Good morning! On April 15, 2023, Officer B. Jerry Sandoval was killed in a traffic collision. Please consider donating to the Blue-Ribbon account established for Jerry to support his wife, Christine and twin sons, Logan and Jacob. Click here for more details.

Westside Residents Outraged Over Councilwoman's Comments Blaming Toyota for Catalytic-Converter Theft

Westside residents are expressing frustration over recent comments made by L.A. Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who blamed Toyota for the surge in catalytic converter thefts in the area. The controversial remarks came after the councilwoman opposed a motion targeting catalytic-converter thieves. The motion, which passed with an 8-to-4 vote last Tuesday makes it unlawful for any person to possess a detached catalytic converter unless they can produce valid documentation or other proof verifying they are in lawful possession.

Westside Current

Police Looking For Driver In Deadly Sylmar Hit-and-Run Crash

Investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department are looking for a hit-and-run driver who struck a man and fled without offering medical help in Sylmar. It happened before 1 a.m. on Hubbard Street at Adelphia Avenue about a block away from Foothill Boulevard. The victim was identified as a man in his 40s. He was taken to a hospital but later died from his injuries. Witness said they saw a woman in her 20s behinds the wheels of a black Honda Civic during the collision, according to police. “[The driver] did stop then got back in the vehicle and left the scene,” said Lt. Matthew Bielski. “She didn’t identify herself. The important thing is to identify yourself and make sure there’s no injuries to any person. If there is, make sure there’s medical attention given." Bielski added the driver's vehicle should have substantial damage to the front, right side of the car. While the street where the deadly collision happened is mostly residential, lined with apartment buildings and houses, neighbors say the area is not new to traffic incidents.

NBC 4

Businesses Evacuated Due To Explosion On Sidewalk In Sherman Oaks

Businesses were evacuated and the LAPD bomb squad was called to investigate an explosion that left debris on a sidewalk Thursday evening in Sherman Oaks. The explosion at around 7:30 p.m. prompting evacuations and street closures. LAPD was able to get a hold of surveillance video that showed a man that appears to place a device in a cinder block. Cement debris littered the sidewalk where the explosion occurred. A few cars were damaged but no one was injured. Police are searching for the man in the video but do not have a description.

NBC 4

Man Arrested In Case Of 2-Month-Old Crated Puppy Tossed Over Fence And Into Tujunga Wash

A man was arrested for allegedly tossing a caged 2-month-old puppy in a crate over a fence and into the Tujunga Wash in a case of animal cruelty caught on camera. Daniel Arias, 25, of Tujunga was arrested Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. He was booked on suspicion of animal cruelty. Video came to light late last month that showed someone get out of a Chevy Tahoe near Renaissance Drive and Cardamine Court, open the SUV's tailgate and hurl the cage with a puppy inside over a fence. The man left the scene, but a witness rushed to help the puppy. “When I first saw the puppy, I didn’t even think. I just jumped over the fence, climbed down the wash. I slipped. I didn’t even care; I just wanted to rescue the dog,” a man who asked to be identified only as Amir told NBC4. The small dog was wet and shivering. Amir said he got stuck in the wash, but two other men made a human chain and help him get out. The roughly 2-month-old puppy was placed in the care of Los Angeles Animal Services, police said. Veterinarians who examined the animal said the puppy suffered injuries likely due to the fall, but police said the animal is expected to recover and be put up for adoption.

NBC 4

Woman Steals Shuttle With Elderly Cancer Patient Still Inside, Leads Police In Wild Chase

A woman stole a health care facility van with a 93-year-old patient inside and fled from police with a door open in a wild and dangerous chase through the San Fernando Valley on Thursday. The chase eventually ended with the driver surrendering after she tried to turn into a parking lot that had a closed gate and she found herself blocked in by LAPD units. The incident began around 9:05 a.m. Thursday when the LAPD got a call saying that someone had stolen a transport shuttle with an elderly cancer patient still inside. The shuttle driver had gotten out of the vehicle to help pick up another rider at a stop when the suspect, a woman who is possibly homeless, jumped inside the driver's seat and started driving with the shuttle's passenger door still open. The van's side door remained open throughout the pursuit, which made its way through surface streets in the San Fernando Valley.

ABC 7

French Bulldog Stolen From L.A. Apartment Building By Alleged Uber Eats Delivery Person

Security cameras captured the moment a couple’s beloved French Bulldog was stolen from their downtown Los Angeles apartment building by an alleged Uber Eats delivery person. The dognapping happened Wednesday on the 20th floor of the Park Tower apartments. Anna Gibson and her boyfriend, Caliber Cleveland, said the 6-month-old Frenchie named Chunky Monkey loved to greet people in the building. “I was coming down the hall with Chunky. He likes to follow me (when I) take out trash to the trash room,” Gibson told KTLA. That’s when the couple says there was a man delivering food to another unit on the floor. “The dog sees the delivery driver waiting for the elevator and then runs up to greet him,” Cleveland said. “The delivery driver initially seems to ignore him and try to, like, brush him off.”  

KTLA 5

Compton Officials Use 4/20 To Publicize Crackdown On Illegal Dispensaries

Thursday may be 4/20 — cannabis’ big day — but Compton city officials had a unique way to celebrate. The city joined with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to discuss the nine illegal dispensaries that have been shut down and send a warning to those that remain under the radar. “This is a great example that other local cities can use a framework to shut down illegal operations in their own communities,” said Capt. Terrance Bell. Not only are dispensaries banned in Compton, but some of the locations were selling more than just marijuana. At certain places, customers could find mushrooms, hard drugs and even weapons, officials said. “These businesses are attracting violence, murders, robberies, fights,” said City Councilmember Andre Spicer. “They’re, again, just a nuisance to our neighborhoods.” Also targeted are businesses like banks and landlords that provide services to these criminal enterprises, officials said.

KTLA 5

Anheuser-Busch Facilities Face Threats After Bud Light Backlash

Several Anheuser-Busch facilities received threats last week, a company spokesperson confirmed, following weeks of backlash against Bud Light because it sponsored two Instagram posts from a transgender woman. "The safety of our employees is always our top priority," the company spokesperson said in a statement to CNN. "We worked quickly with local law enforcement to ensure the security of our people and our facilities." The spokesperson did not share specific locations that had been threatened, but the Los Angeles police department told CNN that it responded to a bomb threat and conducted a sweep of an Anheuser-Busch brewery in the Van Nuys neighborhood last week. A pair of Instagram posts by influencer Dylan Mulvaney sparked a mix of online backlash and support and became a target in conservative media. The company's response, a vague pro-unity statement from the CEO that did not mention Mulvaney or the Instagram posts, has been criticized as weak, angering some trans advocates and failing to mollify some anti-trans critics.

KOAT Action News

Rookie Louisville Officer Who Was Shot In The Head Has Developed Pneumonia

A rookie Louisville police officer who remains in critical condition after a mass shooting has developed pneumonia. The Louisville Metro Police Foundation, which is raising money for the care of Officer Nickolas Wilt, shared an update from Wilt’s twin brother on Facebook Tuesday, asking people to “send prayers and healing thoughts” to Wilt, who is still on a ventilator. The post said pneumonia “is a common illness after being on a vent, the doctors & nurses are working to treat it. Please continue to pray.” Wilt, 26, was one of the first officers on the scene of the shooting at Old National Bank on East Main Street April 10 and was shot in the head. Six people died, including the shooter. Wilt is listed in critical but stable condition and is the only victim from the deadly shooting who remains hospitalized. He graduated from the police academy March 31. He has previously worked as a firefighter and dispatcher, the post stated.

Lexington Herald-Leader

'Come On Brother!': Video Shows Kansas Officers Stopping Man From Jumping Off Bridge

The Lawrence Kansas Police Department shared dramatic bodycam video of two officers stopping a man from jumping off a bridge into the Kansas River — an effort to draw awareness to issues of mental health. The video, posted to the department’s Facebook page late Wednesday afternoon, has been viewed nearly 15,000 times and elicited dozens of emotional comments. “So sad but could’ve been even more tragic if these officers hadn’t been there,” wrote one commenter. “I’ve been in very dark places myself. I hope he’s getting the care he needs.” The three-minute video shows an officer approaching a man who had one foot over the railing of a bridge near downtown Lawrence. Cars zipped by, and some motorists slowed down to gawk as the drama played out. “Last night, LKPD officers responded to a person in crisis at the Kansas River bridge,” the department’s post reads. “Officers were able to deescalate the situation by starting a conversation with the individual — making the person’s safety the number one priority.

Kansas City Star

Frequent Shootings Put US Mass Killings On A Record Pace

The U.S. is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023, replaying the horror on a loop roughly once a week so far this year. The carnage has taken 88 lives in 17 mass killings over 111 days. Each time, the killers wielded firearms. Only 2009 was marked by as many such tragedies in the same period of time. Children at a Nashville grade school, gunned down on an ordinary Monday. Farmworkers in Northern California, sprayed with bullets over a workplace grudge. Dancers at a ballroom outside Los Angeles, massacred as they celebrated the Lunar New Year. In just the last week, four partygoers were slain and 32 injured in Dadeville, Alabama, when bullets rained down on a Sweet 16 celebration. And a man just released from prison fatally shot four people, including his parents, in Bowdoin, Maine, before opening fire on motorists traveling a busy interstate highway. “Nobody should be shocked,” said Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was one of 17 people killed at a Parkland, Florida, high school in 2018. “I visit my daughter in a cemetery. Outrage doesn’t begin to describe how I feel.”

KTLA 5

Richard Riordan, Los Angeles Mayor Who Led Rebound After Riots, Dies At 92

Richard Riordan, an investment mogul who seized a political moment with Los Angeles on edge, winning a long-shot bid in 1993 to become mayor and help the city rebound after the police beating of Black motorist Rodney King and the riots that followed, died April 19 at his home in the city's Brentwood section. He was 92. The family announced the death but did not provide a cause. Riordan's victory marked one of the first major successes of the modern entrepreneur-to-politician path carved out by figures such as Ross Perot in his failed 1992 presidential run and later by Mike Bloomberg in his triumphant bid for New York mayor. Riordan was relatively unknown to many voters when he joined the mayoral race, plowing millions of dollars of his own money into the campaign and promising to take a token $1-a-day salary. He came off as brash and sometimes hard to fact-check, as when he told reporters he had jumped out of his car to save a blind man from falling into an open manhole.

SF Gate

City Council Approves Deal With Metro To Develop Little Tokyo Parcels

The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday approved a memorandum of understanding with LA Metro for the development of two publicly owned parcels in Little Tokyo, which city officials said emphasizes their commitment to the preservation of culture and history of the community. The motion, presented by Councilman Kevin de León, applies to the city-owned Mangrove site at First and Alameda streets, and the Metro-owned regional connector site at First Street and Central Avenue. “The develop of these parcels presents in invaluable opportunity for the city of Los Angeles and Metro to collaborate with the Little Tokyo community in promoting justice and correcting the wrongs of the past,” de León said in a statement. “Meaningful development at these sites offers an opportunity to demonstrate the city’s and Metro’s commitment to supporting social equity, affordable housing, economic sustainability and cultural preservation.”

MyNewsLA

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 9,200 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.