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Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch
LA Police Protective League

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Los Angeles
Police Protective League
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the union that represents the
rank and file LAPD officers

  Daily Local & Regional NewsWatch

Daily News Digest
from LA Police Protective League

March 4, 2020
Law Enforcement News

Hundreds Gather To Honor Life Of Fallen South Carolina Deputy
A sheriff's deputy in South Carolina who was shot and killed in the line of duty was remembered as a man who loved his community and his family. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon for Sumter County Deputy Cpl. Andrew Gillette, news outlets reported. Gillette, 36, was fatally shot Feb. 25 while trying to serve an eviction notice. Hundreds of people, including family, friends and members of the law enforcement community, gathered in Sumter for the service. “I promise you I will look after your family,” Gillette's brother, Steve Gillette said after wiping back tears. The fallen deputy leaves behind a wife and a child. “Many people will call Cpl. Gillette a hero because of how he died,” said Sheriff Anthony Dennis. “Yes, he was indeed a hero. But not only because of how he died, but because of how he lived.”

Hit-And-Run Horror Death In Reseda: Do You Know Anything?
Police Tuesday were seeking the second of two motorists whose vehicles fatally struck a pedestrian in Reseda. The female victim was hit by two cars and died at a hospital, and police arrested one of the motorists and sought public help to find the other driver, who fled the scene. The woman was struck about 6:40 p.m. Monday at Tampa Avenue and Hart Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Her name was withheld, pending notification of her relatives. “A 2006 silver Honda Accord was traveling northbound on Tampa Ave at Hart Street, when it collided with a pedestrian who was crossing from the west side of Tampa Ave to the east in a marked crosswalk against a solid red `don’t walk’ signal,” an LAPD statement said. “The driver of the Honda Accord remained at scene and cooperated with the investigation,” police said. “Moments after the initial collision, the pedestrian who was down on the ground was struck by a dark-color sedan (that) was also traveling northbound on Tampa Avenue passing Hart Street. The dark-color sedan failed to stop.”

LAPD Makes Arrest After Alleged Road Rage Attack In North Hollywood
Police arrested a suspect Tuesday after a video surfaced online showing a vehicle appearing to intentionally ram another in an apparent act of road rage in North Hollywood. The incident unfolded Monday evening in the area of Victory and Laurel Canyon boulevards, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Video footage of the crash was posted to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon. It showed a white car with its driver-side door wide open, pushing a pickup truck through an intersection. Following the initial crash, the white car is seen chasing after the pickup truck before a second collision. The social media post did not go unnoticed by the Los Angeles Police Department, which responded to the Tweet, asking the person who posted the video to send a message including the time and location of the incident.

Police Locate Robbery Suspect After Schools Placed On Lockdown In Northridge
Two schools were placed on lockdown Tuesday while officers searched for a robbery suspect in Northridge. Officers received a call at 3:10 p.m. about a robbery in the 8900 block of Balboa Boulevard, near Nordhoff Street, according to Officer Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department. One suspect was taken into custody, and officers established a perimeter and searched for a second suspect Tuesday afternoon, Lopez said. The second suspect was later taken into custody, and a firearm and stolen property were located, according to Lopez. Police said they do not believe there are any more outstanding suspects. Schools in the area, including Oliver Wendell Holmes Middle School and Dearborn Elementary School, were placed on lockdown during the police activity, CBS2 reported.

The Long-Awaited Murder Trial Of Robert Durst, Subject Of ‘The Jinx,’ Unfolds In Los Angeles
Los Angeles prosecutors will begin presenting their case Wednesday against eccentric New York real estate heir Robert Durst, alleging he killed his best friend, Susan Berman, in her Benedict Canyon home to prevent her from incriminating him in his wife’s disappearance. But in a murder trial expected to play out over several months, jurors will hear more than just evidence in the execution-style shooting of Berman, who was found dead on Christmas Eve in 2000. Deputy Dist. Atty. John Lewin and his team of prosecutors have painstakingly assembled a web of evidence that spans decades, with more than 100 witnesses, dozens of hours of video and reams of documents that shed light on three crimes they say Durst committed. There is the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, in New York. Durst waited five days to report her missing and misled authorities about the nature of their relationship, according to prosecutors. Central to this ruse was Berman, who prosecutors allege gave Durst a “false alibi” by impersonating Kathleen Durst in a call to her medical school and giving authorities the impression that she was still alive.

Mother Of San Bernardino Terrorist Will Plead Guilty To Destroying Evidence On Day Of Attack
The mother of Syed Rizwan Farook, who carried out the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack that left 14 people dead, has agreed to plead guilty to shredding evidence in her home that connected her son and his wife to the massacre, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. Rafia Shareef, 66, will plead guilty to one count of altering records with the intent of impeding a federal investigation, a charge that carries up to 20 years in federal prison. The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said the plea agreement called for no more than 18 months behind bars. Shareef was living with her son and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, in Redlands at the time of the Dec. 2, 2015 attack. That day, the couple left their infant child with Shareef, falsely telling her they were going to a medical appointment, according to the plea agreement. Over the next hours, Malik and Farook stormed the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, killing 14 people at a holiday party and wounding 22. The couple then died in a firefight with police.

Public Safety News

Second Case Of Coronavirus In Los Angeles County Confirmed
A second case of coronavirus in Los Angeles County was confirmed Tuesday by one of the largest healthcare service providers in the U.S. Kaiser Permanente said they were "overseeing the care of a coronavirus patient who is home in self-isolation and being treated on an outpatient basis." They confirmed they were in touch with and monitoring the coronavirus patient but did not say where in the county the patient was located. "We are focused on delivering excellent care while ensuring the protection of our members, physicians and staff," said Kaiser Permanente in a statement. "Kaiser Permanente respects the privacy of our patients per HIPAA requirements, and will keep further details about the care provided to this patient confidential." The first case was reported back on Jan. 26 in which a traveler returning from Wuhan, China and passing through LAX a few days before, presented themselves to health officials after not feeling well.

Coronavirus Hits Critical Moment In U.S.: More Deaths, Spread Likely To Accelerate
The battle against the coronavirus was reaching a critical moment in the United States, with the number of deaths rising Tuesday as public health leaders said there was limited window to contain the virus. It was a day of grim milestones, with more deaths tied to a nursing home in Washington state, a new quarantine in the suburbs of New York City and warning that many more cases were coming. Los Angeles reported one new case and Orange County two. “I want them to be prepared for the reality that they, there are going to be more cases in the community,” said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But I want them to continue their daily lives. I want them to be mindful of the opportunity again to prepare themselves and their families.”

Local Government News

L.A. elections chief apologizes for long voting lines, chaotic balloting as voters vent
Los Angeles County’s new voting system was marked by long lines, snafus and growing anger among voters, with some waiting hours to cast ballots that continued well into the night. It was an ugly debut for the county’s new $300-million voting system. L.A. officials spent months trying to raise awareness about two big changes: the elimination of neighborhood polling places and the debut of ballot-marking touchscreen devices in regional vote centers, available to everyone and spread throughout the county.

Jackie Lacey holds early lead in heated L.A. County DA race
Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey took a commanding early lead against two criminal justice reformers looking to unseat the two-term career prosecutor who found herself in an ill-timed controversy on Election Day. Lacey had nearly 53% of the vote in early returns Wednesday as former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon had over 25% and ex-public defender Rachel Rossi had 21% of 700,000 votes counted. The winner will oversee the largest prosecutor’s office in the U.S., with nearly 1,000 lawyers, and a territory that covers the nation’s second-largest city and 10 million residents across the sprawling county.

L.A. City Councilman John Lee took the lead in the election to fill the seat on the 15-member Los Angeles City Council to represent the northwestern part of the San Fernando Valley, in early returns. On Tuesday night, Lee grabbed 55% of the vote against astrophysicist, educator and activist Loraine Lundquist, who recorded 45%, according to numbers released by Los Angles County Registrar-Recorder County Clerk. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, there will be a runoff rematch in November. “There are no words to truly describe how I feel,” Lee said over the phone. “They put their trust in me and it means absolutely everything to me.” Lee’s campaign Pat Dennis added that “the results look great for John and it’s a big lead and we’re winning right now.”
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About the LAPPL Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,900 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. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at:

www.LAPD.com


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