Results tagged “south bay” from Crime & Courts

I'm about to head over to Mira Costa High School for the memorial service for Henry Pearson, a 25-year-old Manhattan Beach man killed by an alleged drunk driver last week.
Pearson was in the car carrying Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22; Courtney Stewart, 20, of Diamond Bar; and Jon Wilhite, 24, of Manhattan Beach. Wilhite was the only survivor and he remains in serious condition in the hospital. (The alleged drunk is ok, of course.)

I've covered countless murders and other horrible crimes, many involving innocent victims in my 22 years of this. But nothing bothers me more than the drunken driving stories. Every person killed was a motorist, passenger or pedestrian simply going about his of her life.

I know I've missed some, but I sat and made a list of the people whose names appeared in my stories. If you think I should add one, please let me know. But here's 25 people I wrote about who became victims of drunken drivers.

It doesn't seem to stop.

• Brady Grasinger, 15, of Rancho Palos Verdes
• Aljerriah Williams, 53, of Los Angeles
• Rebecca Fields, 47, of Inglewood
• Scott Anthony Barretta, 20, of San Jacinto College
• Jakori Dion Turner, 11 weeks, Inglewood
• Jeffrey Lamont Dodley, 27, of Lawndale
• Jonathan Nichols, 30, aka Jonny D of KKBT
• Carl Crawford, 29, of Harbor Gateway
• Matthew McCarville, 17, of Torrance
• Cheri Ann Betar, 49
• Alice Madrigal, 59, of Wilmington
• Steven Alvarez, 20, of Torrance
• Consuelo Rojas, 35, of San Luis Obispo
• Juan Gabriel Ontiveros, 32, of Compton
• Garrett Ogushi, 24, of Torrance
• Elizabeth Ramirez, 29, of San Pedro
• Carlitos Ramirez, 12, of San Pedro
• Sharday McCoy, 18, of Hawthorne
• Greg Hansen, 44, of Carson
• Rodney Charles Harris, 31
• Sgt. Ron Ingram, 54, of Torrance
• Sophia Hammond, 32, of Granite City, Ill.
• Erica Jauregui, 10, of Inglewood
• Kristan Knight, 22, of Torrance
• Joaquina Christina Castillo, 11, of Torrance

Readers write:
Q. Great article. (Torrance methamphetamine crackdown). I'm curious were any of these suspects illegals?

Jim, Torrance

A. Fourteen alleged felons are facing deportation.

Steve McDonald writes:

Larry,

"Just wanted you to know that you have fans out there! Even though I moved off to Santa Barbara from the South Bay I still read the Daily Breeze (hard copy and online) regularly because of your articles and your blog. I lived in the South Bay for 46 years, my folks still live there. Keep up the great work and thanks."

Bobbie, a resident of Torrance says:

"Thank you for the front page article about our Torrance Police Department. Larry did a great job! To the men and women who worked on "Operation Accountability"...thank you for all the hard work. Just relieved to hear none of our police were hurt.

A wake up call to our community that drugs traffic and its people are here selling drugs to local residents and our kids. They maybe our neighbors! Its really scary to read in Larry's article the amount and types of drugs and the amount of weapons that were confiscated!
Just hope these major suppliers will think twice before they decide to move into the South Bay. This article brought it home to all of us to know drugs is around us.

Thank you Torrance Police for continuing to make our community a safe place. Thank you Larry for that great article!! It really made my day!"