Author: City News Service

PALOS VERDES, Calif. – A motorist was killed Tuesday when a vehicle went over the side of a cliff and fell about 300 feet in Palos Verdes Estates. The single-vehicle crash was reported just before 5 p.m. in the area of 2100 Paseo Del Mar, near Palos Verdes High School, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Rescue crews retrieved the person from inside the vehicle, but the person had died before rescuers arrived. The person’s name was withheld, pending notification of relatives. No other occupants were found inside the vehicle. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – A carjacking suspect was taken into custody Tuesday evening after barricading himself in a home in Newport Beach. The carjacking occurred sometime after 4 p.m. at Fashion Island, police said. The suspect “ditched” the car and grabbed another vehicle and led police in a short pursuit before abandoning it and running away in the Dover Shore area and barricading himself in a home, police said. A SWAT team was called to the scene to assist in taking the suspect into custody, and he eventually surrendered to police by about 9 p.m. The suspect’s name was not…

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the transfer of eight Project Homekey temporary housing facilities to various nonprofit groups, along with more than $110 million in funding to convert the properties into permanent supporting housing for the homeless. Created by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, Project Homekey provided hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to counties and cities to buy and renovate hotels, motels, vacant apartment buildings and other sites to convert them into housing for the homeless. The first round of Homekey funding, totaling $108 million, allowed Los Angeles County to acquire…

LOS ANGELES – With Los Angeles’ pandemic-era eviction protections set to expire at the end of January, the City Council approved a new $3 million rental aid program for tenants and landlords in the 13th District Tuesday. Councilman Mitch O’Farrell’s program is expected to provide up to $5,000 per household for renters in his district who make 80% or less of the area median income, or AMI. O’Farrell said in a statement that he was grateful for the council’s quick approval for the program. “I know firsthand what it’s like to face missed rental payments and the prospect of eviction,…

LOS ANGELES – The death of a Los Angeles Police Department officer during a training exercise was “a tragic accident” that occurred when he and another officer fell to the ground while grappling during a simulation, according to a report released Tuesday by the department’s Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy. The report countered claims made by an attorney for Officer Houston Tipping’s mother, who filed a damages claim against the city alleging in part that the officer was beaten by multiple other officers in a scenario meant to “simulate a mob.” Lizabeth Rhodes, director of the Office of Constitutional…

LOS ANGELES – Mayor Eric Garcetti and housing officials announced the opening of the wait list lottery for Section 8 housing vouchers in Los Angeles for the first time in five years during a press conference held at the Richard Riordan library. Online registration for the lottery will begin at 6 a.m. Oct. 17 and end at 5 p.m. Oct. 30. Very low-income individuals and families are eligible for the Section 8 program, which pays a portion of rent directly to landlords. Doug Guthrie, chief executive and president of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, told the…

LOS ANGELES – Attorneys for Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, are urging a judge to dismiss  a lawsuit that claims the rapper owes $7.1 million in unpaid fees to a production company that worked on his behalf in various projects, including his canceled Coachella performance in April. The suit filed July 14 in Los Angeles Superior Court by plaintiff Phantom Labs Inc. against the singer and three companies, including Very Good Touring Inc., states that the production firm performed its obligations to Ye, but was not paid as required under the parties’ contract. The suit seeks $7.1 million in damages.…

LOS ANGELES – A woman sleeping in a parking lot in Echo Park was run over and killed by a big rig Tuesday, police said. The woman, in her 30s, was fatally injured about 1 a.m. at Alvarado and Montana streets, the Los Angeles Police Department reported. Information on her identity was not immediately available. The truck driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said.

LOS ANGELES – A man who pleaded no contest to molesting a neighbor girl in Lynwood and was sentenced to a year in jail, then allegedly harassed the child and her family when he was released, has been ordered by a jury to pay $28.5 million to the child and her parents. A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for less than an hour Monday before finding in favor of the plaintiffs, identified only as James, Beth and Amy Roe, in their lawsuit filed in January 2020 against Luther Johns, who did not take part in the trial. “Plaintiffs’ lives…

SAN MARINO, Calif. – A 42-year-old woman suspected of breaking into a San Marino home Monday was arrested after being found sitting in the den. San Marino Police Department officers responded about 10:10 a.m. to the home in the 1500 block of Wilson Avenue, between Los Robles and Oak Knoll avenues, after an alarm was tripped, according to Sgt. Danny Guttierez Officers at the scene made contact with a family member of the home’s owner and were informed surveillance video showed an unknown woman enter the residence. SMPD officers — in conjunction with officers from the South Pasadena and San…

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Authorities Monday urged people to contact them if they were victimized by a 27-year-old man who was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting female Santa Monica College students. Christopher Noah Griddine II was arrested on Sept. 26, and was being held in lieu of $3.2 million bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Campus police issued a warning on Sept 22 saying they had received a report about a man befriending female students in an outdoor seating area south of Drescher Hall. After befriending the women, the suspect would then lure his victims off campus…

LOS ANGELES – A person was struck and killed by a Union Pacific train in downtown Los Angeles Monday evening. The collision was reported just after 7:45 p.m. in the area of 2192 S. Santa Fe Ave, near the Santa Monica (10) Freeway, according to Margaret Stewart of the Los Angeles Fire Department. The person was pronounced dead at the scene. The victim’s name was withheld pending notification of next of kin. Events leading up to the collision were under investigation.

LOS ANGELES – Authorities Tuesday sought the public’s help to find the killer of Inglewood rapper Half Ounce, who was gunned down while walking with a friend in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles. The shooting occurred at about 11:30 p.m. Monday in the 700 block of South New Hampshire Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. According to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, 32-year-old Latauriisha O’Brien died at the scene. Officers found the mortally wounded man in a planter outside an apartment building suffering from gunshot wounds, LAPD Officer Drake Madison said. The victim was confirmed by…

LOS ANGELES – A man pleaded not guilty Monday to murder and assault in connection with the death of his 5-year-old son, who was found unconscious in a bathtub in July. Darwin Reyes, now 33, was charged July 27 with one count each of murder and assault on a child causing death involving his son, Mason, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Reyes was arrested after the boy was found unconscious in a bathtub by officers sent to the 4000 block of Marathon Street, between Vermont Avenue and Hoover Street, one block north of Melrose Avenue, in…

SANTA ANA, Calif. – An attorney for the congressional committee probing the Jan. 6 insurrection asked a federal judge in Santa Ana Monday to privately review 562 documents former Chapman University law professor John Eastman continues to argue cannot be turned over to the committee. Attorney Douglas Letter argued in a brief filed Monday that past assertions of privilege claimed by Eastman have turned out to be without merit, so U.S. District Judge David O. Carter should review them in private and rule whether the committee can obtain them. “Other documents produced to the select committee on the eve of…