Recently in CHP Category

INDUSTRY - Officials filed charges against two Hemet men Friday in connection with a lengthy car chase and shoot-out with California Highway Patrol officers, authorities said.
Arthur Reyes, 20, was charged with four counts of attempted murder of a peace officer, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and felony evading arrest, Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said in a written statement.
Thomas Cline, 19, was charged with felony evading arrest and auto theft, he added.
*A rear passenger in the car, an 18-year-old Hemet man, was also wounded in the shooting, Lt. David Coleman of the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said.
No charges were filed against him, however the investigation was ongoing, the lieutenant said.*
The incident began when Banning police spotted the two men driving in a stolen car around 7 p.m. Tuesday and started a pursuit, officials said.
As the chase reached freeway, CHP officers took over the pursuit, sheriff's and CHP officials said.
"Ultimately, in the City of Industry, the suspects pulled off the freeway and ran out of gas (at Crossroads Parkway North and Workman Mill Road)," Parker said. "The front seat passenger suspect then began shooting at CHP officers."
The shooter was later identified as Reyes.
Officers returned fire, striking Reyes and the rear passenger, officials said.
The driver, Cline, fled from the car but was arrested a short distance away, officials said.
According to sheriff's booking records, Reyes was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, while Cline was being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. Information on their next court appearances was not available.


PHOTOS of Arthur Reyes courtesy of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

From City News Service:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY -- Despite the inclement weather, the California Highway Patrol logged no fatalities in Los Angeles County -- or statewide -- during the first 36 hours of Christmas weekend, which ended at 6 a.m. Sunday.
During the same period last year, no one died on Los Angeles County freeways, state highways and county roads patrolled by the CHP, but 11 people died in wrecks statewide during the same period in 2009.
Drunken driving arrests in Los Angeles County were up, with 83 people arrested this year, compared to 72 during the first 36 hours of Christmas period in 2009, the CHP reported.
Statewide, drunken driving arrests were down -- 507 arrests this year, compared to 552 last year.
The CHP's maximum enforcement period started at 6 p.m. Friday. The agency's figures do not include fatalities or drunken driving arrests of local police agencies.

Austin Texas Police Chief Art Acevedo is one of three finalists for the Pasadena police Chief job. Here's an interview he did with Prison Planet's Alex Jones:

*The California Highway Patrol originally reported incorrect information regarding this story. It has been updated below.

From the SGV Tribune:

WEST COVINA - A man was killed in a fatal crash Monday, California Highway Patrol officials said Tuesday.

Gustavo Cesena, of West Covina, was killed about 10:30 p.m. Monday, said Officer Heather Hoglund. Cesena was not wearing his seat belt, Hoglund said.

COMPTON -- In what investigators are calling a "domestic violence-related incident," an off-duty CHP officer shot and killer her husband late Saturday.

Few details of the shooting were released Sunday.

The incident occurred just after 11 p.m. in the 400 block of Amantha Avenue in Compton, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said in a written statement.

Neither the dead man nor the officer were identified.

"The suspect became verbally and physically combative toward the off-duty officer and the victim was able to retreive a firearm and shoot the suspect once in the upper torso," Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Rick Pedroza said in a written release.

"The investigation is ongoing, and there is no further information available at this time," he said.

LayDownMyLife.com, A Web site devoted to the memories of CHP officers who have died in the line of duty, has set up a page dedicated to Joe Sanders.

On Monday, Dec. 15, Sanders was struck and killed by a vehicle while directing traffic at the scene of a previous accident on Pomona Freeway in Hacienda Heights.

This from City News Service:

GARDEN GROVE -- A man suspected in a fatal hit-and-run collision in that killed a Diamond Bar resident was arrested over the weekend on suspicion drunken driving and other crimes, the California Highway Patrol said.
Eduardo Aguilera Orozco, 25, of Anaheim, was allegedly driving a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu east on the 22 Freeway in Garden Grove about 2:50 a.m. Saturday when he rear-ended a 2004 Toyota Sequoia near Harbor Boulevard, causing the SUV to roll several times, a CHP dispatcher said.
Mukhtar Bagum, 64, of Diamond Bar, who was in the SUV, died at the scene, said Larry Esslinger of the coroner's office.
A 1-year-old girl, 12-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy in the Sequoia suffered minor injuries, the CHP dispatcher said.
Bagum's 28-year-old son, who had been driving the SUV, and two other passengers were unhurt.
Orozco, who had minor injuries, allegedly fled on foot, the dispatcher said.
The dispatcher said Orozco was arrested about 1:50 p.m. Saturday and booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit and run and drunken driving -- all felonies.

Jennifer McLain shot this picture at lunchtime near the intersection of Arrow Highway and Enid street in Covina/Azusa.

Apparently a car blew through the intersection about 12:30 p.m. and caused a three car accident that sent three people to the hospital with minor injuries.

 

We're halfway through hands-free Tuesday and cell phone users ignoring the new law are apparently plentiful.

I know I saw at least two people talking on the phone this a.m. on my way in. Both had something in common: both were women and both were driving slow and I was stuck behind 'em.

We've had reporters and photogs out in the field doing ride-alongs and they've seen some interesting stuff today.

KFI reporter Shannon Farren said she spotted nine people using their cell phones westbound on the 10 between downton and the 405 this morning. One was using the phone and smoking.

*As for now, I'm suffering through an extreme case of nomophobia.

Here's the photo caption:

Here's California Highway Patrol officer Joe Zizi from the Santa Fe Springs CHP office gives a citation to a female on Rose Hills Road in Whittier for Hands-Free Cell Phone violation on July 1, 2008.  Today is the first day the law goes into effect.  The La Habra woman, who did not want to give her name, said she had been working too long and forgot about the new law. (Raul Roa) 

 

The accident on Glendora Mountain Road Monday claimed the life of  an 18-year-old who was apparently not wearing a safety belt, according to early reports. This from reporter Amanda Baumfeld, who is working the story this morning:

Mary E. Lange, 18, has died after a car she was a passenger in went over an embankment on Glendora Mountain Road Monday around 6 p.m., according to Officer Elizabeth Van Valkenburgh of the California Highway Patrol.

It is likely that Lang was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car, Van Valkenburgh added.

Lange was riding in a Toyota Tercel apparently driven by *Stephanie Bergner, 18, * officials said. The driver lost control and the car careened over an embankment at mile marker 5*, authorities said. Berger and a third girl, identified as Esther Cota, were severely injured.

Here's the AP story. I'll update with a map and photos later.

*The girls apparently lived in the David and Margaret Youth and Family Services home in La Verne.

*We've found MySpace pages apparently associated with the girls. 

Here's a MySpace apparently belonging to Mary.

This may be the MySpace for Stephanie.

**CHP sources tell us that the girls may have been in the mountains to go fishing. There is no evidence that alcohol or drugs were involved in the crash, officials said.

 

 

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Mayor's son questioned in car theft case.

An unidentified person was detained at Mayor Ron Beilke's home Wednesday as part of an auto theft investigation, authorities said.

<snip>

Beilke said deputies questioned his 17-year-old son, who visited the same house as Sonny Costello, a 19-year-old transient, who is accused of stealing a 2002 Chevy Suburban on Tuesday night.

Monrovia plans outside investigation of claims against PD.

MONROVIA - Police Chief Roger Johnson said Wednesday that an outside agency would investigate sexual harassment allegations contained in a lawsuit filed against a Monrovia police officer.

Rudy Ramirez, 25, a former Monrovia jailer and member of the Monrovia police Explorer program, filed the lawsuit last month. He claims Sgt. Dan Verna sexually abused and harassed him beginning in 2000 while he was a minor until November 2006 when Ramirez was terminated by the department.

"Any of these allegations are going to be reviewed by a law enforcement agency independent of the Police Department to determine if there's been any wrong-doing," Johnson said.

<snip>

To bolster claims in his lawsuit, Ramirez states that Verna helped a suspected gang member, Salvador Parra, get released from Monrovia city jail on two occasions in 2006.

Sheriff's officials on Wednesday said a deputy saw Verna and Parra in 2006 inside of a parked car in Fish Canyon.

On patrol May 2, 2006, Deputy Mike Silva spotted the pair, authorities said. When he saw a gun in the car, the deputy detained Verna and called for backup, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Capt. Richard Shaw. 

Man shot and killed in Hacienda Heights.

Police responded to the 1100 block of Finegrove Avenue to reports of shots fired around 9:50 p.m., according to Deputy Aura Sierra of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

They found a Latino man, 30, with multiple gun shots wounds in his torso, Sierra said.

CHiPs OIS follow up; woman identified.

Two CHP officers patrolling the eastbound 10 Freeway just after 11 p.m. initially noticed the woman as she passed them in her car, driving at a high rate of speed, Dolson said.

The officers thought she might have been under the influence, so they pulled her over at Hellman and Garfield avenues, just off the freeway, Dolson said.

When one of the officers approached the vehicle, the woman pulled out the replica handgun, prompting the officer to fire one round, he said.

The fake handgun was later recovered at the scene, said Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Oscar Butao.

"It looked exactly like a righteous firing gun," Dolson said. "You would probably have to handle it and examine it for a short time to realize it wasn't real."

 

We're following this story as it develops. Officers told reporter Tania Chatila that the woman is still not identified. But somehow they know she was 52-years-old:

ALHAMBRA - Authorities are investigating the shooting death of a woman by a California Highway Patrol officer Tuesday night after the woman allegedly brandished a fake handgun.

The incident occurred about 11 p.m. off the 10 Freeway near Hellman and Garfield avenues.

Authorities believe the woman - who has not been identified - pulled out a replica handgun prompting the officer to fire back.

The woman died at the scene, according to reports.

No further details were immediately available.

 

This from the Associated Press:

ALHAMBRA, Calif. (AP) _ A California Highway Patrol officer has shot and killed a woman during an Alhambra traffic stop after she pulled what turned out to be a replica handgun.

Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Aura Sierra says the shooting just off Interstate 10 east of downtown Los Angeles occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday.

Sheriff's investigators remained on the scene Wednesday morning at Hellman and Garfield avenues.

KTLA television says the CHP officer spotted the woman's red BMW speeding on the freeway and made a traffic stop just off the interstate.

Investigators say the woman pulled out what appeared to be a handgun and the CHP officer, fearing for his life, shot her. Sierra says the woman was declared dead at a nearby hospital.

The woman's name hasn't been released.