By ERIC HE LOS ANGELES – Two members of the City Council introduced a motion Friday seeking to reform the process by which Los Angeles Police Department officers are disciplined, including allowing the police chief to fire officers immediately in egregious cases. Currently, the police chief doesn’t have the power to directly fire officers. Instead, the chief’s recommendation is subject to a review by a three- member Board of Rights panel that is made up of either all-civilians or one civilian and two captains. The officer facing discipline can choose either option, and the chief cannot impose a punishment that…
Author: City News Service
SANTA ANA – A former Orange County sheriff’s deputy has been charged with showing pornography to an underage girl, according to court records obtained Friday. Former Deputy Justin Ramirez was charged Thursday with distributing or exhibiting pornography to a minor, according to court records. Ramirez, who was a school resource officer at the time of the alleged incident, resigned his position, according to a sheriff’s spokesman who did not know when the deputy quit. Ramirez is accused of showing the pornography to the girl on Sept. 2. The alleged victim’s attorney, Michael Guisti, said he intends to file a claim…
SYLMAR – A pedestrian was hit by vehicles and killed Friday on the eastbound Foothill (210) Freeway in the Sylmar area. The man was injured about 6:15 a.m. near Hubbard Street and died at the scene, according to the California Highway Patrol. Information was not immediately available on the identity of the fatally injured man. The eastbound freeway was closed until late Friday morning while an investigation was conducted.
SANTA ANA – A former Westminster attorney and co-founder of the Hessian Motorcycle Club who has been incarcerated for nearly 40 years for the killings of a fellow Hessian and his bodyguard will be released within 48 hours due to California’s compassionate release laws after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Thomas F. Maniscalco 78, was serving a 46-year to life sentence after he was convicted in 1994 of three counts of second-degree murder for the shooting deaths of Hessian Richard “Rabbit” Rizzone, 36, Thomas Monahan, 28, who served as Rizzone’s bodyguard. Maniscalco was also convicted of raping and torturing…
LOS ANGELES – Two suspects were taken into custody Friday after a vehicle chase that led to the Willowbrook area. The suspects’ vehicle crashed about 8:20 a.m. near Mona Boulevard and 129th Street, and the driver and passenger were both detained, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The suspects had been regarded as “armed and dangerous,” but other details were not immediately available, the sheriff’s department reported. It was the latest in a series of law enforcement pursuits in the Southland recently. About 1 a.m. Thursday, a young man was killed in a two-vehicle collision during a Los…
LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles Police Department captain who complained that management ignored her requests for the entire department to be informed that a widely distributed photo of a topless woman resembling her was in fact not her image — and was awarded $4 million by a jury — is now seeking $1.13 million in attorneys’ fees. Attorneys for Capt. Lillian Carranza filed court papers on Wednesday with Judge Bruce G. Iwasaki, who is scheduled to hear the fees motion on March 22. Four attorneys worked on Carranza’s case, including lead counsel Gregory W. Smith. “Here, Mr. Smith is…
LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles police detective has tentatively settled her lawsuit against the city in which she alleged her allegations of sexual harassment by a supervisor were ignored and that when she complained, management suggested that she was the one who had done something wrong. Attorneys for Detective Tina Rios filed a notice of a “conditional” settlement on Tuesday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rupert A. Byrdsong, but no terms were divulged. The court papers further stated that a request for dismissal will likely be filed by May 4. It was not immediately clear if the accord…
NORTHRIDGE – A man was killed in a two-vehicle collision during a police pursuit Thursday in Northridge, and the driver of the vehicle being chased was arrested after running from the scene. Los Angeles Police Department officers were chasing armed robbery suspects in a dark-colored SUV just before 1 a.m. after they attempted to make a traffic stop, when the suspects’ westbound vehicle on Roscoe Boulevard ran a red light and crashed into a southbound black sedan on Lindley Avenue, according to the LAPD and reports from the scene. The driver of the sedan was pronounced dead at the scene,…
NORTH HOLLYWOOD – A man suffered a cut finger in an assault at a Metro B Line station in North Hollywood Thursday, and another man was taken into custody. Paramedics sent to Lankershim and Chandler boulevards about 7:30 a.m. treated the man at the scene, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. A man in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of assault, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. It was unclear if a weapon was used in the crime. The suspect’s name was not immediately available. The Metro B Line was formerly known as the Red Line.
LOS ANGELES – A judge has denied a motion by attorneys for Los Angeles County to dismiss a veteran prosecutor’s lawsuit in which she alleges she has been denied important positions in retaliation for complaining about directives set forth after the 2020 election of District Attorney George Gascón. The ruling Wednesday by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green clears the way for a jury trial of Deputy District Attorney Shawn Randolph’s suit against the county to begin Thursday. County lawyers maintained in their court papers seeking dismissal of her case that the plaintiff “was not disclosing any previously…