Author: Carlos Lozano

Authorities are searching for the alleged accomplice of a man police shot and killed early this morning after a car chase that ended in South Gate.

Bell police were conducting a traffic stop on a white vehicle occupied by two males shortly after midnight when the suspects began firing at the officers, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating the incident.

The car drove off and police pursued the car four miles into South Gate, where the vehicle crashed into a concrete wall at Seville Avenue and Santa Ana Street. The suspects exited the vehicle and one of the men began firing at Bell officers, police said.

One of the suspect’s rounds struck the hood of a Bell police vehicle and officers returned fire, police said.

One suspect began running southbound on Commercial Place. A Bell police sergeant and another officer began shooting and the suspect was struck several times in the upper torso.

County paramedics responded and the man was pronounced dead at the scene. A weapon was recovered.

The other man escaped, officials said. No officers were injured.

 

— My-Thuan Tran

Photo: Investigators at the scene of a shooting in South Gate, where a police pursuit ended early Thursday with a car crash and exchange of gunfire. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

More photos > > >

Learn more about more than 100 fatal officer-involved shootings in L.A. County since January 2007 on The Times’ interactive Homicide Report, which documents all deaths determined by the county coroner to be at the hand of another person.

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Former teen idol Leif Garrett was released from jail this morning after his arrest on a charge of possession of heroin, authorities said.

Garrett, a former ’70s singing and acting star with a lengthy history of drug usage and arrests, was taken into custody about 11:20 a.m. Monday after Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies patrolling the Metro subway station at Pershing Square discovered he was carrying black tar heroin, said Steve Whitmore, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Garrett was about to board a train, and "he was sweating and shaking profusely," Whitmore said.

Garrett, 48, told the deputies his condition was because he "gets nervous around law enforcement because of his prior experience," Whitmore said. He denied having any drugs and allowed the deputies to search him, he said.

Garrett then informed the deputies that he was hiding black tar heroin in his shoe, Whitmore said. 

He was released on bond from the county jail at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. He is due back in court on Feb. 24.

In 2006, Garrett was arrested on the Red Line subway on a charge of possession of heroin. 

In 1999, Los Angeles police arrested the bandanna-wearing musician in the MacArthur Park area after he allegedly tried to buy narcotics from undercover officers.

In 1979, Garrett was behind the wheel of a Porsche and allegedly under the influence of beer and drugs when he rear-ended a car, leaving his passenger disabled.

— Richard Winton

Photo: The booking shot of Leif Garrett from 2006. Credit: L.A. County Sheriff’s Department

Several civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Costa Mesa for its anti-solicitation ordinance, which bars day laborers from seeking work on the streets.



The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network are challenging the constitutionality of the ordinance on behalf of two groups whose members have been restricted from seeking work, according to a joint statement from the organizations. 

 

The ordinance prohibits people from standing on a sidewalk or other public area and soliciting employment, business or contributions in a way that attracts the attention of moving vehicles, according to the statement. Those in violation are subject to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

 

“Not only does it discriminate against day laborers but it prohibits protected speech,” said Belinda Escobosa Helzer, staff attorney for the ACLU. “It’s so sweeping that it bans school children from holding car wash signs on the street or could prevent struggling businesses from using sign spinners.”

 

Federal courts around the country have stricken down anti-solicitation ordinances, according to the statement.

 

“Day laborers have contributed to the Costa Mesa economy for decades,” said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. “Particularly during these tough times, the hard work they provide the community should be rewarded and not the target of destructive law enforcement practices.”



— Raja Abdulrahim

Many Latinos are furious at President Obama for failing to deliver on promises to push immigration reform legislation and may stay away from the polls during this year’s midterm elections if they don’t see concrete progress, including legalization of undocumented immigrants, a key Democratic legislator said Monday.



“People are angry and disillusioned,” U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Chicago) said in an interview with The Times.



Gutierrez said that Obama’s failure to push immigration reform was symbolized by his State of the Union address last Wednesday, when he devoted only 38 of about 7,300 words to the issue. The “throwaway line,” Gutierrez said, was the final straw for many activists who have been perturbed by the continued pace of deportations and other enforcement actions without concomitant progress in moving reform legislation forward.

Gutierrez said he was short at least 12 votes in the House to pass his immigration legislation, which would legalize most of the nation’s 12 million undocumented migrants, provide more family visas, increase worker protections and offer other reforms. He acknowledged that selling the bill to the American public at a time of double-digit unemployment would not be easy.

But he and Los Angeles labor leader Maria Elena Durazo argued that legalizing undocumented immigrants would help the nation’s economic recovery by raising their wages and allowing them to spend more consumer dollars.

To push their cause, he said, immigrant rights supporters were organizing a national mobilization on March 21.



Without progress, the congressman warned that many Latinos would stay home from the polls this year and for the 2012 presidential election. According to exit polls, Obama received 61% of the Latino vote in 2008, boosting him to victory in the former Republican strongholds of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Florida.



“We need to hold all of our political leaders accountable,” he said.



Gutierrez was to speak at an immigration town-hall event on Monday at La Placita Church in downtown Los Angeles. The meeting, which will feature several elected officials, immigrant rights activists and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, is aimed at bringing renewed visibility to the issue.

— Teresa Watanabe

A Los Angeles County Superior Court spokeswoman wearing official identification badges was grabbed by a sheriff’s deputy in a downtown courtroom and pushed hard against a wall with her arms pulled behind her before being handcuffed, according to eyewitnesses.

Sheriff’s officials have launched an internal affairs investigation into why the deputy detained and handcuffed Vania Stuelp, a deputy public information officer. Stuelp, who sought medical treatment after the incident, has filed a complaint about the deputy’s tactics, sources said.

Sheriff’s officials say Stuelp was detained Tuesday after refusing to follow the deputy’s instructions to leave an area in the courtroom usually occupied by lawyers. Stuelp was not arrested and court was not in session at the time.

Accounts by a French journalist and cameraman present at the time of the incident differ from sheriff’s statements based on the agency’s preliminary investigation. Sheriff’s officials say Stuelp was not pushed against the wall and that the deputy only touched her on the arm before handcuffing her.

The incident occurred shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday when Stuelp became concerned that the French television crew was violating court regulations that prohibit filming in certain areas of the court house.

Stuelp informed the crew they could not film in the courtroom and asked for their footage.

Sylvain Pak, a Paris-based journalist, said Stuelp was inside the courtroom and talking on her cellphone when the deputy confronted her and told her to be quiet and move out. He said Stuelp was wearing several court identity cards and told the deputy that she worked there. Pak said the deputy responded by grabbing her arm.

"She was stunned," Pak said. As the deputy pushed her toward the back wall of the courtroom, Stuelp screamed, he said.

"He grabbed her and he pushed her hard into the wall," Pak said. The deputy was also pulling her arms behind her back so she could not brace her contact with the wall, the journalist said. 

A cameraman who accompanied Pak gave a similar account of what happened. Pak and his colleague said the deputy told the woman something to the effect that "this is my courtroom," during the incident.

Investigators with the sheriff’s department and the county Office of Independent Review would like to talk to any eyewitnesses to the events, said Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.

When Stuelp entered the well area of the courtroom, a deputy district attorney objected to her presence, Whitmore said. Stuelp insisted she had the right to be there, so the prosecutor asked the deputy to deal with the issue, he said.

When Stuelp repeatedly refused to leave, the deputy then "put his hand on her arm to escort her out," Whitmore said. At that point, she was "detained, handcuffed and sat down in the court," Whitmore said.

A sheriff’s sergeant arrived and recognized her as the court spokesperson and directed that she be released, he said.

— Richard Winton

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has launched an internal affairs investigation into why a deputy acting as a bailiff detained and handcuffed a Superior Court spokeswoman today inside a downtown courtroom, officials said.

Vania Stuelp, a deputy public information officer, was handcuffed after she refused to leave the area usually occupied by attorneys and would not follow the deputy’s directions, said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department. Stuelp was not arrested, Whitmore said.

Court was not in session at the time.

An inquiry is underway and is being supervised by the county’s Office of Independent Review. "It will answer questions such as why was she handcuffed in the first place," Whitmore said.

Court officials declined to comment on the matter.

The incident occurred shortly before 9 a.m. when Stuelp became concerned that a French television crew was violating court regulations that prohibit filming in certain areas of the court, Whitmore said.

Stuelp informed the crew they could not film in the courtroom and requested that they turn over the footage.

"She walked into the well area," Whitmore said.

A deputy district attorney objected to her presence, but Stuelp insisted she had the right to be there, he said. The prosecutor asked the deputy to deal with the issue.

The deputy then tried to remove everyone from the court to the hallway to resolve the matter, Whitmore said.

But Stuelp repeatedly refused to leave. The deputy then "put his hand on her arm to escort her out," Whitmore said.

At that point, she was "detained, handcuffed and sat down in the court," Whitmore said.

A sheriff’s sergeant arrived and recognized her as the court spokesperson and directed that she be released, Whitmore said.

Later, Stuelp sought medical treatment, according to two different sources.

The incident occurred before an arraignment hearing for an attorney indicted for witness tampering. The attorney represents a key suspect in the high-profile ‘bling ring’ celebrity burglary case but was indicted in connection with another case.

— Richard Winton

Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers throughout Southern California have voted overwhelmingly to quit the giant Service Employees International Union and join a smaller rival union, according to election results released today.

The National Labor Relations Board, which tallied secret-ballot votes cast earlier this month, said that about 2,000 nurses and care professionals voted more than 6 to 1 in favor of ditching the SEIU and affiliating with the rival National Union of Healthcare Workers, a breakaway faction that is challenging the SEIU’s dominance.

The defeat is a major setback for SEIU, the largest hospital and healthcare workers union in California, with some 150,000 members. The SEIU is engaged in a fierce battle for workers’ allegiance with the emergent NUHW, headed by former SEIU leaders ousted a year ago in a bitter takeover.

The breakaway NUHW, which doesn’t yet have a single member under contract,  has accused the SEIU of shutting workers out of negotiations and cutting deals with management — allegations the larger union denies.

The SEIU calls its insurgent rival irresponsible and ill-equipped to represent workers. The row has split union and Democratic Party activists statewide.

Kaiser workers at scores of facilities in Southern California voted this month, both by mail and in person. Among those casting ballots were registered nurses at Kaiser’s Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard.

A total of 746 nurses voted to join NUHW, according to the labor board, while 36 cast ballots to remain with SEIU. Healthcare professionals voted 189 to 29 to join NUHW, while psychiatric and social service workers favored NUHW 717 to 92, according to the labor board.

“This is the beginning of a shift in the labor movement nationwide toward more democratic, member-driven representation, not leadership from the top down,” said David Mallon, a psychiatric social worker with Kaiser in Norwalk who favored NUHW.

NUHW is now setting its sights on some 50,000 other Kaiser workers across California currently represented by SEIU. The upstart union is pushing petitions among workers throughout the state to supplant the colossal SEIU, which claims 2.2 million members in North America, almost half in the healthcare sector.

Steve Trossman, an SEIU spokesman, called the results “disappointing” and accused the rival union of putting the affected employees “at grave risk,” because they are no longer part of a larger coalition of Kaiser unions.

NUHW officials scoffed at the notion of  any risk and vowed to win better worker contracts than those negotiated by SEIU. Once the labor board certifies the results, the new union will be able to form bargaining committees.

— Patrick J. McDonnell

In the first enforcement of its kind against a public agency, the State Water Board on Tuesday said it has reached a $6.2 million settlement with the city of Long Beach for extensive violations of regulations governing the storage of petroleum and waste oil in underground storage tanks.

“The State Water Board will not tolerate violations of these important environmental protection laws,” said  Reed Sato, director of the board’s office of enforcement, "and will take swift action against all violators, whether public or private.”

Long Beach has failed to perform required testing and monitoring and failed to install leak prevention equipment at 40 of its underground storage tank facilities, many of which are located at city fire and police stations.

The prevention systems are designed to ensure that toxic substances stored in the tanks do not leak and pollute groundwater resources. The city did not deny responsibility for the violations, Sato said.

Under terms of the settlement, the city will pay $1.5 million in cash within 30 days, in addition to $200,000 in reimbursement for the board’s costs of enforcement. The city is also required to provide $2.5 million in financial assurance will become due and payable if the city violates the underground storage tank laws again in the next five years.

“To send the message to other underground tank owners and operators that this type of violation is significant and will not be tolerated,” Sato said, the settlement requires that the city take out a full page advertisement in the Sunday edition of the Long Beach Press Telegram.

–Louis Sahagun

The body of a Thousand Oaks hiker was discovered today in a rain-swollen creek at the bottom of a steep canyon in Wildwood Regional Park, which had been closed because of the rains, authorities said.

Matthew Chidgey, 40, was the subject of a search after he failed to return from his solo outing Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. He had told his roommate he was heading for the park’s waterfalls.

A helicopter from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department assisted in recovering Chidgey’s body from the park, authorities said.

Hikers and park visitors are urged to wait at least three days after a rainstorm before accessing the trails in the park, authorities said. At the time of Chidgey’s disappearance, the parks’ trails had already been closed by park officials and marked with warning signs.

–Steve Chawkins