August 16, 2018
City News Service
Los Angeles police officers who shoot someone will have to wait at least two weeks before returning to the field under a policy approved by the five-member civilian panel that oversees the department.
Until now, officers could resume their regular duties with the police chief’s approval after a briefing that is done within 72 hours of a shooting. Time away from the field typically ranged from one to two weeks.
The new policy adopted unanimously by the Police Commission also strengthens training and psychological counseling requirements, the Los Angeles Times reported. It applies to officers who injure or kill someone in a shooting.
The expanded wait brings L.A. more in line with cities such as San Francisco, Chicago and New York, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
“Given what we know about officer-involved shootings, there’s just a period of time they need —mental health days — to deal with one of the most traumatic situations they’ll ever face,” Wexler said.
The changes had been in the works since 2016, when a report by the Police Commission's inspector general compared the LAPD's use-of-force policies with those of several other police agencies, according to The Times.
Las Vegas police officers, for example, attend two counseling sessions before department officials decide whether they can resume their regular duties — typically in two or three months.
August 16, 2018
City News Service
A former Los Angeles police officer pleaded no contest today to a pair of sex-related charges involving a then-15-year-old girl from the department’s cadet program and was sentenced to two years in prison.
Robert Cain, 32, whose arrest roiled the department and put a black mark on the cadet program that has long been hailed for building bridges between police and the city’s youth, pleaded guilty to oral copulation of a person under 16 and unlawful sexual intercourse.
As a result of his plea, he will be required to register as a sex offender. He was also ordered to stay away from the victim for 10 years.
Cain was a 10-year LAPD veteran, but he resigned last year following his arrest — which was made personally by then-Chief Charlie Beck.
The cadet program was already being investigated by the department following the arrest of seven LAPD cadets who were allegedly involved in the theft of three police cars. The teen girl with whom Cain was involved was one of the seven cadets, although her attorney said she is not facing criminal prosecution stemming from her arrest.
The girl read a statement in court, saying in part, “Monsters do not care about anything and have no problem hurting anyone. You took so much away for me, and that’s something I will never get back. You were an officer, someone who promises to protect people like me from people like you.”
Cain could have faced up to seven years and eight months in prison if he was convicted on all the original charges filed against him.
The teen’s attorney, Luis Carrillo, said Cain threatened the girl to keep quiet about the sexual activity, which officials said occurred during a June 14, 2017, trip to Magic Mountain.
“It’s not only a crime, it’s a moral outrage for a grown man in his 30s to take advantage of a 15-year-old little girl,” he said.
The now-16-year-old victim filed a lawsuit against the city earlier this year, alleging sexual harassment, negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations. The lawsuit did not name Cain as a defendant.
The girl claims in the lawsuit that Cain’s relationship with the plaintiff began in January 2017 and ended five months later. During that time, he gave her gifts and sent her inappropriate texts messages, the suit states.
It also claims that when Cain thought the girl was pregnant, he “gave the minor plaintiff a pill to induce abortion.”
Cain pleaded no contest Jan. 19 to two weapons-related charges stemming from a search of his home in San Bernardino County. He was sentenced to two years in county jail and four years of supervised release in that case. He pleaded no contest to one felony count each of manufacturing of an assault weapon and possession of multi-burst trigger device or “bump stock.”
Eight other weapons-related charges were dismissed as a result of Cain’s San Bernardino County plea, according to his attorney, Bill Seki.
August 16, 2018
City News Service
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors renewed or reinstated rewards today in hopes of solving the 2016 killings of a teenage girl struck by a stray bullet in a gang-related shooting in Lynwood and two young fathers gunned down at a gas station in Compton.
Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas recommended that the board extend the $20,000 reward — set to expire Aug. 20 — in the killing of 16-year-old Danah Rojo-Rivas, who was shot to death on Nov. 23, 2016.
Two residents have contributed additional funds to raise the reward to $30,000.
Danah was sitting in the back seat of her family’s Ford Mustang with her dog on her lap, riding home with her mother and 18-year-old brother from an evening function at the New Horizons Missionary Baptist Church. While the Mustang was stopped at a red light on eastbound Euclid Avenue at Long Beach Boulevard, the family was caught in the line of fire of a car-to-car shooting.
The intended victim, a passenger in a burgundy Saturn SUV, jumped out of the vehicle and ran behind the Mustang. The gunman continued to fire and a stray bullet pierced the rear of the Mustang and fatally struck the teen. Her mother and brother were not injured, but the family dog, a white poodle mix, bolted out of the car and was killed by oncoming traffic.
Ridley-Thomas also recommended re-establishing a $10,000 reward in the Compton shooting, which had expired Aug. 12, saying detectives believed it could help solve the crime.
About 9 p.m. on May 15, 2016, 24-year-old Richard Williams was driving out of a 76 gas station in the 1200 block of South Wilmington Avenue with two friends — 23-year-old Boston Farley and 26-year-old Brandon Upchurch — when someone fired into their vehicle.
Williams was struck by multiple rounds and died at the scene. Farley died at St. Francis Medical Center.
Upchurch, who escaped injury, told investigators that as Williams drove from the parking lot, an “armed male assailant was waiting on the sidewalk and began shooting into the vehicle,” according to the Sheriff's Information Bureau. “The suspect then got into a waiting white utility truck, which fled northbound on Wilmington Avenue and out of view.”
Sheriff’s officials said the victims, both residents of Compton, were not gang members, but their assailants could be.
The suspects’ truck was described as a white Chevrolet or GMC utility service truck with ladder racks and built-in side tool boxes.
Both victims were fathers of year-old sons and Williams, who worked as a communications company installer, was engaged to be married.
Ridley-Thomas urged anyone with more information on either of the shootings to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS (8477).
August 16, 2018
LAWT News Service
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors signed off today on a plan to offer more mobile showers for people living on the streets or in their cars.
Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, who championed the move, cited the success of pilot programs in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area and East Pasadena.
“Providing access to a shower to someone who doesn’t have access to one often can help on a job interview. For children, a shower is often the difference between going to school or not,” Solis said. “Above all, every week this program demonstrates that people are regaining their self-confidence and dignity —even if they are experiencing homelessness.”
County workers also use the offer of a shower to reach out to homeless individuals in need of other services, including hot meals, health screenings and help with expunging criminal records. Up to 35 people use the mobile showers in Whittier Narrows during weekly four-hour events, while more than 100 individuals in the area utilize related services weekly.
“Being able to address their hygiene needs and restore their sense of dignity often leads to transformation and a break in the cycle of homelessness,” Barger said.
The trailer for the pilot at Whittier Narrows is operated by Lava Mae.
The program in East Pasadena is run by Shower of Hope and launched later, so data on usage was not immediately available.
The expansion will make use of county-owned trailers with mobile showers that were bought for emergency use. The trailers will be lent at no cost to trained homeless service providers and the county will fund operating costs.
New locations for the showers have yet to be identified, but may include sites near Metro stations.
The Department of Parks and Recreation will also explore whether showers that go unused in county parks can be made available to homeless individuals. That could include showers at county pools during months when the pools are closed to the public.
A Lava Mae spokesman said a simple shower can make a significant difference.
The ultimate goal is “to help people experiencing homelessness rekindle dignity, restore hope and unlock opportunity,” said Paul Asplund, the company’s director of partnerships and development.