Man Pleads No Contest to Assaulting LAPD Sgt.

A man accused of biting off part of an LAPD sergeant’s finger during an attack at a Metro B (Red) Line station has pleaded no contest to an assault charge. Ephraim Okorie, now 38, entered his plea Monday to assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury on a peace officer in the performance of his duties, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He was immediately sentenced to nearly 1,300 days in county jail, a one-year live-in mental health and drug rehabilitation residential program and three years probation. Court records indicate Okorie was given credit for time he has already served in jail. He could face up to seven years in state prison if he fails to complete the one-year program or any other probationary term, according to the District Attorney’s Office. The Los Angeles Police Department said officers were on routine patrol on the Red Line train April 27, 2023, when they spotted Okorie in possession of drug paraphernalia. Police approached Okorie and escorted him off the train at the Vermont/Santa Monica Station.

MyNewsLA

2 LAPD officers injured during pursuit crash in South Los Angeles

Two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department were injured during a pursuit crash in South Los Angeles on Tuesday. The LAPD said it received a call around 12:10 a.m. of an officer-involved crash near the intersection of 42nd Place and Hoover Street. Officers from the Southwest Division were in pursuit of a vehicle when they were involved in a traffic collision, the LAPD said. It is unclear if the vehicle police were pursuing struck their patrol vehicle. Two officers were transported to the hospital for minor injuries in stable condition. The reason for the start of the pursuit is unknown. The driver of the vehicle police were pursuing was later taken into custody. 

CBS 2

Two Killed in Hit-and-Run Near Lake Los Angeles

Two people were killed in a hit-and-run collision involving two vehicles in the Lake Los Angeles area, authorities said Monday. The crash occurred around 7:10 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of 170th Street East and Rawhide Avenue, just east of Palmdale, according to the California Highway Patrol. Officials said that a 34-year-old man behind the wheel of a 2006 Honda Civic and his 21-year-old passenger traveling eastbound on Rawhide Avenue were fatally injured after colliding with a 2023 Subaru WRX traveling southbound on 170th Street East. The driver and passenger of the Honda died from their injuries, the CHP said in a statement. The driver of the Subaru fled the scene on foot, CHP said. The identities of the victims were not immediately available, and the circumstances surrounding the crash remained under investigation. Authorities urged anyone with information regarding the crash to call Officer J. Trujillo at 661-743-6060 during business hours or contact the Los Angeles Traffic Management Center at 323-259-3200 after hours.

MyNewsLA

MacArthur Park shooting suspect is arraigned on five counts of attempted murder

A man with prior felony convictions was arrested on suspicion of being the gunman behind last week’s gang-related shooting in MacArthur Park that injured four men and a woman, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in a news release Monday. Jose Daniel Amaya, 27, was arraigned Monday on five counts of attempted murder with five gun sentencing enhancements that add jail time for committing a felony using a firearm. Officials say Amaya fired multiple shots into a group of people near Wilshire Boulevard and South Alvarado Street on Jan. 22 around 12:40 a.m. All five victims were transported to a nearby hospital. Police say the victims were bystanders during a confrontation between rival gangs. Amaya was arrested that day, according to the district attorney’s office. Amaya previously had two felony convictions under the state’s “three strikes” law. The district attorney’s office said he could face multiple life terms in prison if convicted. “Gun violence continues to be a devastating scourge in Los Angeles, and today my office has taken decisive action by filing five gun sentencing enhancements, one for each victim,” Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said Monday. “These enhancements carry an additional penalty of 25 years to life in prison. This is a clear and unequivocal message: gun violence will not be tolerated in Los Angeles County.”

Los Angeles Times

Police respond to Los Angeles-area barricaded suspect with a sword

Los Angeles Police Department officers have surrounded a Baldwin Hills neighborhood after an alleged sword-wielding suspect barricaded himself inside a Crenshaw apartment. Police said they received a call just after 10 a.m. on Tuesday about a suspect chasing another person with a sword. Police say the suspect then barricaded himself inside an apartment on Gibraltar Avenue and August Street. It is the barricaded suspect may also be armed with a gun. A SWAT team was called to the scene and is attempting to talk the suspect out of the apartment. 

CBS 2

9 indicted in $200 million counterfeit and illegal products smuggling operation

Logistics executives, warehouse owners and truck drivers were among nine people indicted in a smuggling operation involving about $200 million worth of counterfeit and other illegal products from China into the United States through the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, federal prosecutors announced Monday. Eight of the defendants were arrested on Friday and Saturday. A ninth person remains at large. They were named in a 15-count indicated unsealed Friday. Participants in the scheme took shipping containers flagged for additional inspection at the ports to an off- site facility, where contraband goods were unloaded and stored in warehouses, according to prosecutors. The containers were re-filled with filler cargo to deceive customs officials and evade law enforcement, authorities said. Once the shipping containers were at the facilities, the security seals were broken and the illegal items were removed. Counterfeit security seals were then placed on the containers to make it appear nothing had been removed, authorities said.

NBC 4

Feds near border seize 180 lbs. of meth in 1 hour

More than 180 pounds of methamphetamine was seized by the U.S. Border Patrol in a pair of traffic stops in Southern California that occurred less than an hour apart on Jan. 18. The first discovery occurred at about 3:20 p.m., when agents stopped a man driving a blue Dodge minivan on the 8 Freeway near the Buckman Springs exit in Campo. A K-9 unit detected narcotics in the vehicle, and agents “discovered nine foil-wrapped packages, consistent with narcotics, hidden in a compartment of the van,” the Border Patrol said in a news release. Testing confirmed the packages contained meth, the total of which was just short of 100 pounds, officials said. Less than an hour later near the same location, agents stopped a woman driving a Honda sedan with her two children in the vehicle. A K-9 unit again detected drugs, and agents found 80 cellophane-wrapped packages “hidden throughout the vehicle,” officials said. Testing again confirmed the presence of meth, which in this case totaled almost 84 pounds. That woman, identified only as a 22-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested, and her children were released to family members.

KTLA 5

2 Texas officers injured in crash with DUI driver

Two Dallas County sheriff’s deputies were injured in a car accident on Saturday morning, officials with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The deputies were at the scene of a major accident on eastbound Interstate 20 and Cockrell Hill Road in a marked squad car with emergency lights on, officials said. While waiting for a wrecker to arrive, the squad car was struck from behind by a black Mercedes sedan, according to the statement. Both deputies and the driver of the Mercedes were transported to an area hospital in stable condition, officials said. The driver of the Mercedes is being charged with driving while intoxicated, officials said.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

‘You have no right': Man rams Fla. cruiser, flees into woods before arrest

A Hillsborough sheriff’s deputy was hurt Friday afternoon when a man rammed her patrol SUV with a pickup in an attempt to evade arrest, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Deputy Stevie Hackett was responding to an RV park at 9102 Williams Road in Tampa shortly after 1 p.m. to locate a suspect involved in an aggravated battery, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The suspect, Logan Williams, 27, got into the pickup with his mother and tried to drive away, striking another car in the process. He then intentionally struck Hackett’s patrol SUV and tried to run away, according to the sheriff’s office. “Even though our deputy was injured, she managed to get out of the car, run towards the suspect and arrest the suspect,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Carolina Montelongo said during a news conference Friday afternoon. Hackett had a civilian employee from the sheriff’s office in her SUV at the time of the crash. Both were taken to Tampa General Hospital with head pain but were in stable condition, Montelongo said. The person in the first car that was struck was not hurt.

Tampa Bay Times

Beaches closed indefinitely from Malibu to Playa del Rey because of fire debris runoff

The recent rainfall and increased debris from fire zones have prompted Los Angeles County public health officials to issue an advisory and close several miles of coastline from Malibu to Playa del Rey. “Fire debris runoff and pollutants in the water and on the sand may contain toxic or carcinogenic chemicals, which can be harmful to health,” public officials said in a statement. “This includes any runoff that may flow onto or pond on the beach sand.” At the same time that the beaches are closed, the county has issued an ocean water quality rain advisory for all Los Angeles County beaches until Thursday morning. The advisory warns beach users to avoid water contact for at least 72 hours after significant rainfall. Once that advisory ends, the coastline stretching from Surfrider Beach to Las Flores State Beach and Santa Monica State Beach to Dockweiler State Beach at World Way will remain closed indefinitely because of fire debris and chemicals that flowed from nearby water channels to the beach sand.

Los Angeles Times

LA Board Issues Review of Emergency Notification System

The county Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday calling for an independent review of the emergency notification systems used during fires and other crises to inform residents of evacuation orders, following faulty alerts. The notification system generated complaints in the early days of the Los Angeles-area firestorm when several erroneous alerts were sent to cell phones countywide telling residents they were in an evacuation area. Those alerts were intended to be sent to residents near the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills area, but they instead went to millions of residents countywide, and even some in Orange County. Authorities at the time called it a technology issue, not human error. The Los Angeles Times later reported that residents in the Altadena area west of Lake Avenue did not receive any emergency evacuation orders until roughly nine hours after the Eaton Fire erupted, despite the blaze burning uncontrollably and spreading rapidly due to fierce Santa Ana winds. According to The Times, sheriff’s deputies driving the neighborhoods in their cars were using loudspeakers to urge people to evacuate the area west of Lake Avenue around 2 a.m. that morning, but an evacuation alert wasn’t sent to residents until nearly 3:30 a.m.

MyNewsLA

Weather Service warns of dangerous overnight temps in Southern California

In less than a week, Southern California’s weather has gone from unseasonably dry and warm – to wet and now bitterly cold. The National Weather Service says the same low pressure system that brought rain to the region last weekend is “still spinning” and producing overnight low temperatures in the 30s and 40s. Meteorologists warn of a hypothermia risk to people and animals and potential damage to sensitive plants and crops. Through Friday morning, the forecast calls for overnight lows around 42 degrees in downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, 35 degrees in the San Fernando Valley, 27 degrees in Lancaster, 45 degrees in the Beach Cities and Orange County, and low 40s in coastal Ventura County. Daytime highs will be in the 50s and low 60s. Temperatures begin to warm on Friday as a ridge of high pressure moves into California.

KTLA 5

LA City Council OKs Transfer of Surplus Revenue to Reserve Fund

The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday authorized a transfer of $219.3 million in surplus revenue from the Department of Water and Power to the reserve fund as elected officials continue to grapple with fiscal concerns. In a unanimous vote, council members approved an ordinance to direct the transfer of money from the utility's power revenue account to the city's reserve fund during the 2024-25 fiscal year. An initial $109.6 million is expected to be transferred within 45 days in one lump-sum payment, with the remainder to be transferred in monthly installments by June 30, according to a DWP report. There was no discussion. According to city officials, the transfer occurs every year after the DWP crunches its numbers. Another transfer is expected to happen related to water revenues in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The transfer is expected to increase the city's reserve fund, which is experiencing a strain as a result of a budget deficit caused by lower-than- anticipated tax revenue growth, overspending due to labor contracts and liability payouts, among other challenges.

Westside Current

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 8,900 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education.