worked at USC for the past few years, alongside Southers. Acevedo once served as California Highway Patrol chief for the Los Angeles Basin, before being tapped to be top cop for Austin, Houston, Miami and, most recently, Aurora, Colo.

    The second round of interviews marks a key step in the months-long search. City officials initially said the hire would be finalized by late August or early September, but that timeline could stretch into the fall.

    Bass will hire the next chief, choosing from nominees provided by the commission and an outside hiring firm. The deadline to apply closed late last month; initial interviews with candidates started a few days later.

    Bass has repeatedly said that the feedback she receives will factor into her decision.

    City Councilmember Tim McOsker said he understands the need for discretion around the search process, much like when, as a young City Hall staffer, he took part in the nationwide search that led to the hiring of Bratton. At the same time, he said, he thinks it’s important that Bass lays out her expectations before picking a chief, which is “one of the most important, and politically loaded decisions for a mayor.”

    He pointed to the letter Bass sent the Council before her reappointment of Moore, in which she listed her expectations, from reducing violent crime to boosting community policing and holding officers accountable. McOsker said he thought the mayor should be equally clear about what she wants in the next chief.

    The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

    Experts say the LAPD job is one of the toughest in law enforcement.

    Any serious candidate will have to have a proven track record as an experienced leader. The chief must be comfortable speaking extemporaneously — and often in front of cameras — about the work of the police department through the progressive lens of the city’s elected leaders, including the mayor and City Council.

    Whoever gets the job will need to navigate through many challenges at once, while dealing with the myriad issues confronting the city, including homelessness and the fentanyl crisis.

    The next chief will also have to recruit and inspire a new generation of officers, some of whom weren’t even born when the department was forced to undergo sweeping changes in the wake of the Rampart scandal and who grew of age in the Black Lives Matter era. Others are keen to see how the next chief will tackle a much-maligned discipline system that, depending on whom one asks, either lets too many bad cops off or has been weaponized to favor the well-connected.

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    Libor Jany, Richard Winton

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  • ‘You have pulled over the wrong person’: Video shows controversial arrest of Gascón aide

    ‘You have pulled over the wrong person’: Video shows controversial arrest of Gascón aide

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    A newly released video has generated fresh controversy over the 2021 arrest of a top aide to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón during a traffic stop in Azusa.

    Gascón’s chief of staff, Joseph Iniguez, and his then-fiance were arrested late on the night of Dec. 11, 2021, on suspicion of public intoxication and driving while intoxicated, respectively.

    Both Iniguez and his then-fiance were later released from custody and charges were never filed. In January 2022, Iniguez sued the department, claiming his civil rights were violated during the stop.

    The video, which was taken by Iniguez and obtained by The Times from the city of Azusa via a public records request, depicts him arguing with police and claiming his then-fiance, who stood handcuffed several feet away, did nothing wrong.

    “You have pulled over the wrong person,” he tells the officers in the five-minute video. “This is not right,” he adds later.

    Police reports released by the department in 2022 stated that the officers pulled over Iniguez’s fiance — to whom he is now married — after he allegedly made an illegal U-turn and that both the driver and passenger showed visible signs of alcohol intoxication.

    The Azusa Police Department settled Iniguez’s federal lawsuit last July for $10,000, stating at the time that it was less expensive than taking it to trial.

    Both the police and Iniguez claim the video vindicates their respective interpretations of the events of that night in Azusa.

    In a statement provided to The Times, Azusa Police Capt. Robert Landeros said the department conducted an internal review that found “the officers involved acted in full accordance with the law and the policies of the Azusa Police Department.”

    Landeros added that the city and department “stand firmly behind our employees and the decisions made during this arrest.”

    Landeros told KTLA-TV in an interview that he believes the video proves “our officers were treated with disrespect” during the stop. “It’s not uncommon. It’s disturbing when it involves a public official.”

    Glenn Jonas, an attorney for Iniguez, said in a statement that the video is evidence that “Iniguez was 100%, without a doubt falsely arrested,” and that he “was lucid, calm, direct and in full control” during the stop.

    “Mr. Iniguez in my book is a hero,” Jonas said in an email, noting that the official donated the settlement money to a nonprofit. “He took a false arrest and used it to protect the good citizens of Azusa who are now because of him protected with Body Worn Cameras.”

    Gascón’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

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    Connor Sheets, Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Sonja Sharp

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  • Los Angeles woman arrested again on suspicion of attempted kidnapping in Koreatown

    Los Angeles woman arrested again on suspicion of attempted kidnapping in Koreatown

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    For the second time this year, a Los Angeles woman with a mental health disorder has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to kidnap a child in Koreatown.

    Her previous sentencing for attempted kidnapping resulted in a diversion program for a mental health disorder that the court believed had a role in her initial crime.

    But police say she tried another abduction Tuesday, when LAPD officers responded to reports of a woman approaching children about 5 p.m. at Seoul International Park on the 3200 block of San Marino Street, according to the department.

    Witnesses who spoke to officers said the woman, identified as Yara Vanessa Pineda, approached several children, picked them up and then let them go, KTLA-TV Channel 5 reported.

    Pineda, 27, allegedly put the children down after their parents confronted her, and then she fled.

    Officers saw Pineda running down Normandie Avenue and tried to arrest her, said Jader Chaves, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department. She resisted, and officers used a Taser to subdue her, Chaves said.

    The LAPD had arrested her Feb. 28 on suspicion of trying to kidnap a young boy from a Target.

    On Feb. 25, Olympic Division officers responded to a report that Pineda allegedly grabbed a 4-year-old child from behind and carried him out of the store, according to a police report.

    Pineda allegedly put the child down after his parents confronted her outside. The family told officers they didn’t know Pineda.

    Three days later, officers in the North Hollywood area got a call from a person who saw Pineda and recognized her from a community alert issued by police. She was found and arrested in the attempted kidnapping.

    On May 21, Pineda was sentenced to two years of a mental health diversion program. It was unclear from court records why she was released so recently after the previous arrest.

    A court is allowed to grant a mental health diversion for individuals with a felony charge if they are diagnosed with a mental health disorder and do not pose a significant safety risk if treated in the community, according to the California Department of State Hospitals. The charges, however, can’t be murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape or lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14.

    The diagnosis can be of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder.

    Pineda’s diagnosis was not disclosed in court documents.

    A mental health diversion is granted when the court deems that a mental health disorder played a role in the criminal behavior.

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    Karen Garcia

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  • The 91 Freeway standoff began with a domestic violence investigation, ended in a suicide

    The 91 Freeway standoff began with a domestic violence investigation, ended in a suicide

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    A police pursuit that halted traffic for six hours on the 91 Freeway began with a Corona police investigation of a man accused of violating a domestic violence retraining order and ended with his suicide on the roadway.

    Efrain Quezada, 40, of La Puente was being investigated by the Corona Police Department days before the Friday pursuit, said police Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis.

    Corona officers were actively searching for Quezada, who was accused of stalking, making criminal threats and violating a domestic violence restraining order.

    When officers found Quezada on Friday at around 8:05 a.m. they tried to conduct a traffic stop in the area of McKinley Street and Griffin Way in Corona, but he refused to pull over.

    Instead, he led officers on a chase on the westbound side of the 91 Freeway for about 15 minutes before he stopped his blue four-door sedan in the middle of the roadway.

    The Anaheim and Corona police departments used their armored vehicles to box in the sedan so he couldn’t move the car.

    “Nearly the entire time, [Corona Police crisis negotiators] were on the phone with him, off and on, trying to negotiate a peaceful surrender,” Kouroubacalis said.

    Both sides of the freeway were closed for about six hours because of the standoff. The California Highway Patrol directed motorists behind the standoff to exit the freeway.

    The negotiation process proved fruitless, and Quezada ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound around noon, Kouroubacalis said.

    Traffic on the eastbound side of the 91 Freeway began flowing again around 12:45 p.m., but the westbound side remained closed until 3:48 p.m. as the Orange County Coroner’s Office and forensic team conducted their investigation , according to the Caltrans District 12 account on the social media platform X.

    During the standoff, law enforcement vehicles created a barrier between Quezada and the miles-long line of waiting drivers.

    Kouroubacalis said he is aware that people complained about the traffic.

    “Our response to that is, if it was their family member or friend, they would want us or any law enforcement agency to take reasonable efforts to bring him out of the car peacefully,” he said.

    “We did everything we could to get him to voluntarily comply with us and come out of the car, but it just did not work,” Kouroubacalis said.

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    Karen Garcia

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  • Police pressured him to confess to a murder that never happened. Now, Fontana will pay him $900,000

    Police pressured him to confess to a murder that never happened. Now, Fontana will pay him $900,000

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    The city of Fontana has agreed to pay nearly $900,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a man who said police pressured him to falsely confess to a murder that never happened.

    During a 17-hour interrogation in August 2018, Fontana Police Department officers questioned Thomas Perez Jr. about the disappearance of his father, whom Perez had reported missing. Officers alleged Perez had murdered his father and, when Perez denied the accusation, officers tried to convince him that he had forgotten the crime, according to a federal lawsuit, court records and video of the interrogation.

    Throughout their lengthy questioning of Perez, officers used a variety of tactics aimed at goading him into confessing. They brought his dog into the interrogation room, told him the dog had walked through blood and would be sent away to be euthanized. They drove Perez to a dirt lot and asked him to walk around in search of his dad’s body. They told him that his father’s body was in a morgue.

    “You murdered your dad,” one of the officers said, according to video of the interrogation. “Daddy’s dead because of you.”

    The officers told Perez that he would have “closure” if he told them what happened. Perez repeatedly told them that he didn’t know.

    “Stop lying to yourself,” officers told Perez.

    Perez, who was distressed, visibly sleep-deprived and later testified that he had been denied medication for depression and other mental disorders, sobbed during the interview. At one point he tore out his hair and ripped open his shirt. When officers stepped out of the room, he tied his shoestrings around his neck in an attempt to hang himself, records and video show.

    At the 16-hour mark, Perez told police that he had gotten into an altercation with his father and had stabbed him.

    But a major problem with that confession soon emerged: Perez’s father was alive and safe. He had left the house he shared with his son and stayed overnight at a friend’s home near Union Station, according to court records. Later, he waited to catch a flight at Los Angeles International Airport to visit his daughter in Northern California. When police learned that Perez’s father was safe, they initially withheld the information and put Perez on a psychiatric hold.

    “In my 40 years of suing the police I have never seen that level of deliberate cruelty by the police,” said Perez’s attorney, Jerry L. Steering. “After what I saw on the video of what they did to him, I now know that the police can get [anyone] to confess to killing Abe Lincoln.”

    Fontana police were initially suspicious of Perez after observing that his house was in disarray, as if a “struggle” had taken place. Perez’s father’s phone was left inside the house and police said they found “visible bloodstains.” A police dog had picked up the scent of a corpse, court records show.

    After the ordeal, Perez filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Fontana, which also named Officers David Janusz, Jeremy Hale, Ronald Koval, Robert Miller and Joanna Piña as defendants. The Fontana Police Department did not respond to The Times’ request for comment about the $898,000 settlement, or the officers’ status within the department.

    U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee found that “a reasonable juror could conclude that the detectives inflicted unconstitutional psychological torture on Perez,” according to a court order last June.

    “He testified that the officers prevented him from sleeping and deprived him of his medication,” Gee said. “There is no legitimate government interest that would justify treating Perez in this manner while he was in medical distress.”

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    Colleen Shalby

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  • Long Beach officer killed boy, 17, during standoff, police say

    Long Beach officer killed boy, 17, during standoff, police say

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    Long Beach police said Monday that a person killed during a standoff with officers last month was a 17-year-old boy.

    On the night of April 26, police were called to a home in the 6800 block of Cerritos Avenue, where a male with a gun was reported to have broken in and demanded items from a minor and two adults inside, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement.

    The suspect, found in the yard of the residence, was believed to be armed, police said.

    “Officers engaged in verbal de-escalation for over an hour as they tried to negotiate the suspect’s surrender,” the statement reads.

    A replica firearm was recovered by Long Beach police at the scene of a fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old boy.

    (Long Beach Police Department)

    A SWAT team had been called in and was “on scene and preparing to deploy” when an officer shot the boy, according to police.

    The teen was struck once in the upper body. He died at a local hospital.

    Officers recovered a replica firearm from the scene, the police statement said.

    The teenager was from San Bernardino. His name was not released.

    Officers wore body cameras, and the Police Department will make video available to the public after it is reviewed, the department said.

    On Monday, the Police Department said detectives had learned there was “an accomplice” in the home invasion who fled before officers arrived.

    Iskay Mota, 18, of Modesto, was arrested Wednesday and transported to the Long Beach city jail, where he was booked on suspicion of robbery and held on $100,000 bail, according to police and Los Angeles County inmate records.

    The shooting is being investigated by the California Department of Justice, which independently probes all fatal police shootings of unarmed civilians.

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    Hailey Branson-Potts

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  • Amid school crime spike, task force wants L.A. campuses to decide whether they need police

    Amid school crime spike, task force wants L.A. campuses to decide whether they need police

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    Amid steeply escalating school crime, drug use and fighting, individual Los Angeles public school campuses should be allowed to decide whether to station a police officer on campus, a safety task force said, a recommendation that, if adopted, would reverse wins by anti-police student activists but respond to calls by many parents to restore officers.

    Recent practice in the L.A. Unified School District has been to keep police off campus. Instead, school police — a department paid for and operated by the school system — patrol areas around schools and respond to emergency calls off and on campus.

    The task force, established by the Board of Education, has operated quietly during the current school year against a backdrop of rising fights on campus and difficulty controlling vaping and the use of serious drugs, such as fentanyl, which killed a student on campus in 2022. District data show a sharp rise in what the school system refers to as reported incidents.

    The latest data leave out the two peak-pandemic years of 2019-20 and 2020-21 because students were learning from home for all or much of the time. But with that caveat, incidents under “Fighting/Physical Aggression” have climbed every year since 2017-18, despite declining enrollment. Incidents especially surged once students returned from remote instruction.

    Before the pandemic, in 2017-18, there were 2,270 such incidents; the next year, also pre-pandemic, recorded a 2% rise to 2,315. Then came the pandemic and remote learning. After on-campus instruction resumed, these incidents increased 28% in 2021-22 and by 54% year over year in 2022-23.

    Brenda Fernandez, an LAUSD staff member, listens in between writing down notes from parents concerned about school safety during a meeting May 2 at Patrick Henry Middle School.

    (Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

    Put another way, during the two full years since police were removed from campus, incidents of fights and physical aggression rose to 4,569 from 2,315, almost doubling. And as of April 15, with about two months left in the school year, the number was higher still — at 4,786.

    It was on April 15 that tension at Washington Preparatory High School in South L.A. boiled over in an after-school confrontation a few blocks from campus. A student fending off at least five other students pulled out a gun and opened fire. A 15-year-old died.

    In that incident, a nonpolice school-safety worker, part of the “safe passages” program, allegedly declined to intervene when approached by students just before the fight began.

    “One student died because safe passages does not work,” said Diane Guillen, a leader on a key district parent advisory council. She said a parents group is going to have at least 2,000 signatures calling for a restoration of school police to present to the Board of Education at Tuesday’s meeting, when the task force’s recommendations will be presented.

    The school board is not expected to take immediate action, but L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho is developing a revised safety plan, part of which may require the board’s authorization.

    At an April meeting of the Board of Education, more than two dozen parents called for increased police staffing and the return of officers to campuses.

    Incidents of crime, drug use and fighting are rising in L.A. schools.

    A chart from a Los Angeles school board committee meeting in April indicates that incidents among students involving suicide risk, fighting, weapons and illegal/controlled substances have risen steeply since students returned to in-person instruction after pandemic campus closures.

    Any member of the public could participate in the task force, but most involved appear to have been district employees — including within the school police — as well as community members and parents who are not anti-police. The outgoing head of the school administrators union, Nery Paiz, also took part. No anti-police activists attended the task force’s April meeting.

    Anti-police student activists and professional organizers working with them are likely to have a presence Tuesday at the Board of Education meeting. They typically have speakers at board meetings at least once a month and stage rallies at least twice a year. The anti-police effort also is backed by the leadership of the politically influential teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles.

    Anti-police activists successfully advocated for pushing officers off campus during the Black Lives Matter protests that peaked after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis city police. That board action, by a 4-3 vote in June 2020, also slashed the police budget by 35%.

    Although celebrating that action, activists wanted more — the complete elimination of school police — and are angry at what they see as broken promises and backsliding: The school police budget has crept upward, pulled along by districtwide salary increases and higher costs. Overall, police staffing remains at a reduced level.

    Before the cuts, a high school typically would have one full-time officer and two middle schools would share one officer.

    In the recently released data, the categories of “suicide risk” and “illegal/controlled substances” also showed small rises in the last year of the on-campus police presence — suggesting that all was not well even with officers assigned to schools. But as with the fighting, during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, the district experienced sharp rises in the number of incidents.

    In two categories, threats and weapons, the numbers were lower in 2018-19 but then rose over the last two years.

    Cause and effect related to school police is difficult to determine because so many factors are at play. Student mental health issues, for example, worsened across the nation in the wake of the pandemic and there were widespread — largely anecdotal — reports of increased campus fighting. It’s hard to know the extent to which the L.A. Unified data reflect the lack of police, post-pandemic stresses or other factors.

    It’s also hard to evaluate the consistency of incident reporting. The school system has long refused to release even redacted incident reports that would permit an independent assessment. Nor will the district release information about incidents in relation to specific campuses.

    A man's hands hold a card reading "School District Safety Personnel."

    Marcos Tapia holds a card for the school safety meeting at Patrick Henry Middle School on Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Granada Hills.

    (Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Times)

    Last year, student activists at Dorsey High in South L.A. said that they felt safer, more respected and better able to focus on coursework thanks to the removal of the school’s police officer and the addition of more counselors.

    Last week, more than 100 parents attended a school safety town hall at Patrick Henry Middle School in Granada Hills. At this meeting, parents called for more police, but also acknowledged the complexity of the problem.

    Several parents focused, for example, on what they said was ineffective behavior management by school staff, poor communication with families and the district policy to avoid student suspensions. Parents complained that children were being bullied and beaten — only to see the perpetrators continue at school and in their classes as though nothing had happened.

    Avoiding suspensions is not meant to be the same as avoiding consequences. Ideally, students who are acting improperly are counseled and taught to take responsibility for their actions and to make things right through a “restorative justice” process. This is widely viewed as an alternative to heavy-handed discipline and suspensions that can interfere with learning and increase the number of dropouts.

    But the uniform success of restorative methods has been called into question even by school board President Jackie Goldberg, who strongly supports these reforms in concept.

    Carvalho said the safety dynamic is more nuanced than simply pro-police or anti-police.

    “Good systems understand the culture within schools — are able to anticipate and solve some of these issues before they happen,” he said. “It’s about supervision. It’s also about engagement with parents. It’s also about providing kids an opportunity for outlets within their own communities.”

    “We need to go deeper,” he said. “It cannot just be pro-police or against police. That is not an approach that alone will solve the issue.”

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    Howard Blume

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  • Woman found dead inside Sunland trash bin identified

    Woman found dead inside Sunland trash bin identified

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    The Los Angeles County medical examiner on Friday identified a woman whose body was discovered inside a trash bin this week in Sunland.

    The woman was identified as 32-year-old Heather Hass. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

    Her body was discovered Tuesday morning in the 8500 block of Wentworth Street after officers responded to a call from a resident, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Upon arrival, the officers discovered the body inside the trash bin.

    Helicopter video from KTLA-TV at the time of the discovery showed police investigating near a closed black bin at a curb in the neighborhood.

    William Elliot, a Sunland resident, told KNBC-TV that someone dumped the trash bin onto his property. He said he moved the bin to the street without knowing what was inside it but called police when something seemed off.

    “It smells bad and it was zip-tied and very suspicious that the serial number was scratched off of it,” Elliot told the station.

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    Ruben Vives

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  • 3 Alameda police officers charged with involuntary manslaughter in 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez

    3 Alameda police officers charged with involuntary manslaughter in 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez

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    Nearly three years after a Bay Area man died when police pinned him facedown, in a case that drew comparisons to the killing of George Floyd, the Alameda Police Department officers involved have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, authorities announced.

    The charges in the death of Mario Gonzalez, 26, came Thursday. Gonzalez died after an altercation with police on April 19, 2021. No charges were filed against the officers at the time.

    An initial autopsy cited “physiological stress of altercation and restraint” as one of four factors in Gonzalez’s death, along with the “toxic effects of methamphetamine,” morbid obesity and alcoholism.

    The Alameda County district attorney’s Public Accountability Unit reopened the case in 2023, and a second autopsy determined that Gonzalez had died as “a result of restraint asphyxiation,” according to the prosecutor.

    The case was brought by Dist. Atty Pamela Price. Elected in 2022, Price had promised in her campaign to reopen the inquiry, which had been closed without charges by previous Dist. Atty. Nancy O’Malley.

    The three officers, Eric McKinley, James Fisher and Cameron Leahy, were charged with involuntary manslaughter.

    Gonzalez’s death drew comparisons to Floyd’s 2020 murder in Minneapolis by then-Officer Derek Chauvin, a killing that set off nationwide protests against police brutality.

    Less than a year later, police officers in Alameda responded to a report of an intoxicated person and possible theft at a local park.

    Body camera footage released by the Police Department shows the officers’ interaction with Gonzalez. In the video, Gonzalez struggles to answer their questions and appears dazed. After he fails to produce identification for the officers, they attempt to pin his hands behind his back to handcuff him.

    The officers determine that Gonzalez is resisting and push him to the ground, the video shows.

    “We’re going to take care of you, OK? We’re going to take care of you,” one officer tells Gonzalez as they continue to restrain him.

    “I think you just had too much to drink today, OK? That’s all,” the officer continues. After learning his name, the officer adds, “Mario, just please stop fighting us.”

    Gonzalez can be seen facedown in wood chips, grunting and shouting as the officers hold him down.

    One officer puts a knee on Gonzalez’s back and holds it there for at least four minutes, even as Gonzalez gasps for air.

    “I didn’t do nothing, OK?” Gonzalez says at one point.

    An officer eventually says that Gonzelez is “going unresponsive,” according to the video. The officers then roll Gonzalez over and perform CPR on him. He died at the hospital later that day.

    In its initial public comment on the case, the Alameda Police Department did not mention that Gonzalez had been restrained, saying only that “officers attempted to detain the man, and a physical altercation ensued. At that time, the man had a medical emergency.”

    But Gonzalez’s family saw the situation differently.

    “The police killed my brother, in the same manner they killed George Floyd,” his brother Gerardo Gonzalez told reporters at the time.

    Alison Berry Wilkinson, a lawyer who represented all three officers during the criminal investigation but who now represents only Leahy, called the case a “blatantly political prosecution.”

    “The officers’ actions while taking Mr. Gonzalez into custody were reasonable, necessary, and lawful, and his tragic death was the result of drug toxicity, not criminal misconduct,” she said.

    All three officers are still active in law enforcement and will surrender themselves in the case, Berry Wilkinson said.

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    Noah Goldberg

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  • LAPD officer from scandal-plagued gang unit is charged with thefts of brass knuckles, knives

    LAPD officer from scandal-plagued gang unit is charged with thefts of brass knuckles, knives

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    A Los Angeles police officer was charged Thursday with stealing brass knuckles and other weapons and tampering with evidence during enforcement stops carried out by an scandal-plagued gang unit, prosecutors said.

    The officer, Alan Carrillo, has been charged with two counts of altering, planting or concealing evidence as a peace office and three counts of petty theft, according to a news release from the office of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón.

    Carrillo was previously a member of the Mission Division Gang Enforcement Detail, which came under suspicion last year for a range of misconduct, including unlawful traffic stops in which items were taken from motorists.

    Carrillo, 32, is being held on $100,000 bond; an arraignment date has not yet been set. It is unclear whether he had retained an attorney.

    LAPD Chief Dominic Choi said that he was “disappointed” by the allegations against Carrillo, who he said has been relieved of duty.

    “If these allegations are supported and are true, it’s absolutely not tolerated,” Choi said in a phone interview. “This type of behavior is where the public complains about and we lose public trust.”

    In the meantime, he said, the department would continue cooperating with the D.A.’s office.

    Carrillo is the first of several Mission gang unit members expected to be charged in connection with the still-unfolding investigation, according to a source who requested anonymity to discuss cases that remain open.

    Prosecutors allege the misconduct by Carrillo occurred between April and June of 2023 — after the onset of an internal affairs investigation into the gang unit over officers turning off their body-worn cameras. The LAPD has said the FBI is also investigating for potential constitutional violations.

    “The public’s trust and the integrity of law enforcement are undermined when officers tamper with evidence and steal items from the public,” Gascón said in the news release. “Police officers are entrusted with upholding justice and protecting our communities, and any breach of that trust is unacceptable.”

    According to prosecutors, Carrillo stole personal items, including brass knuckles and knives, from people he detained in a series of pedestrian and traffic stops on April 19 and June 15, 2023.

    “Carrillo was allegedly inconsistent while documenting these items in his reports, and the taken items were never accounted for,” the news release said.

    Law enforcement sources who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation previously detailed a similar incident to The Times, in which an officer allegedly drew a gun on a person who had been stopped and took the person’s property. One source described the item as a knife with brass knuckles on the handle.

    Prosecutors have debated, the sources said, about whether to charge the officer with robbery, which is defined as as the taking of property with the use or threat of force, rather than theft.

    Authorities have identified as many as 350 criminal cases that are potentially compromised because they relied on the testimony of or evidence gathered by two Mission gang officers — one of whom is now believed to be Carrillo, the sources said.

    It’s not clear whether the pair are the same two Mission gang officers who have been sent to face a disciplinary panel called a board of rights, indicating the department is seeking to terminate them for misconduct. A department spokeswoman, when previously contacted by The Times, denied that Carrillo was one of the officers.

    The gang unit’s alleged misconduct came to light after a traffic stop in December 2022, when a motorist filed a complaint with a neighboring division, claiming the officers were rude to her and had illegally searched her vehicle. An internal affairs detective assigned to the case later noticed discrepancies in the involved officers’ account of the stop.

    The department’s inquiry widened to include stops carried out by others in the unit, uncovering numerous instances in which officers were late to activate their body cameras or otherwise failed to document the encounter, in violation of department policy, officials have said.

    Then-Chief Michel Moore ordered the unit disbanded temporarily last August, with its remaining officers assigned home or placed on restrictive duties that take them off the streets, according to the department. The unit has since resumed its operations with new officers.

    LAPD officials publicly denied that the problem of officers flouting the body camera policy went beyond the Mission unit, despite an internal report that suggested the practice was far more common. The department has since tightened its policy, increasing random reviews of footage to check for compliance and misconduct.

    Carrillo is a six-year veteran of the LAPD. Like several other members of the Mission gang unit, he transferred to Mission from the neighboring Foothill Division.

    Last December, prosecutors dismissed a gun possession charge against Raphael DeLeon, who was stopped by Carrillo and other Mission gang officers on May 28 in the area of Woodman Avenue and Roscoe Boulevard.

    DeLeon’s attorney, Ninaz Saffari, said Carrillo wrote in his report that he and his partners pulled DeLeon over for swerving. The officers discovered DeLeon’s license was invalid and that he had a prior misdemeanor conviction for firearm possession, Saffari said. But without obtaining a warrant, Saffari said, the officers ordered DeLeon and a female passenger out of the car while they performed a “protective sweep” of the vehicle.

    The search uncovered a ghost gun, which was later destroyed, police said.

    In an interview Thursday, Saffari told The Times that the officers’ actions seemed coordinated, as they turned on their body cameras simultaneously, but only after asking for DeLeon’s license several minutes after the stop began — despite a department policy that says officers should record the entirety of all public encounters. None of those details were mentioned in Carrillo’s report, she said.

    “He lied all over the report, and not in a smart way, either. Basically he contradicted himself in his own report and claimed they had the body-worn video on the entire time,” Saffari said.

    The Mission scandal has brought renewed attention to the department’s oversight of its specialized units, which have been plagued with issues over the years. In 2020, the reputation of the vaunted Metropolitan Division was tarnished after some officers were accused of deliberately misidentifying people as gang members in department records of field interviews. The fallout led to several being criminally charged, although most of those cases were later dismissed.

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    Libor Jany, Richard Winton

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  • Naked inmate ‘left to die alone’ in pool of blood, Nevada suit says. Mom wants answers

    Naked inmate ‘left to die alone’ in pool of blood, Nevada suit says. Mom wants answers

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    A mother has filed a lawsuit over the death of her son, who she says was beaten to death by corrections officers at a Nevada prison.

    A mother has filed a lawsuit over the death of her son, who she says was beaten to death by corrections officers at a Nevada prison.

    Getty Images/istockphoto

    After Christian Walker was transferred to a different Nevada prison, he died within two days, according to a lawsuit filed over his death.

    His mother reportedly learned corrections officers brutally beat him, twice, before he was “left to die alone in a cell,” the lawsuit says.

    The day after Walker’s arrival at High State Prison in Clark County, he was admitted to a Las Vegas trauma center with severe injuries and needed 17 stitches, mostly on his head, in April 2023, a complaint states.

    UMC Trauma Center’s intake records say the 44-year-old inmate was hit in the head, possibly with a baton, and that he didn’t “remember what happened,” according to a complaint filed April 11.

    Walker returned to prison hours later after he was treated and discharged, according to the complaint.

    The next evening, a porter brought Walker a dinner tray and found him naked in his cell, underneath his metal bed frame “in a fetal position, with blood and bruises all down his back and legs” and “lying in a pool of blood, moaning,” the complaint says.

    According to the complaint, the porter called two officers over to Walker’s cell, but no member of the jail staff, including medical personnel, checked on him the entire night of April 14, 2023.

    Corrections officers are accused of beating Walker with batons before and after his stay at the trauma center, according to the complaint, which says they also punched, kicked and pepper sprayed him.

    The morning of April 15, 2023, a first responder responded to Walker’s cell after a report of a cardiac arrest, and he was pronounced dead, the complaint says.

    However, it’s believed Walker died the night before, as suggested by the discoloration of Walker’s skin noticed by the first responder on his “badly beaten body,” according to the complaint.

    Prison officials and the Clark County Office Of The Coroner/Medical Examiner are accused of working together to cover up how he died. A copy of the coroner’s autopsy report provided to McClatchy News lists his manner of death as “natural.”

    Annette Walker, his mother, said at an April 12 news conference that her son “was beaten to death.”

    She is suing the Nevada Department of Corrections, its director James Dzurenda and several prison officials, correctional officers and other prison staff members. The county coroner is also listed as a defendant.

    In an emailed statement, William C. Quenga, the department’s public information officer, told McClatchy News that “we are aware of the lawsuit and cannot comment on active case.”

    The county declined a request for comment, as county officials cannot comment on pending litigation, public information officer Stephanie Wheatley told McClatchy News via email.

    The complaint says “This lawsuit stands for something much larger than Christian….It stands as a loud, strong signal to NDOC officials that their careless attitude towards cruelty will no longer be tolerated.”

    Christian’s final days

    Walker had been incarcerated for more than two decades before he died, and was convicted of second-degree murder in connection with killing his girlfriend in 1997, the Las Vegas Sun reported in 2001, when his appeal to reduce his conviction to manslaughter was denied.

    Annette Walker said her son “was not perfect,” and described him as “the greatest gift in my life.”

    While serving his sentence at Southern Desert Correctional Center until his transfer to High Desert State Prison “due to a medical episode,” Annette Walker said her son became a minister, earned his master’s degree and “wanted to use his story to help others avoid the mistakes he made.”

    Annette Walker had Dr. Lary Simms, who previously worked as the county’s medical examiner, review the county’s autopsy report on her son’s death, according to the complaint.

    The coroner’s autopsy report says Walker’s cause of death was “hypertensive cardiovascular disease,” which contributed to his “natural” death.

    Simms disagreed with the findings, and suggested “blunt head trauma” caused Walker’s death instead and that he died of brain swelling, the complaint says.

    An anonymous letter dated June 2023 was sent to a nonprofit organization to “expose” what really happened to Walker and how there’s been many “unusual” prison deaths, according to the lawsuit. The name of the nonprofit was not specified in the lawsuit.

    The letter says it was written by employees of the Nevada Department of Corrections.

    Photos of Walker included in the complaint show him after he died. The images are graphic, showing his swollen, bloody and bruised face.

    A hope for ‘meaningful changes’

    At the news conference, Annette Walker said her lawsuit isn’t about “vengeance.”

    “I am seeking answers. Answers to why my son was murdered, why the system that was supposed to help him, and others, rehabilitate, ended up being where his life was taken,” she said.

    “Christian’s death raises serious questions about the treatment of inmates, about the conditions within our prisons, and about the very nature of our justice system,” Annette Walker also said.

    “I miss my son very much every day…Christian Walker’s life mattered, and it is up to us to ensure that his story is heard and that meaningful changes follow,” she added.

    Julia Marnin is a McClatchy National Real-Time reporter covering the southeast and northeast while based in New York. She’s an alumna of The College of New Jersey and joined McClatchy in 2021. Previously, she’s written for Newsweek, Modern Luxury, Gannett and more.

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  • LAPD officer who shot girl in Burlington Coat Factory changing room won’t face charges

    LAPD officer who shot girl in Burlington Coat Factory changing room won’t face charges

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    A Los Angeles police officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old girl through the wall of a changing room at a Burlington Coat Factory store in North Hollywood was cleared of wrongdoing Tuesday by the California Department of Justice.

    California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office said Officer William Jones used reasonable force in the 2021 incident because he was responding to a report of a possible active shooter.

    That information turned out to be wrong — the suspect, Daniel Elena-Lopez, was carrying a bike lock, not a gun.

    Footage released by the Los Angeles Police Department showed that when Jones arrived at the scene, toting a high-powered rifle, he rushed to the front of a phalanx of officers advancing toward the store’s home goods section, where he opened fire almost immediately upon encountering Elena-Lopez.

    One of rounds that Jones fired “skipped off” a floor tile, the attorney general’s report said, and sailed into a fitting room where Valentina Orellana-Peralta was hiding with her mother. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

    The shooting drew widespread outrage and grief, while bringing demands for the officer who killed her to be criminally charged. The Orellana-Peralta family has a pending civil lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, alleging failures in training and oversight contributed to the deadly outcome. Attorneys in the case did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

    The LAPD did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the case.

    While an internal LAPD review panel was split on whether Jones’ decision to open fire was justified, then-chief Michel Moore ultimately ruled in 2022 that the shots violated department policy and that the officer should have taken more time to assess the situation. In a rare split with the chief, the Police Commission concluded that only Jones’ second and third shots were out of policy.

    No LAPD officer has been charged in an on-duty shooting by county or state prosecutors in nearly two decades. Under Dist. Atty. George Gascón, L.A. County prosecutors have been more aggressive in filing cases against law enforcement officers who use force on duty though, bringing assault and manslaughter charges against Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and Torrance police officers in recent years.

    The attorney general’s office noted Jones had heard reports that Elena-Lopez was threatening customers at the store with a gun. The information was later amended, but it’s not clear whether Jones heard these later radio broadcasts, the office said. A toxicology report showed Elena-Lopez had been using methamphetamine.

    Orellana-Peralta was a bystander in the store. She had arrived from her native Chile about six months prior, her family said, with dreams of becoming an engineer and a U.S. citizen. According to her family’s lawsuit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court earlier this month, the girl’s mother “watched helplessly as her daughter died while still in her arms.”

    The attorney general’s office said that other officers at the scene had formulated a plan to try to stop Elena-Lopez by firing a .40mm “less-lethal” round at him, but Jones was unaware of their plan. Jones’ perception that he was shooting to stop an armed threat means he can’t be held criminally liable for the errant bullet that killed the teenager, based on a legal theory known as “transferred intent,” the office said.

    The attorney general’s report called for the LAPD to improve its communication and coordination in emergency responses, but said it could not pursue charges against Jones because the killing of Orellana Peralta was “unintended and unforeseeable.”

    After reviewing the report, civil rights attorney Jim DeSimone, who has brought wrongful-death suits against law enforcement agencies across the state, said the case highlights the need for officers to have better “situational awareness” before opening fire.

    “It’s clear that with the number of officers, and less-lethal options, that Mr. Lopez could have been apprehended without killing an innocent human being,” he said.

    Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.

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    Libor Jany

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