Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is already facing the distinct possibility of a recall election over his soft-on-crime policies, and I doubt this is going to be helpful to his defense. The liberal prosecutor has declined to file felony charges against the man who assaulted comedian Dave Chappelle during a performance at the Hollywood Bowl earlier this week after concluding that the actions did not rise to the level of a felony offense.
Isaiah Lee, 23, was charged instead by the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office with single misdemeanor counts of battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during a performance and commission of an act that delays an event or interferes with a performer.
“This alleged attack has got to have consequences,” City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a video statement announcing the charges.
Feuer — a candidate for Los Angeles mayor — added, “My office takes protecting public safety extremely seriously and we are going to vigorously prosecute this case.”
I’m sure that Feuer, who’s a longtime anti-gun activist, will be happy to soak up the press attention that he’ll get for prosecuting Lee, who allegedly had a replica handgun that disguised a knife blade in his hand as he rushed the stage and tackled Chappelle on Tuesday evening. But should his office really be the one to handle this case? The misdemeanor charges aren’t likely to result in much time behind bars if Lee is convicted, and honestly, if his victim weren’t a celebrity the odds of him avoiding jail entirely would be in his favor.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Gascon’s office declined to pursue felony charges because while Lee had a weapon on him, he never had the chance to use it on his target, and since Chappelle wasn’t injured, the crime didn’t rise to the level of a felony assault with a deadly weapon regardless of Lee’s intentions.
This is a pretty high-profile example of Gascon’s alleged leniency towards criminal defendants, and it comes as the organizers of the recall campaign against the prosecutor announced they’ve hit a milestone in their efforts to gather enough signatures to get the recall on the ballot this fall.
Today, the Recall DA George Gascon campaign announced it has collected over 400,000 signatures as of May 1st, with thousands more being turned in daily. The recall campaign has now raised over $6 million to support the effort. To get the recall on the ballot, the campaign must collect 566,857 signatures from registered Los Angeles County voters (10% of the total current registered voters). The deadline for submission to the Registrar is July 6, 2022. “We are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel – there is a legitimate pathway to qualifying the recall by the July 6th deadline if we do not let up.”
The recall campaign might want canvass for signatures outside some of the comedy clubs in L.A. and ask patrons, employees, and comedians to sign on after Gascon’s decision, because while it might be legally defensible, it’s likely to be pretty unpopular at a time when crime continues to surge in Los Angeles and many residents say they feel increasingly unsafe.
Police help terminally ill girl, 16, check off a bucket list item… by letting her fire a TASER at an officer
A terminally ill teen has fulfilled her dying wish of firing a Taser at a police officer
Alyssa Elkins, 16, has leukemia and has been given one to six months to live
Officers at Newark Police Department agreed to let the girl fire at one of them
Alyssa drew up a bucket list of things to do including petting a miniature pig
A terminally ill teen has fulfilled her dying wish of firing a Taser at a willing person weeks after she drew up a bucket list of things she would like to do before she passes away.
Alyssa Elkins, 16, is suffering from leukemia and decided not to go through with a second round of treatment to spend more time with her family.
And the young woman from Morgan County in Ohio decided that firing a taser at a police officer volunteer was one of the things she most wanted to do after doctors gave her between one to six months to live earlier this month.
The 16-year-old prepares to fire at Sgt. Doug Bline who is flanked by two assisting officers
Newark Police Department, New York agreed to partake in the unique event after her family and friends contacted the force for filmed event.
The first to volunteer out of six, Sgt. Doug Bline, was selected to receive the tasering and after some training, Alyssa, who donned a fitted Newark Police uniform shirt with her name on it, took aim and fired.
Around 50 people were in the room to witness the girl, from a farm in the village of McConnelsville, shoot at the policeman who winced in pain and slowly fell to the ground, flanked by two other officers, after she pulled the trigger.
Sgt. Al Shaffer asked those present to shout ‘Taser! Taser! Taser!’ with Alyssa firing on the third ‘Taser.’
Alyssa also took up the unexpected opportunity to fire at her uncle Barry, who is a State Highway Patrol trooper and gave her the inspiration to fire a Taser after she watched a video of him getting hit by one during his police training.
The Taser makes impact and the officer winces in pain and Alyssa can barely look
Bline falls to the ground. He said the pain he endured was worth it for Alyssa’s happiness
Connell asked if her uncle had done anything in the past that she might like to get back at him for to which she agreed, reported the Columbus Dispatch.
‘It’s painful, but given her situation, it’s a no-brainer,’ said Bline, the first officer to be shot.
‘If I were her parent in this situation, I’d be happy to know that someone was willing to do this for her.’
He also said it was an educational opportunity to show that Tasers ‘are a very safe, effective way to subdue someone.’
A photo from the Alyssa Elkins Support Page. A post from January 23 read: ‘The results to Alyssa’s biopsy shows that she has indeed relapsed and has leukemia. She has decided to refuse another transplant. As it has a much higher risk of relapse then even the first’
Her bucket list also included petting a miniature pig which came along to the taser firing with her.
Speaking on the day Alyssa said: ‘God loves everybody and he’s for us and not against us. He puts us through trials,’ she said. ‘In the end, I’m not really scared. If he takes me, I know where I’m going.’
‘She’d never hurt anyone,’ said her mother Tiffany Elkins. ‘My other daughter wasn’t even sure Alyssa could push the button, that she’d be too afraid to hurt somebody.’
Tombstone, AZ--(Ammoland.com)- On May 2, 2022, the New York Attorney General’s Office filed its Second Amended Complaint against the National Rifle Association.
Not only the Association but its Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre, Secretary, and General Counsel John Frazer, Former Treasurer and CFO Wilson “Woody” Philips, and Former Deputy CEO Josh Powell.
As with the original complaint and the previous amended complaint, this one is full of very specific, largely verifiable, and utterly damning charges against NRA’s top officers and executives. Many of the previous accusations have been admitted to by some of the various parties, while Woody Phillips has refused to answer most questions, based on his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
It needs to be understood that LaPierre and the others are not named in the suit based on their positions within the NRA, as when someone sues a state and names the Attorney General or the governor as a representative of the state. The four named defendants were named for specific actions each is accused of, and the NRA itself is named for failing to stop them. With that in mind, legal experts said early on that the NRA’s best defense against the suit would be to adopt the following policies:
Remove the named defendants from any position of power within the Association – particularly any position that would allow any of them to have any oversight or influence over the Association’s legal strategy in battling the suit.
Initiate a thorough internal investigation by a Board-appointed committee with the power to get answers to its questions.
Adopt a policy of full cooperation and transparency working with state regulators.
Institute strict policy and oversight rules to correct and avoid future problems, that would be backed up by consequential enforcement.
Plead victim status to the court, declaring that, if the named defendants (or others) abused their positions, then the NRA was the victim, not the perpetrator, and therefore should not be penalized.
A genuine response to the allegations would go a long way toward blunting the very real political motivations involved in the suit. New York Attorney General Letitia James is a highly motivated political actor, and she has not been shy about expressing her animosity toward the NRA, its mission, and its members. The Association should deal cautiously with her office, and request that the judge make sure that this personal and political bias doesn’t taint the case or cause undue injury to the Association.
This animosity on the part of AG James has actually been one of the strongest arguments from defenders and apologists of Wayne LaPierre. They point to James’s hatred of the NRA, and her political ambitions, and conclude that the whole case is just trumped-up lies and political theater.
The problem with that assertion is that LaPierre himself has admitted under oath that most of the charges against him are true.
He admits to billing the NRA for personal travel for himself and his family. He admits to improperly accepting gifts from major vendors, and awarding those same vendors multi-million-dollar contracts with no competitive bidding. He admits to giving multi-million-dollar severance packages to retiring and even fired employees, usually in exchange for them signing a strict nondisclosure agreement about NRA activities.
And he admits to giving contracts to family members and former staffers, often with little or no performance requirement attached. He also admits to doing all of this without clearing it, or even reporting it, through or to, the NRA Board, as required by state law and NRA policy.
His main defense in all of this, is to claim that either, it wasn’t improper, he didn’t know it was improper, and/or he didn’t know what other people were doing. Not a very impressive defense from a CEO who’s being paid in excess of $1.6 million per year.
One is reminded of Bart Simpson’s all-purpose defense: “Nobody saw me! I wasn’t there! You can’t prove a thing!”
So the big question is: Why is Wayne LaPierre still controlling the NRA?
Why would any organization facing existential threats – most of those threats based on accusations of misconduct and dereliction on the part of its chief executive – allow that executive to continue to hold inordinate sway over the organization? And why would any organization facing this kind of turmoil in its executive offices allow that same executive to retain control over the legal strategy of the organization in addressing the charges?
An equally perplexing question, is why the Board has so far not even attempted to rein in its rogue executives?
As noted above, NY AG Letitia James hates the NRA and all it stands for, and she wants to see it destroyed. The judge in the case has already taken dissolution of the Association off the table as a potential punishment, should the AG win her case. Her latest Amended Complaint focuses less on the NRA as a target, and more on the officers and directors – as it should – with the complaint calling for severe financial penalties and restitution payments from the Association’s wayward “leaders.” The complaint calls for the removal of LaPierre and his followers, but only as part of the penalty phase of the trial. That isn’t going to happen until sometime next year.
Meanwhile, LaPierre and company remain in control of the Associations resources, and most importantly, in control of its legal strategy – which amounts to shoveling millions of dollars into the pockets of New York lawyer William Brewer, who was originally hired by LaPierre to head off a threatened lawsuit from the NY AG back in 2018. Obviously Brewer failed in that mission, but he’s been very successful at extracting cash from the Association.
Brewer has reportedly been drawing over $2 million per month, averaging around $30 million per year, for the past 3 years. At the same time, NRA membership numbers have been in a nosedive, fundraising has collapsed, and the Association has cut practically all of its core programs to the bone.
If LaPierre and his enablers were to be removed from power now, the Association might do what they should have done from the beginning: Claim victim status and reorganize, without the crippling payments to the Brewer law firm. With that, they should be able to start recovering membership and see improvements in their fundraising, not to mention begin to recover the trust of its members. But that would not be seen as a good thing by Letitia James. Those steep legal bills, along with the potential of a court-mandated lawsuit against the NRA from the NRA Foundation, if things go as expected in a lawsuit filed by the AG of Washington DC, could totally bankrupt the NRA, and that would be a big win for Letitia James.
I’m not an attorney, but I’ve spoken with knowledgeable attorneys, and they keep coming back to the need for the NRA to distance itself from the accused “leaders,” even if only with temporary furloughs or compartmentalizing them away from certain aspects of the Association, particularly the legal strategy. They have also suggested that the NY AG could – and should – force this action by filing a request for partial summary judgment based on the admissions already submitted by LaPierre and some of his supporters. LaPierre has admitted to a variety of offenses, any one of which would fully justify his removal from office. Other NRA “leaders” have also admitted to various transgressions and failures in their fiduciary duties. With those admissions, it should not be difficult to convince the judge to remove LaPierre and the offending officers on the basis that they are using the NRA’s resources to protect LaPierre and themselves, rather than fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities to the NRA and its members.
Wayne LaPierre, along with NRA President Charles Cotton, 1st VP Willes Lee, and 2nd VP David Coy, should be the subjects of a motion pointing out that they have all admitted to actions that should disqualify them from participating in the management of the Association, and especially anything to do with setting legal strategy.
If protecting the assets and interests of the Association’s members is of any concern at all to the attorneys in the NY AG’s Office – as the law states are their primary obligation – then they would have such a motion filed within days.
While we would hope that such a motion would be filed and addressed by the court prior to the Members’ Meeting in Houston on May 28, 2022, that seems unlikely, so NRA members must press the attack from different directions. The primary tactic must be to pressure NRA Directors to do what they should have done at least three years ago: Remove Wayne LaPierre. The best opportunity for the Board to take this action will be at the Board meeting on Monday following the Members’ Meeting. At that time, it will only take a simple majority of Directors to elect new leadership.
New NRA Leadership ~ LTC Allen West?
A group of concerned NRA members, including former and current members of the Board of Directors, want to draft former Director, LTC Allen West to run for the Executive Vice President position at the meeting in Houston. West has the support of many and could work with reformers to clean up the NRA and get it back on the right track, and he has a record of integrity and effectiveness.
Along with electing LTC West to the position of Executive Vice President, the Board needs to elect a slate of officers to back West in his reform efforts, and to lead the NRA’s legal strategy going forward. All of this makes it absolutely critical that every NRA Director attend the meetings in Houston, and be prepared to stand up for the membership. It’s equally critical that NRA members attend the Members’ Meeting on Saturday the 28th, 2022, to call out the lies and corruption, and to put some starch into the backs of the Directors. We also have a campaign underway to recruit, nominate, and elect a slate of reform candidates for the Board of Directors in the 2023 election.
Much more information about all of this is posted on our website, www.FirearmsCoalition.org, with both the first and second Amended Complaints, along with the Responses to the first one from LaPierre and the NRA. It’s a lot to digest, but it’s critical reading for anyone concerned about the future of the NRA.
I hope to see you in Houston.
NYS Second Amended Complaint against the National Rifle Association, May 2022
2020 People of the State of NY v NRA & Co May 2022 Amended
About Jeff Knox:
Jeff Knox is a second-generation political activist and director of The Firearms Coalition. His father Neal Knox led many of the early gun rights battles for your right to keep and bear arms. Read Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War.
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition has offices in Buckeye, Arizona, and Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org.
An 88-year-old retired NYPD cop living out his golden years in Ireland was busted in a dragnet worthy of a Hollywood movie — for keeping an old, decommissioned revolver in his home.
The daring morning police raid was the largest in recent memory in the tiny village of Swanlinbar, County Cavan, population 200, when up to 10 armed officers in six vehicles descended on the picture-postcard hamlet.
“I said to them, I wish it was f–king loaded because I would have blown every f–king one of you away,” Jude McGovern recalled to The Post. The firing pin was removed from the gun a long time ago, and it is no longer functional.
“Can you imagine?” the outraged octogenarian said. “About 10 of them forced in my front door around 9:30 in the morning when I was out of the house, and then I come back and find four of them going through my furniture looking for my gun.”
Jude McGovern, a retired NYPD cop living in Ireland, had his home raided because he kept a decommissioned revolver at his residence.John McVittyTen police officers descended on Jude McGovern’s home in search of his gun.John McVitty
The April 9 seizure came after a local judge signed a warrant citing “unlawful possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances” in the Main Street apartment where McGovern lives with his two Jack Russell terriers.
The feisty Irishman, who grew up in Swanlinbar, speculates that law enforcement learned about his relic of a firearm from social media, after a visitor to McGovern’s home a few years ago snapped a playful picture of the gun and posted it on Facebook.
Ireland’s police force, known as An GardaSíochána (Irish for “Guardians of the Peace”), told The Post it does not comment on named individuals, but did confirm it executed a search warrant.
McGovern once worked as a correction officer at Rikers Island.John McVitty
“A suspected unlicensed firearm was seized and sent to the Ballistics Unit for analysis,” the statement said.
The former lawman — McGovern also served as a correction officer at Rikers Island — said Irish cops told him they would return his gun “when it was justified by a gunsmith that it is inoperable.”
McGovern insists he was cleared to purchase the firearm for personal protection when off duty during his law enforcement days in New York. He bought the Smith and Wesson five-shot revolver in Lower Manhattan in 1968. McGovern would carry it in a holster on his leg. Before he returned to the old sod in 1996, McGovern said he had the firearm decommissioned in New Jersey for $175.
Irish police confirmed they executed a search warrant but could not name an individual.John McVitty
Although McGovern never declared the gun on his return to Ireland, he did declare it and completed the paperwork at Newark Airport before his 1996 departure for Ireland.
He said the piece holds “sentimental value” to him.
McGovern says the dramatic dragnet shattered his nerves, and he’s had to take pills to calm down.
McGovern said he never declared the gun in Ireland but did declare it in Newark in 1996 before leaving the US for Ireland.John McVitty
McGovern immigrated to the US in 1957, joining the same US Army division based in Fort Hood as Elvis Presley, although he never met the King. He said his military career took him to Germany and Greenland.
In 1965, McGovern and a partner, FDNY firefighter Jack Farley, opened The Moonshiner on 94th Street and Roosevelt Avenue near Shea Stadium, a pub popular with Mets players.
In 1968, McGovern joined the NYPD, and later switched to Corrections.
McGovern joined the NYPD in 1968 after a stint with the US Army.John McVitty
McGovern is now the talk of Swanlinbar, a village about 100 miles northwest of Dublin. But he says he’s no criminal.
“No common sense prevailed in this incident,” McGovern told The Post. “I enjoy my few rum and cokes at night but I didn’t drink during Lent. I am not interested in doing anything notorious at 88 years of age.”
California has the toughest state-level gun control laws in the nation. They heavily restrict pretty much every category of firearm imaginable and they’re constantly looking at how they can further restrict them.
And yet, cities in the state aren’t necessarily safer than anywhere else in the nation.
Thirty-four people were shot in Los Angeles last week, a bloody spike in what is already shaping up to be a violent month and year in the City of Angels, according to authorities.
The bulk of the shootings — 23 — of them occurred in a “remarkably small area” of the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street and Southeast divisions, Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission Tuesday. Moore called last week a “troubling week,” in a year when violent crime has increased 7.1% year-to-date. So far this year, the LAPD has responded to 575 more violent crimes than this time last year.
Barely halfway through the month, 70 people have already been shot in Los Angeles, up from 55 during the same period last year. There have been 107 homicides so far in 2022, while at this point in 2021 there were 109.
While the number has decreased slightly in 2022, Moore said it represents a 37% increase over a two-year period. Overall, violent crime — aggravated assaults, street robberies, and commercial robberies — have climbed 15.2 percent over a two-year period.
…
“The problem that we have throughout Los Angeles is too many guns in too many hands,” Moore said, reiterating a belief he frequently shares with the commission. The added enforcement in the 77th Street Division resulted in 16 gun arrests involving 20 firearms, including “a number of assault rifles,” Moore said.
So, the issue is guns in the most heavily gun-controlled state in the nation?
Sounds to me an awful lot like all the copious amounts of gun control has managed to accomplish is just make the state more hostile toward law-abiding gun owners, rather than actually do much to curb gun possession by violent criminals.
This isn’t much different than the gang heyday of the 1990s when LA was the epicenter of criminal culture.
Since then, the state has passed tons of gun control, ostensibly to impact those same criminals.
As we can see, it worked like a charm.
Look, I get the desire to do something. I also get that people think the problem is the wrong people having guns. I’m not going to argue about armed criminals.
But the laws on the books were designed to stop precisely them from having them, yet it doesn’t appear to have accomplished a blasted thing. Meanwhile, Californians who want to comply with the law are treated like criminals for even wanting a firearm.
It’s just not right.
Then again, it’s never been right to restrict the rights of the ordinary citizen because of the actions of a handful of criminals.
Yet when the LAPD chief talks about too many guns in too many hands rather than the wrong hands, what do you think he’s proposing? Is he acknowledging that gun control has failed the state, or do you think he’s suggesting more of the same?
Well, since he says the problem is “too many hands” and nothing about criminals in possession, it’s clear where he stands on the issue.
It’s also clear that more of the same isn’t going to make things better.
————————————————————
By the way, 77th Station is right in the middle of the meanest, toughest Gang Neighborhood in Southern California. I should know as I got a lot of students from there for my class in Juvenile Hall. Grumpy
THE NORTHERN TERRITORY POLICE didn’t like the way the NT Local Court dealt with the recent self-defence case, so they decided to take the law into their own hands.
PLAIN CLOTHED AND UNIFORMED POLICE in the NT have raided the house of Ron Sterry, who recently beat police against gun charges after he went to his neighbour’s aid.
The raid was carried out with the support of the drug squad when he was interstate.
They even tried to open Ron’s safe by drilling it because the keys were not in the house – until they were stopped by his lawyer.
The police walked away without any guns. Instead they took his chilli oil and vinegar.
See the video version of this story on NSCTV to get this, and other video content, before it appears here.
All funds raised go towards growing NSCTV into the video channel shooters have been wanting for ages.
Readers might recall that Ron faced five gun charges, three of which were dropped before he went to trial. He was found not guilty of the fourth, and found guilty of a fifth charge (carrying a weapon in public) but he got a good behaviour bond for that.
The magistrate hearing the case saw through the police case and described Ron’s actions as being a ‘lawful excuse’, and ordered the immediate return of his licence, firearms and ammunition.
This was a big win for the Australian shooting community because it showed where protection with firearms was legitimate. Our story was shared on Facebook over 1,000 times and seen by more than a quarter of a million readers.
These are huge numbers – and we think this new story will reach even more people.
SOUR GRAPES
Unhappy with the result, police went to seize Ron’s guns again.
The basis for this is not clear but it seems to be directly related to the court case in that he was found guilty of one of the charges – even though the court dealt with that at the time. It’s relevant to note that the police made no application for his guns to be taken – and you’ll recall the magistrate specifically ordered their return.
The female senior constable leading the raid first went to Ron’s workplace, then to his house where they had no response to a knock on the door.
The officer then called Ron saying ‘she had paperwork for him’ and demanded he came to the front door when he politely told her he was in Adelaide.
She then accused him of lying and said she ‘knew he was in there’ and was watching her on his security cameras. That’s true, because we’ve got over 30GB of footage covering the raid.
Police arrive at Ron’s place.
Searching at the rear of his place
Going through Ron’s bins, before the search warrant arrives
She said he (Ron) was “making this really difficult”, before hanging up on him. Unhappy, the police went back to his workplace where Ron’s boss went to Ron’s house with a key to let them in.
COPS REASON FOR A SEARCH WARRANT
When Ron’s boss arrived, the drug squad was already there, armed with a search warrant.
While details are a bit sketchy, it would seem the police first on the scene looked through the windows of Ron’s house and saw part of an off-the-shelf chemistry set.
That’s because Ron has an interest in chemistry and has in fact applied to do a degree in chemistry (which is why he was in Adelaide at the time). He was intending to start his degree last year, but this was delayed by the earlier trial.
To be clear, Ron did not have anything in his possession that is illegal or was a precursor to anything illegal – just the kit.
Yet the police saw what he had as a precursor to the manufacture of Methamphetamine. We understand they seized some of the vinegar, which, if the drug squad tried hard enough, would allow them to make nail polish remover.
Police drill into Ron’s safe
POLICE GO AFTER RON’S GUNS
It was during this time the senior connie called Ron a second time, demanding to know where the keys to the safe were.
Ron said they were with him in Adelaide. This resulted in the cops pulling out their drills to get his guns.
Or at least they tried to, until Ron’s lawyer, Jon Bortoli, stepped in to stop them continuing because the police had failed to follow the correct process.
The treatment of Ron follows the recent negative publicity that the NT Police drummed up for themselves over their treatment of fellow officer, Zachary Rolfe, who was cleared over charges for fatally shooting a 19-year-old in the remote community of Yuendumu.
COPS’ HOT TASTE
Among the several items the police seized were several quantities of unidentified liquids, one of which, according to Ron, is a vial of chilli oil – a common ingredient in Chinese and Asian foods.
Among his experiments has been the extraction of caffeine from tea and coffee, acetone from vinegar (which we understand police also took), and other extractions from common household products.
Chilli oil
HELPING RON
We stood by Ron before, and we’ll do it again.
This is likely to become a more interesting fight because the basis for the raid is pretty thin and seems to cover matters that the courts have already dealt with.
In the meantime, Ron needs our help – again. We’ve already re-engaged Jon Bortoli as his lawyer and are working hard to see if we can have this addressed through whatever means may be possible.
We want to send a powerful message to the NT Police not to interfere with a shooter who has done nothing wrong, so have started a new fighting fund to help Ron out.
Plus, we might even send a chemistry kit to the NT Police Commissioner.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, joined by sheriffs from two other southern California counties, said Saturday he hopes there’s a referendum on “wokeism” in 2022, arguing so-called “defunders” have wreaked havoc on public safety as evidenced by the worsening homeless and crime crisis.
In the past ten years, Los Angeles County has spent a conservative estimate of some $6.5 billion in addressing the homelessness issue, only to see the number of homeless people living in the county increase from about 39,000 people to more than 83,000 in that time frame, Villanueva said.
There are some 5,700 homeless living on trains in Los Angeles, and last week, a dead man’s body remained riding through the MTA system for a six-hour time frame, Villanueva said.
“Woke-ism is on the ropes. Let’s put it out of its misery in 2022,” Villanueva said Saturday. “My only goal is to make LA livable again.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva gives details surrounding a weeklong, statewide operation aimed at combatting human trafficking, at a press conference held in Hall of Justice on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022 in Los Angeles, CA. ((Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images))
Speaking on stage during a tri-county sheriff’s forum, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus both said that unlike Villanueva, they have healthy working relationships with their Boards of Supervisors. But in Los Angeles County, the board in recent months has usurped Villanueva’s authority for refusing to enforce the county’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The move, the sheriff reiterated Saturday, jeopardizes the jobs of some 4,000 Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department members amid the crime wave and homeless crisis.
Villanueva said he expected Los Angeles County to soon issue 45-day notices that pay will be suspended, accusing the county of bending state law to “suit their own needs.”
“The tragedy of Los Angeles besides their suicide pact they have going on with the city and the county is that they are not building capacity for mental health treatment, residential and substance abuse treatment,” Villanueva said. “We have one quarter of the nation’s entire homeless population is in my county. I call that a problem. I just can’t convince the Board of Supervisors or City Council to understand it the same way.”
A jogger walks past a homeless encampment in the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles. A dead body was discovered on fire Tuesday morning near downtown Los Angeles. ( (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File))
An off-duty deputy attending the forum told Fox 11 Los Angeles that like Villanueva, he feels the “profession is under siege.”
Besides the board, Villanueva called out Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon as allegedly contributing to the uptick in violent crime, including follow home and smash and grab robberies.
Last year, the sheriff’s department had made arrests, conducted investigations, and presented evidence to prosecutors in 13,238 cases that the district attorney’s office later rejected because of “special orders,” not a lack of evidence, Villanueva said.
“We know very well how to fight criminals. What is unique to where we are now is we are fighting state government in our ability to be able to protect you,” Bianco said Saturday, also outlining how law enforcement faces challenges at the state-level with Propositions 47 and 64.
Villanueva, a Democrat running for re-election in June, called on the audience to identify any “defunders” and ensure that this year regardless of party, candidates who support public safety are elected or reelected to public office at the national, state and local level in 2022.
“The main tragedy of this county and city government in LA is they only allow one ideology, only one point of view on every single thing they do,” Villanueva said. “I want to introduce conservative voices, moderate voices on both sides of the aisle, and I’m going to protect and defend the woke crowd, as confused as they may be, I’m still going to defend their right to have that ideology and opinion and I want them to have a seat at the table. They just don’t get to have every single seat.”
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politi
Why anybody would want to be a cop in this Zoo of a State is beyond me! Grumpy
SAN ANTONIO (KABB/WOAI) – A woman has been fighting the China Grove Police Department for almost four years to retrieve property she says was unfairly taken from her family.
Brandy Napier lives in Seguin, but she and her husband have family they visit in China Grove.
That’s where her husband Franklin was pulled over by a China Grove officer in August 2018 for reportedly running stop signs.
Brandy says he had just left the gun range and had three guns in the car.
The officer confiscated them, but made no arrest.
No formal report was ever given to the Napier’s, just a burglary inventory sheet typically used to document items stolen in robberies.
“She stated that she didn’t have the proper documentation to give him, so that’s why she put it on that and she let him go,” says Brandy.
Brandy showed us receipts for two of the guns listed in her name and Franklin’s along with the serial numbers listed.
The third gun she says was bought at an auction.
She’s made several attempts to retrieve those guns since, making trips to the City of China Grove office.
Every time she says she’s been told the case is pending in the District Attorney’s office and that the guns couldn’t be returned without documentation from their office.
Brandy made a last ditch effort to retrieve the guns last month.
“He said, ‘I don’t have the documentation from the District Attorney’.”
KABB/WOAI made calls a few weeks ago requesting a formal police report from Franklin’s traffic stop in 2018.
KABB/WOAI also stopped by the department Monday to ask for the report and why the guns hadn’t been returned.
We were told we had to go through the DA’s office to retrieve any information about the case.
The DA’s office sent us a letter, stating that media requests had to be processed by the Attorney General’s office.
But the Napier’s lawyer says he’s checked: it doesn’t look like a case exists with Franklin’s name at the DA’s office and at this point, it’s too late to create a case.
“If they haven’t filed a criminal case against the person by now, the statute of limitations has run,” says attorney Patrick Hancock. “A lot more than two years has gone by, so I don’t think the DA can file anything against him and I don’t believe there’s a case sitting in the DA’s office by China Grove on this matter.”
Nearly four years later, no arrest or charges have been filed, a red flag for this attorney.
“If they can’t produce the guns that were taken, the personal property of the individual that was taken and they can’t produce a public police report to even verify that a China Grove officer stopped them and took an individual’s property, then they need to be investigated by the Texas Rangers,” says Hancock.
Brandy says to some it may seem like they just lost a few guns.
But for her family, it’s about more than that.
“God forbid if it gets in the wrong hands or if it’s already gotten in the wrong hands.”
