Free Republic

The Los Angeles police officer who fatally shot a day laborer in Westlake was previously accused in a civil lawsuit of improperly using deadly force when he shot and wounded a 19-year-old in the leg in 2008, The Times has learned. Officer Frank Hernandez shot Joseph Wolf on the morning of Dec. 12, 2008, according to a civil rights and negligence lawsuit filed in March of this year by Wolf’s attorneys. The lawsuit said Wolf was shot outside his home after he heard the sound of a helicopter circling above his home and went outside to see what was going...

A Westlake resident who said she witnessed the LAPD's fatal shooting of a Guatemalan day laborer said Thursday she saw no knife in the man's hands, contradicting the Police Department's account. "He had nothing in his hands," said Ana, who did not give her last name and asked that her face be obscured on photos and on television because she feared being harassed by the police. "At the moment when the police were shooting, he had nothing." ... Ana, who said she was interviewed by police on the day of the shooting, gave her account Thursday morning in front of...

When the Los Angeles Police Department faced hundreds of protesters on the streets of the Westlake District, some were people drawn to the event from other parts of the city for political reasons. Twenty-two people were arrested Tuesday night after protesters clashed with police near a vigil for Manuel Jamines, a Guatamalan-born day laborer fatally shot Sunday by an officer who said Jamines refused to drop a knife. Among those arrested was Jubilee Shine, 40, a South Los Angeles activist who heads the Coalition for Community Control Over the Police. Shine said he was arrested on 6th Street near Bonnie...

A protest in Los Angeles over a deadly police shooting of an immigrant turned into a clash between the cops and demonstrators Monday. Police donned riot gear to clear an area near MacArthur Park around 10 p.m. as angry protesters began throwing bottles and setting trash cans on fire. Only a couple of people were arrested, police said. The clash was sparked by an incident on Sunday afternoon, when bicycle cops were alerted to a man allegedly waving a knife at pedestrians. When they arrived, offices ordered the man to drop the blade. When he refused, he was shot dead....

LOS ANGELES – A tough-talking, muscular Los Angeles police sergeant steadily rattled off tips to a young Marine riding shotgun as they raced in a patrol car to a drug bust: Be aware of your surroundings. Watch people's body language. Build rapport. Marine Lt. Andrew Abbott, 23, took it all in as he peered out at the graffiti-covered buildings, knowing that the lessons he learned recently in one of the city's toughest neighborhoods could help him soon in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. "People are the center of gravity and if you do everything you can to protect...

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles Police bomb squad has removed two live Korean War-era military bombs from a house in the Glassell Park neighborhood. Sgt. Wayne Guillary says a man cleaning the garage of his parent's home found the ordnance late Saturday morning. The bomb squad responded and determined the devices, which dated back to the 1950s, were live.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The LAPD is pushing for an exemption of the city's boycott of Arizona when it comes to a contract with a company that operates L.A.'s red-light cameras. The issue was on the council's agenda for Tuesday, but they decided to postpone discussion until Wednesday. The council has to decide whether to continue doing business with American Traffic Solutions, based in Scottsdale, or honor its pledge to boycott Arizona. The company operates red-light cameras at 32 L.A. intersections, but the city's contract with American Traffic Solutions expires at the end of June. The LAPD urges the city...

Los Angeles Police Department officials say four officers scheduled to attend a conference and training session in Tucson next month will not go, sparking anger among police union leaders. The trip to the annual Airborne Law Enforcement Assn. conference was thrown into question last month after the Los Angeles City Council voted to suspend most travel to Arizona as part of its protest of that state's law dealing with illegal immigration. Two councilmembers sought an exception but that vote will now be tabled. Paul Weber, head of the Police Protective League, calls it a mistake to sacrifice public safety for...

One month after it voted to impose a partial economic boycott of Arizona over its immigration policies, the Los Angeles City Council is poised to grant its first exception to its ban on city-related travel to that state. Council members will be asked at Tuesday's meeting to make an exception to the boycott for four Los Angeles Police Department officers who are scheduled to attend the Airborne Law Enforcement Assn. Conference in Tucson from July 12 to July 17. The exception was requested by Councilman Greig Smith, who cast the council's lone vote against the boycott. In his request, which...

Holy citation Batman! Superman, Wonder Woman and Spider-Man have fought the world's most menacing foes to ensure good triumphs over evil. But dozens of their likenesses who pose for photos with tourists for tips on Hollywood Boulevard haven't been true to their superhero characters. The result has been an LAPD crackdown over the past few days on character, cartoon and comic impersonators that netted 13 arrests and citations and sent a clear message: misrepresenting the spirit of Hollywood will not be tolerated. By Monday, even Elvis had left the boulevard. There were problems and complaints from tourists, businesses, and residents....

Has it really come to this ... this ... this travesty of political correctness? What kind of a crazy, mixed-up world is it when your mugshot doesn't reveal how you really look? The audacity! For murder suspect Eduardo Ibarra Perez gets to save face. He might have a violent past and may have been arrested for shooting his wife in the head, but at least the world doesn't get to see his man boobs, in his LAPD most wanted profile.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck joined top cops from around the nation in Washington, D.C. Wednesday to decry Arizona's controversial immigration law as a hindrance to law enforcement. Beck aired his opionion to Attorney General Eric Holder, who is still considering whether to challenge Arizona's legislation. If law officers are pushed to question suspects about their immigration status, as is the case in Arizona, "we will be unable to do our jobs,'' Beck said, according to Associated Press. "Laws like this will actually increase crime, not decrease crime.'' Holder is reported to be moving quickly toward a decision...

Officer William Grundy with the Los Angeles County Police is sworn to uphold the law, but we found that he has hundreds of unpaid parking tickets for personal vehicles registered in his name. Officer Grundy was happy to see me until he found out why we were there. David Goldstein: "You have more than 250 citations on the two cars you have. Do you know that?" Officer Grundy: "No, I didn't know that." David Goldstein: "You have five pages of citations, all around your house. How don't you know that?" Officer Grundy: "I can't talk about it but it's nice...

Two years ago this June the United States Supreme Court said the 2nd Amendment to the Bill of Rights was an individual right to own guns unconnected with service in a militia. Today, in Washington D.C., Los Angeles Policed Department spokeswoman Sandy Jo MacArthur testified before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in support of legislation that would take away an individual's right to buy a firearm and allow the Attorney General to deny anyone the right to buy a gun by merely claiming that he or she might be a potential terrorist or appears on some watch...

With as many as 100,000 people expected to convene downtown Saturday to rally in support of immigrant rights, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck went out of his way to make clear that his officers are guided by a different set of rules than the controversial state law recently passed in neighboring Arizona. "Because of the ongoing issues in Arizona, I wanted to make something perfectly clear," Beck said. "Special Order 40 is the mandate of this department. …That is how I will police this city as long as I am the chief of police." Beck was referring to the...

Funeral Services for Daryl F. Gates April 27, 2010 6:30 AM to 12 PM General Info The following is a list of street closures with affected times: Full Closures between 6:30 AM and Noon for funeral service: -Temple Street between Broadway and Grand Avenue -Hill Street between Temple and Ord Streets, and all of Hill Place Local Access Only (Court employees) -Hill Street between 1st and Temple Streets Intermittent Temporary Street Closures between 8:00 and 9:00 AM for the procession: -1st Street between Main and Hill Streets -Broadway between 2nd and Judge John Aiso Streets Suggested detour routes are as...

<p>LOS ANGELES – Daryl F. Gates, the polarizing former police chief whose 14-year tenure ended amid widespread criticism over his department's response to the city's deadly 1992 riots, died Friday after a short bout with cancer. He was 83.</p> <p>Gates died at his Dana Point home with his family at his side, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a revised statement. Initially, the LAPD said Gates died in Newport Beach.</p>

Daryl F. Gates, the rookie cop who rose from driver for a legendary chief to become chief himself, leading the Los Angeles Police Department during a turbulent 14-year period that found him struggling to keep pace with a city undergoing dramatic racial and ethnic changes, has died, the LAPD announced Friday. He was 83.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Police Department apologized to the family of Robert F. Kennedy for exhibiting the tie, white shirt and black jacket the senator was wearing when he was assassinated in 1968. After a complaint from the family, the LAPD removed the items from a display at a homicide investigators conference in Las Vegas. "This is supposed to be a learning experience," Police Chief Charlie Beck told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "It wasn't intended to cause anyone grief or to be prurient or salacious in any way."

LOS ANGELES - Police say former Los Angeles police Chief Daryl Gates, who resigned in the wake of the Rodney King beating, is seriously ill. Current Chief Charlie Beck told the city Police Commission Tuesday the 83-year-old Gates has a serious malady but provided no details.