Man, dog killed in Sherman Oaks hit-and-run crash involving Maserati

Police are looking for the driver of a Maserati who hit and killed a man and his dog in Sherman Oaks before taking off. The man and his dog were walking in the bike lane along Woodman Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. That's when officers believe the suspected hit-and-run driver swerved and hit them. The dog died at the scene. The man was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but did not survive. The car involved in the crash, a Maserati Quattroporte, was found abandoned a few blocks away at Mammoth Avenue and Milbank Street. It did not have license plates. The car was towed as police investigate the deadly hit-and-run crash.

ABC 7

Man tied up during parking lot robbery near LAX

An armed robber tied a man up in a parking lot near LAX, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Police said the robbery happened at about 8:15 p.m. in the 6100 block of W. Century Blvd. Officers said a security guard found the victim, a man in his 50s, tied up with duct tape in his car after the robbery. He told officers that the suspect held him at gunpoint and stole his wallet and jewelry. LAPD said the suspect was wearing a white hat, black shirt and black pants.

CBS 2

Suspected L.A. copper wire thief goes into a manhole and refuses to come out

An attempted theft of copper wire on Tuesday led to a predawn barricade situation — inside a city manhole — authorities said. A thief in Chatsworth tried to evade law enforcement by hiding in the manhole for nearly four hours, a police official said. At 1:44 a.m., the Los Angeles Police Department responded to the 20400 block of West Germain Street, a residential neighborhood that’s adjacent to Mason Park, after receiving a call of a possible wire theft in progress. The alleged thieves were targeting an underground vault owned by AT&T through a manhole, ABC7 News reported. The Times did not receive a comment from the telecommunications company before publication. Manholes can provide access to underground electric utility and telecommunications cables and wires. These access points are typically used for adding or repairing cables. When officers arrived, they detained one suspect immediately, but the second suspect was inside the manhole and refused to come out, barricading himself, said Officer Tony Im, a spokesperson for the Police Department. Im did not clarify how — or with what — the suspect barricaded himself. The official response grew as the Los Angeles Fire Department was called in to assist.

Los Angeles Times

LA starts anti-trafficking initiative following complaints from Larchmont neighbors

Los Angeles city and county officials will try to root out sex trafficking along Western Avenue between Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards under a new initiative, it was announced Tuesday. The Western Avenue initiative came after Larchmont neighbors raised concerns about sex workers, buyers and traffickers in their community-oriented area. The affected stretch of Western Avenue goes through Larchmont, Koreatown and Melrose Hill neighborhoods. One neighbor told NBC Los Angeles last week that he had to witness people engaging in sex acts in front of his house as used contraceptives were littered along the streets. LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said the initiative will focus on helping sex workers while holding sex traffickers and buyers who travel to Larchmont and the surrounding areas to purchase sex often from minors, accountable. “We shift the criminalization from the trafficked victims to the johns, the buyers, the exploiters, the predators and the profiteers,” Feldstein Soto said in a news conference with other officials Tuesday. Another method of trying to root out sex trafficking along Western Avenue will involve “drying up” demand by going tough on sex buyers and humiliating them publicly. 

NBC 4

Cache of firearms seized from L.A. home of man prohibited from owning them

About 100 firearms were recovered Tuesday morning from a man in Lincoln Heights who, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, was not legally permitted to possess them. “California’s Department of Justice supplied us with a list of a resident in the community who was deemed to be a prohibited possessor,” LAPD Gang and Narcotics Division Lt. Frank Marino said. Officers found the weapons while serving a search warrant at a home in the 3400 block of Manitou Avenue around 4:15 a.m. Video showed a large police presence arriving at the property and placing dozens of confiscated firearms in the driveway. “It doesn’t mean that he obtained them illegally,” Marino said. “It just means that at this point he was deemed to not be in legal possession of those firearms.” The California DOJ also provided authorities with a list of what weapons were believed to be inside the home.

KTLA 5

Serial ‘windshield smasher’ terrorizing Los Angeles neighborhood again

A serial windshield smasher who seemingly targets parked vehicles at random has residents of a Los Angeles neighborhood frustrated and on edge. The man’s most recent rampage occurred in Silverlake Jan. 24, but he was also captured on surveillance cameras shattering windshields in the same area in November and, according to resident Mesa Dihl, the vandalism appears indiscriminate. “As I was walking up, there were two other cars on the street also smashed that night,” he said of the latest incident. “So, I saw those two and was anticipating maybe it would happen to my car and, sure enough, it was all smashed in.” Footage of the man shows him loitering in the area of Bellevue Avenue and Tularosa Driver around 4 a.m. Jan. 24 when he suddenly walks between two cars, grabs broken chunk of concrete off the curb and hurls at the nearest vehicle’s windshield. Including Dihl’s vehicle, the man left seven residents with destroyed windshields scrambling to borrow a family’s member’s car or being unable to get to work until the costly repairs were made.  

KTLA 5

Firefighters Extinguish Fires at Three Homes in Boyle Heights

A fire at three small homes in Boyle Heights Tuesday evening was extinguished in 11 minutes by 34 Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters. Fire crews responded at 9:36 p.m. Tuesday to 850 N. Mission Road, west of the Golden State (5) Freeway where they found several other tiny homes exposed to the flames, in addition to the three that were on fire, said LAFD spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz. No injuries were reported.

MyNewsLA

LA City Council to explore potential tax measures ahead of June election

The Los Angeles City Council is considering additional ways to raise revenue with three proposals set to be discussed Tuesday with the intent of placing them on the June primary election ballot. The City Council will consider an increase in two existing taxes: transient occupancy, also referred to as the "hotel tax," and parking occupancy. The third proposal would establish a tax on unpermitted cannabis businesses. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo and Diana Mangioglu, the city treasurer and director of finance, have explored increasing the transient occupancy tax, or TOT, a tax on the right to occupy space for lodging. The tax covers hotel and motel rooms, short-term rentals, and hostels. TOT stands at 14% of the paid total, including all fees and charges that are associated with the occupancy of the space. Malibu, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills have a higher TOT at 15% than Los Angeles. The proposal aims to increase the tax rate from 14% to 16%, codifying the taxability of online travel companies' markups and other changes. City officials projected the change could generate an estimated $45.3 million in additional annual revenue.

ABC 7

About the LAPPL: Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents more than 8,700 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.