Good Morning. Join us on March 20, 2020 for the 53rd Annual SWAT Dinner & Golf Tournament held at the Montebello Country Club. Event includes golf, lunch, dinner and beverages. Click here for more information. Law Enforcement News Texas Man Sentenced To Death For ‘Ambush' Killing Of LEO, Friend A courtroom full of family, friends and fellow officers who worked with slain Richardson police Officer David Sherrard burst into sobs Thursday night when his killer, Brandon McCall, was sentenced to die. Jurors deliberated for more than eight hours Thursday before rendering a verdict. “I think it did send a message today,” Judge John Roach Jr. told the jury after they returned with a verdict. “You sent a message that if you kill a cop in Texas, we’ll give you a fair trial, but you’re gonna die.” The same jury last week convicted McCall, 28, of capital murder for killing Sherrard after the officer responded to a shooting call at the apartment where McCall was staying in February 2018. McCall also killed his roommate, Rene Gamez, with a shotgun blast to the calf. “Mr. McCall,” Roach said as he formally sentenced the man to death, “this is for David Sherrard.” Dallas Morning News Body Cam: California Police Officer Saves Man From Burning Home A police officer in the Sierra Foothills is being hailed a hero after he saved a man trapped in a burning house. The fire happened on Feb. 18, but Grass Valley police just made the body camera video public on Wednesday. The police officer didn't know what he was about to face when he knocked down a side door, and went into the burning house. That’s when he found the man, identified in the video as Corey, who lived there inside, on the ground. The officer is heard shouting the man's name, and kicking in a side door where he found Corey unconscious on the ground. He grabbed Corey's feet and dragged him out of the house "I got him," the officer is heard saying on the video. "Go get a medic!" Moments later, that part of the home was consumed with flames. Still, the officer went back to see if there were more victims, police said in a YouTube video. FOX 11 LAPD Concerned About Increase in Sexual Violence Against Women Experiencing Homelessness The number of homeless women in downtown Los Angeles who reported being raped has risen in each of the last 3 years, and few of those cases have led to arrests, according to LAPD crime report data. Officers in the Central Area, which includes Skid Row, recorded rape cases that listed 59 women experiencing homelessness as victims in 2019. There were 39 reports in 2018 and 20 in 2017, and officials said the investigations are among the most difficult they pursue. "It doesn't matter to us if someone's homeless, or dealing with mental illness or drug addiction, they all get investigated as much as we possibly can," said LAPD Central Captain Scott Harrelson. While reports of violence within the homeless population have increased in the last few years the City's overall "part one" crime rate, which includes the most serious types of sexual violence, has dropped by about 7 percent. Police officials cautioned that a portion of the statistical increase is probably the result of much better data collection and analysis, which began mid-2018, and more accurately attributed these incidents to members of the homeless population. NBC 4 Stolen Hearse Carrying Casket Recovered After Freeway Chase It has all the hallmarks of an only-in-Los Angeles crime: A thief stole a hearse — with a body inside — then went on a wild ride, ending with a chase and a crash on a busy freeway. Authorities say they found the body undisturbed inside a casket Thursday morning and took James Juarez into custody after the crash. The crime began Wednesday night, when the suspected thief stole the black Lincoln Navigator from outside St. Anthony Greek Orthodox Church in East Pasadena. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department pleaded with the thief — whose identity was not known at that point — on social media to return the body in a post that was widely shared online. On Thursday morning, a witness reported seeing the SUV and was following it. Los Angeles police officers pursued the hearse on local streets and onto the freeway until it crashed around 7:45 a.m. At least one officer was involved in the crash, though Los Angeles police did not immediately have details about it. Associated Press 3 Injured, 2 In Custody After Pursuit Of Stolen Vehicle Ends In Crash On 405 Freeway In Van Nuys Three people were injured and two others taken into custody when a stolen vehicle driver crashed on the 405 Freeway in Van Nuys while trying to flee from authorities Thursday night. The chase began on surface streets in Pacoima and continued onto the 118 Freeway before finally coming to an end about 10:30 p.m. when the stolen Toyota sedan clipped another vehicle on the southbound 405 Freeway near Victory Boulevard. Both vehicles spun out following the crash, with the Toyota hitting a pole. Three teens, described only as a male and two females, were injured in the crash, the Los Angeles Fire Department stated. Two other people traveling in the stolen vehicle were taken into custody, Los Angeles Police Department Officer Mike Lopez said. KTLA 5 LAPD Searching For Man Robbing Victims Of Cash After Asking For Help Moving Furniture Police need the public’s help Friday to track down a serial robber who pretends to need help moving in order to gain a victim’s trust, then holds them at gunpoint for their cash. The LAPD says they began investigating a series of robberies involving a lone man in a truck in May of 2018. His method was to approach pedestrians on the street and ask them for help in moving furniture. Once the victim agreed, they get into the truck and would be driven to a residential area, where they would then be held at gunpoint for all their cash. Detectives say the robber targeted people in Arleta, Pacoima and Panorama City, coming out of check cashing businesses. The man is believed responsible for at least 16 robberies since 2018. The most recent incident was on Feb. 8 in Van Nuys. The robber was described as a Hispanic man about 40 to 55 years old, with black hair, brown eyes, between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-9, about 200 to 250 pounds. He was seen driving various trucks and SUVs, including an F-150, GMC, Chevrolet Silverado, Dodge Ram, Yukon, Expedition and Suburban. Police say his weapon was described only as a black handgun. CBS 2 Woman Charged After Video Captures Mercedes Intentionally Ramming Into Parked Car In Hollywood A 25-year-old woman who was captured on video ramming into a parked car at a Hollywood taco stand is now facing charges. Amber Darbinyan pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to several charges, including three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, hit-and-run resulting in an injury and three misdemeanor counts of battery, according to the Los County District Attorney's Office. Video of the August 2019 incident shows a woman knocking a plate of food out of another person's hand. She then gets into a Mercedes and starts violently backing into a parked car, over and over, near the corner of Western and Lexington avenues. Separate video shows the driver of the Mercedes having some type of argument with a group of people as they crowd around her. ABC 7 Man Pleads Guilty In Crash In Hollywood That Killed Australian Man A Norwalk man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from the hit-and-run death of a pedestrian who had spent more than a decade behind bars in Australia before being exonerated of murder. Kristopher Ryan Smith, 20, is facing 30 days in jail, 30 hours of community service and three years probation as a result of his guilty plea to one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death and one misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. He is set to be sentenced March 19 in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. Smith struck Andrew Mallard with his vehicle as the 56-year-old victim was walking across Sunset Boulevard at Formosa Avenue in Hollywood early last April 18, then fled, authorities said. Mallard was pronounced dead at the scene. MyNewsLA.com District Seeks To Ban ‘Ghost Gun’ Kits As Seizures Of Homemade Weapons Soar The number of untraceable “ghost guns” built from kits and seized by police has begun to surge in the District and some other areas nationwide, raising concerns that firearm traffickers have found a new way to bypass background checks and pour more weapons into cities struggling with violence. D.C. police said such guns were used in three killings in the city in recent years. District officers last year took 116 ghost guns off the streets, compared with just three in 2017. Police in Philadelphia, Baltimore and suburban Maryland also said they are seeing more of the weapons, even as authorities in other big cities said they have yet to recover a single ghost gun. The kits can be purchased without the background checks and other requirements needed to buy fully operational guns. Assembling a gun out of parts obtained through a gun dealer or the Internet is largely legal in the United States, and results in a weapon with no serial number or traceable link to a gun manufacturer: Thus, a “ghost gun.” Washington Post Piled Bodies, Overflowing Morgues: Inside America’s Autopsy Crisis Say you are found on your bathroom floor, on the grassy knoll of someone else’s front yard, in the berth of your tractor-trailer, in your own bed, at the foot of a bridge, under a car wheel, in the car, caught in the bend of a river, collapsed in the bar, alone in the remains of a scorched kitchen. Your death is sudden and unexpected, a death that no one plans for but that approximately half a million of us will experience this year in America. No death is special, but this kind of death requires special care, procedurally, from a number of people you will never meet. The procedural aspects of your death, which you will never see, begin with a phone call. One afternoon in the summer of 2018 in Cleveland, a man returned home to find his wife slumped over her computer keyboard. She was in her 50s and had been in poor health, but nothing seemed urgent or life-threatening. It looked as if she died while shopping online. Her husband called 911. When police officers arrived at the house, they weren’t entirely sure what had happened. It looked maybe like a cardiac episode, or a seizure, or an overdose. New York Times Local Government News L.A. Metro To Debut Ride-Hailing Service For Short Trips Starting This Summer The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board of directors voted Thursday in favor of starting a three-year project for ride-hailing services for short trips to six designated service zones. The board approved a $29-million contract for the MicroTransit Pilot Project, which will be provided by RideCo Inc. It also approved nearly $8 million in funding for operational expenses and to hire 80 employees to operate the vehicles. "Metro is keenly aware of the changing mobility needs of people trying to get around an increasingly congested Los Angeles County,'' Inglewood Mayor and Metro Board Chair James Butts said. "This pilot project will allow us to test out a new mobility option that can meet those changing needs while still fulfilling our responsibility to reduce congestion and get cars off the road by using shared rides.'' FOX 11 ‌ ‌ ‌ Visit our website LA Police Protective League | 1308 West Eighth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About Constant Contact Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with Try email marketing for free today!