The U.S. Department of Justice in Los Angeles said George Arizon, 28, used a handgun to threaten store employees at all of the businesses, demanding cash, and in one case cigarettes, on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8, 2022.

Among the stores he targeted were a 7-Eleven, a hair salon and eight restaurants.

In all, Arizon made off with $2,480 and two packs of cigarettes, said a federal law enforcement affidavit outlining the robberies.

Police eventually tracked Arizon to his Corona home through cell phone location data, as well as surveillance camera footage showing Arizon taking off and dumping a sweater with a NASA logo on it soon after the final robbery. Federal investigators said they found Arizon’s Facebook page with a photo of him wearing the same NASA sweater.

Arizon was sentenced Monday after agreeing in 2023 to plead guilty to one count of each of interference with commerce by robbery and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to the plea agreement. In the plea he admitted to the robbery spree, prosecutors said.

At Arizon’s hearing, the judge and prosecutors lent significant weight to his history of drug addiction and a life spinning out of control by the time he decided to rob the stores.

U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney also considered Arizon’s admittance of guilt as a reason to accept the plea agreement.

“This is a difficult case,” Carney said, adding he was “troubled with the harm on the victims.”

But Carney said he “appreciated what (Arizon) admitted to in his plea agreement… and I think that a 12-year sentence is just punishment and does recognize the emotional harm he inflicted on these people.”

While they had asked for more prison time, federal prosecutors also acknowledged Arizon’s troubled upbringing in Monday’s hearing. The judge noted Arizon grew up in an abusive household and witnessed the stabbing deaths of two of his close friends as a teenager.

“I think there is significant mitigation in this case,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jena MacCabe said.

Carney also ordered Arizon to pay $3,658 to the victims of his crimes on top of his prison sentence.

Arizon also spoke during Monday’s hearing, apologizing for the crime spree.

“I won’t make excuses for the crimes I committed,” Arizon said. “I’m ashamed of it. It’s embarrassing to look back and know I did this, so there’s no excuses… But I need you to take a chance on me. I’m a good person.”

Federal prosecutors said Arizon previously spent significant time in prison, but did not outline his previous convictions.

Another suspect in the robbery spree, Brandon Robinson, of Anaheim, who investigators accused of being Arizon’s getaway driver, was arrested the same day in 2022. But he has not been charged in the robbery case.

However, Robinson was indicted last year on suspicion of possessing three firearms at his home, despite an Orange County Superior Court order to forfeit any weapons after he was handed a restraining order telling him to cease threatening his child and an intimate partner in 2019.

City News Service contributed to this story.

According to many of those he treated, Thompson was an infectious disease expert who had made his name in medicine caring for men living with and experiencing complications from HIV and AIDS.

Indeed, U.S. News & World Report ranked the 56-year-old Thompson as one of the top doctors in the country for treating HIV and AIDS patients.

Using Medicare data, they found Thompson was in 98th percentile for the sheer number of HIV and AIDS patients he treated from 2020 through 2023.

But now, dozens of those patients say Thompson systematically abused them during medical appointments, subjecting them to invasive examinations: In a lawsuit filed Dec. 29, 2023 against Thompson, two of his businesses, and Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, the 73 alleged victims, all men, accused Thompson of using his authority as a doctor to sexually assault them under the guise of medical check-ups.

Thompson, numerous alleged victims said, would perform aggressive prostate exams using his fingers, without wearing gloves. He allegedly would fondle them while commenting on the appearance of their genitalia. Often, they said in the complaint, he would subject them to sexual innuendo and advances, including showing them his erect penis during the exams.

All of this behavior, they claimed, would occur regardless of the location. While most of the alleged wrongful conduct occurred in Thompson’s private offices in Newport Beach, in several instances outlined in the complaint, Thompson’s accusers said they were assaulted either while they were being treated in the emergency room of Hoag Hospital, or while they were recovering from or prepping for surgery.

At least two emergency room patients accused Thompson of assaulting them while they were being treated for serious medical issues.

One plaintiff, a 56-year-old man identified only as John Doe 12 in the complaint, said he was admitted to Hoag’s emergency room in 2022, “seeking medical treatment for neck and back pain.” Doctors at Hoag determined the pain was due to “an infectious disease causing inflammation in his spinal cord.”

According to the complaint, Thompson fondled “John Doe 12’s genitals for sexual gratification and without legitimate medical purpose” during that emergency room visit.

John Doe 12 was one of several plaintiffs who appeared on Thursday, Jan. 25 at the offices of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, an Irvine-based law firm specializing in sexual abuse cases, to announce the lawsuit.

“I was admitted to the emergency room at 3:30 in the morning” for viral meningitis, he said. He was lying in his hospital bed when Thompson pushed back the curtain and introduced himself as an infectious disease doctor.

John Doe 12 said Thompson assaulted him with only the curtain preventing anyone else from seeing was going on.

“The confidence that he had to do that,” he said. “The guy is a problem.”

In a second alleged case, a 47-year-old man identified as John Doe 15 said he first encountered Thompson while he was in the Hoag ER “seeking medical treatment for an infection, and was admitted overnight for surgery and a multiple-day stay.”

John Doe 15 said in the complaint that Hoag assigned Thompson to treat him for his infection at the hospital and during follow-up sessions. But during those appointments, John Doe 15 said Thompson would intricately examine his penis “for sexual gratification without legitimate medical purpose.”

The abuse went on for about a year, the plaintiff said.

“John Doe 15 was unconscious of the nature of the acts because (Thompson) fraudulently represented that the acts served a professional purpose,” attorneys wrote in the complaint.

At least two plaintiffs claimed Thompson abused them after encountering him while they were waiting to have operations performed on them.

One, John Doe 73, reported he was at Hoag for treatment “for diabetes and leg amputation” in 2011 when Thompson was assigned to him. John Doe 73 said in the complaint that Thompson would go on to abuse him for the next 12 years.

In September 2023, the Orange County District Attorney’s office charged Thompson with more than a dozen felony counts, including sexual penetration by means of fraudulent representation of professional purposes, sexual battery by fraud and forcible oral copulation. He was released after posting $100,000 bond.  The California Medical Board suspended Thompson’s license last year after his arrest and the announcement of the charges.

A spokeswoman for Hoag Hospital said Thompson was a private doctor and was not an employee of the hospital, but that he had clinical privileges that gave him access to patients there. Hoag officials said they had not received any complaints about Thompson from patients while he had clinical privileges at their hospital.

Hoag declined to comment on specific cases in the complaint as officials were still reviewing the document.

Thompson could not be reached for comment for this story. Court records did not show an attorney representing Thompson in the civil case. An attorney representing Thompson in his criminal case did not return requests seeking comment.

Dr. William Thompson IV — a 56-year-old doctor who lived in Huntington Beach and had access to patients at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for the last decade while also operating a private practice in Newport Beach — was charged in September 2023 with more than a dozen felony counts, including sexual penetration and sexual battery by fraud and forcible oral copulation.

Now, at least 73 patients are accusing Thompson of abusing them, too.

In a 730-page lawsuit filed Jan. 17, the alleged victims said that beginning in 2011 and continuing through 2023, Thompson used his authority as a doctor along with manipulative behavior to repeatedly subject them to unwanted sexual acts.

The alleged victims said Thompson’s actions occurred at Hoag Hospital, at his private medical offices and at his home, where he would instruct patients to visit him for invasive tests that they later found were unnecessary, according to the complaint.

The tests he performed on his patients “served no legitimate medical purpose, and were committed for no other reason than to satisfy Thompson’s own prurient sexual desires,” attorneys for the alleged victims wrote in the complaint.

“Thompson took advantage of his patients’ ignorance of the proper administration of genital, anal, and rectal examinations, so that (he) could force Plaintiffs to be fondled, stroked, and penetrated for (his) prurient sexual interests and sexual gratification.”

Thompson could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. An attorney representing Thompson in his criminal trial did not return a request seeking comment.

Morgan Stewart, a partner at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi in Irvine, which is representing the 73 claimants, said Thursday that numerous “red flags” in Thompson’s behavior were ignored during the time that he worked as a specialist treating mainly gay men diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. But he said Thompson’s alleged abuses only stopped after he was arrested in September.

Thompson has since posted bond and is awaiting further proceedings in the criminal case brought against him.

All the claimants in the lawsuit were listed as John Does, but several men identified themselves by name Thursday. In a statement, one alleged victim, Johnny Chung, said he started seeing Thompson on the recommendation of his husband.

“Initially, (Thompson) was incredibly professional and courteous,” Chung wrote in a letter. “But after three months, he began to act inappropriately with each visit.”

Chung described how Thompson would insist that Chung undergo prostate and other examinations of his body parts “to be thorough,” Chung wrote.

“I left each exam feeling more violated and taken advantage of,” Chung wrote.

Chung’s husband, Michael Glockner, also said Thursday he was abused by Thompson. Glockner said he began seeing Thompson around 2016, when an illness confined him to a wheelchair.

Glockner said he was recommended to Thompson because he was the only doctor in South Orange County who specialized in the care he needed. During his time being treated by Thompson, Glockner said, the doctor increasingly began to push the boundaries of their patient-caretaker relationship.

He said Thompson subjected him to “aggressive prostate exams,” in which the doctor “would always want me to look at his private area to see how aroused he was,” Glockner said.

Several victims who spoke Thursday — who ranged in age from 25 to 68 years old — said they struggled to come forward because men are not typically seen as victims of sexual abuse.

When Chung told Glockner that Thompson had also abused him during an appointment, Glockner said he felt he needed to come forward to tell his story.

“I thought I was the only one he was doing this to,” Glockner, 68, said. “But when he did this to Johnny, that’s when I knew there were more of us.”

In a statement Thursday, officials at Hoag said they recognize “the courage it takes for former patients to come forward.”

The officials said Thompson was an independent medical practitioner who was not employed by the hospital group. But they said Thompson “had clinical privileges at Hoag Hospital” that were suspended following the filing of charges against him last year.

The killing occurred in the 2000 block of Avenida Del Presidente on the southwest side of the 5 Freeway, in a neighborhood of ranch-style homes.

Someone reported the stabbing at 12:17 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 20. When firefighters arrived, they found the victim on the ground with a stab wound to his groin. They transported him to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Sheriff’s deputies found and arrested the 18-year-old suspect the same day, officials said in a statement. They did not say when and where the suspect was discovered and taken into custody.

Officials said the suspect was booked on suspicion of murder, but information on his bail amount and where he was being held was not available Monday. They also said in the statement that the suspect was found with a knife, but that investigators had not yet determined whether the knife was used in the killing.

Sheriff’s officials would not say what relationship, if any, the suspect had to the victim.

They said the suspect was from Santa Ana. Officials have not said where the victim is from.

The victim has been identified but officials said they were not releasing his name before notifying his next of kin.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

FBI agents arrested Shawn Schaefer, 51, on Wednesday, Jan. 17 on five charges related to his actions during the 2021 attack on the Capitol, an event that had been hyped for months among supporters of former President Donald Trump as he pursued illegitimate claims he actually won the election over Joe Biden.

Schaefer was accused of entering a restricted building and attempting to impede government business.

Federal records showed he was in custody Thursday, Jan. 18, but booking information was not available; nor was information for an attorney who may be representing him.

In a criminal complaint filed in a federal district court in Washington, D.C. last week, a special agent working for the FBI’s L.A. field office investigating domestic terrorism cases said Schaefer was spotted on security cameras walking with a large crowd and taking photos inside the Capitol building “for less than two minutes.”

According to the complaint, an associate of Schaefer who traveled with him to D.C. identified him to the FBI as part of a plea deal. The associate was not identified in the complaint. Portions of the identification of the associate were redacted from the complaint.

Schaefer and the other person had planned since Dec. 28, 2020 to travel to the Capitol to be there for Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally, according to the complaint.

In text messages, the pair discussed buying small radios to stay in touch with each other once they got to the rally. They also met on Jan. 4, 2021, the day before their flight.

The day of the attack, the agent said, Schaefer entered the Senate wing of the Capitol building through a fire door just before 3 p.m. He packed into a narrow hallway with dozens of others bearing flags and wearing gear showing their support for Trump.

That was about 40 minutes after elected officials inside were ordered to evacuate, suspending the certification of the election for nearly six hours.

While he was in the hallway, Schaefer held up a phone, appearing to record what was happening. He briefly entered the office of the Senate’s parliamentarian, before police pushed Schaefer and everyone else in the hallway outside.

In the complaint, the agent further tied Schaefer to the rally after finding an account on Parler, a social media network, under the name “QPatriot420” that used a selfie Schaefer took of himself near the Washington Monument in front of a crowd of Trump supporters. The agent said Schaefer’s email and phone number were both associated with the account.

The agent interviewed Schaefer at his home in Placentia on March 28, 2023. The agent said Schaefer admitted to attending the Trump rally, then walking with the crowd to the Capitol building before they went inside.

Schaefer told the agent he left the building after “seeing a ransacked office,” according to the complaint.

“People could get in trouble for this,” the agent quoted Schaefer as saying in the interview.

An arraignment hearing for Schaefer had not been scheduled as of Thursday.

At least two dozen Southern California residents have been arrested, and many convicted, for traveling to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and participating in the assault on the building.

Ex-La Habra police chief gets 11-year sentence for role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

List: Southern California residents accused or convicted in the Capitol insurrection

In tearful remarks, Moore — who has spent his lengthy career with LAPD, climbing through the ranks for more than 40 years, capped by his appointment to chief by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2018 — said he was leaving his post to spend more time with his family.

Moore said he realized he wanted to retire after spending time with his daughter over the holidays.

“The hardest part was getting back on the plane, let me tell you,” Moore, choking up, said about returning from visiting his daughter, who is in college.

“I know in my heart that now is the right time.”

Moore was flanked by Mayor Karen Bass as he gave his remarks at City Hall. Bass said Moore will stay on as a consultant following his retirement .

Bass refused to provide details of that contract.

“I did want to secure (Moore staying on) through a consultant contract,” Bass said. “We haven’t established it yet. We’re just talking about what we want to do. We don’t know.”

Moore’s retirement will come at least a year earlier than was previously announced.

After the L.A. Police Commission unanimously voted in January 2023 to reappoint Moore to a second five-year term, the chief said he would only stay for the first two to three years of his term, to set up his successor ahead of the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A. But his announcement Friday came just a year after setting out that timeline.

“There’s always a thousand reasons to justify staying on,” Moore said. “There’s more sand at the bottom of my hourglass than there is at the top. The work I speak of will never be done.”

Bass said the Police Commission will appoint an interim chief to take over the role as she chooses candidates for Moore successor. The mayor did not give a timeline for how long it might take to find a new chief.

Moore, now 63, joined LAPD in 1981, serving in numerous rank-and-file roles before he was promoted to captain in 1998. Among his assignments was the command of LAPD’s Rampart Division in the wake of the arrest of officers in the department’s CRASH unit on corruption charges, which unfolded into what’s now known as the Rampart scandal.

He became a top commander for then-Chief Charlie Beck, first as the deputy chief of the Valley Division in 2010, then as the assistant chief overseeing all of daily patrol operations in 2016.

Upon his appointment as chief in 2018, Moore was noted as law enforcement leader who valued a statistics-driven and community-based approach to policing. But under his leadership, LAPD would soon see numerous crises and internal scandals.

Moore was chief when protests against police violence erupted across the country in Spring 2020 following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. LAPD came under intense scrutiny for the department’s violent response to street protests that broke out locally, with numerous activists calling for Moore’s firing after he appeared to blame people stealing items from stores during the protests for Floyd’s death.

“We didn’t have protests last night, we had criminal acts,” he said during a public address. “We didn’t have people mourning the death of this man, George Floyd, we had people capitalizing. His death is on their hands as much as it is those officers.”

Moore was not fired, but the city ordered independent audits of LAPD’s response that eventually faulted department commanders for a confused, failed response to the protests.

Since 2021, the department has struggled in rebuilding a depleted force of sworn officers. As of Moore’s announcement, LAPD was still under 9,000 sworn officers currently with the department.

“They’re struggling,” said Dennis Zine, a former L.A. city councilman for the San Fernando Valley and himself a former LAPD officer. “Not only in recruitment of sworn officers, but also civilians. Their dispatch center is understaffed. There’s a lot of challenges.”

City News Service contributed to this report

The numbers remain small: Out of 858 million people screened before boarding an airplane, Transportation Security Administration agents found just 6,737 guns. But that’s still the most ever found in a single year, capping a three-year span in which each year saw more guns confiscated than the last.

Nearly all of those guns were discovered through X-rays of carry-on luggage, TSA officials said. And most of the time the traveler told agents they left the gun in their bags accidentally.

It wasn’t quite a surprise TSA found more guns, officials said: Nearly 100 million more people passed through U.S. airports last year than the year before. And the rate at which agents found firearms actually fell: In 2023, TSA found 7.8 guns per 1 million passengers, less than the 8.6 guns per 1 million passengers the agency recorded in 2022.

“More people are travelling — there’s more travelers now,” said Lorie Dankers, a TSA spokeswoman. “It kind of makes sense that we’re detecting more.”

But the stubbornly high number of passengers attempting to get through security with loaded guns in their bags, whether they knew the weapons were there or not, still remained alarming to officials with the federal agency tasked with keeping contraband off U.S. airliners.

“It’s a little bit of a mystery, all around,” Dankers said. “(Firearms) have never been allowed on airplanes.”

Jason Pantages, a security director for TSA in the Los Angeles region, said that nationwide, 93% of the guns found in people’s bags were loaded.

Inside Terminal 7 at the Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, Jan. 10, Pantages and LAX police officials spoke next to a table lined with prohibited items found in people’s luggage at the airport last year.

Some of the items, including a trendy portable blender and a toy gun, were benign. But officials showed other items like small wooden bats, metal bars and knives people had brought with them as they tried to get through security.

Pantages said there were 81 guns found in luggage passing through LAX security last year. Of those, 87% were loaded.

That was the largest number of guns found at any of the greater Los Angeles region’s airports. But while the numbers were smaller at local airports, some of those saw their single-year records broken.

At John Wayne Airport in Orange County, agents found 25 guns, the most ever there. At Long Beach Airport, agents found 10 guns, also a record.

Both of those airports also saw more people pass through them last year, but the rate of firearm discovery at Long Beach nearly doubled from 2022 to 2023. The rate also increased for John Wayne.

LAX and other Los Angeles-area airports saw vastly fewer guns appear in security checkpoints than other airports around the country last year, however.

At Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world, agents confiscated 451 guns last year. That was followed by Dallas Fort Worth International Airport with 378.

“Travelers should know that TSA can levy a civil penalty for bringing a firearm to a security checkpoint,” Pantages said. “The amount of the penalty, which can be as high as $15,000, depends on whether the firearm was loaded.”

Authorities said the penalties for trying to take a gun on an airplane can vary.

Los Angeles Airport Police Chief Cecil Rhambo said when a gun is found at a checkpoint, officers will respond and take possession of the weapon and check to determine if it is tied to any crimes or warrants. Officers will also check to see if there are “obliterated serial numbers” on the weapon. The passenger found with the weapon is also checked for warrants.

In addition to the possible TSA civil citation, people could be convicted of a misdemeanor for bringing a weapon to an airport security checkpoint. Rhambo said people who are convicted in such cases could be sent to a one-year diversionary program.

“After a year, the owner of the firearm is eligible to retrieve the weapon as long as they remain clear from any disqualifying issues such as a restraining order, some mental health issues or domestic violence incidents,” he said.

TSA-seized firearms by U.S. airport in 2023, top 5

Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, 451

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, 378

George Bush Intercontinental Airport (Houston), 311

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, 235

Nashville International Airport, 188

Local airports

LAX, 81

John Wayne Airport (Orange County/Santa Ana), 25

Ontario International Airport, 20

Long Beach Airport, 10

Hollywood Burbank Airport (Bob Hope), 9

Source: TSA

City News Service contributed to this story.

The structure, which opened in July 2022 as a replacement for the span that was built in 1932, won a national award in 2023 as the year’s most outstanding engineering achievement. It features 10 pairs of sculptural 30-and 60-foot concrete arches that can be illuminated with multiple colors.

But the iconic, Instagram-worthy site also enjoyed by pedestrians, bicyclists and roller skaters has been treated rudely. Initially, police had to chase off motorists who would take over the bridge to perform illegal maneuvers.

And now, the source of civic pride has suffered another indignity: Thieves have stolen the valuable electrical copper wiring from parts of the “Ribbon of Light,” apparently to sell it as forgettable scrap, plummeting parts of the bridge into darkness.

“I’m angry and disappointed that anyone would sabotage such a beautiful and unique community space, likely out of personal greed,” said photographer Scott Lanway, who has posted pictures of the bridge online. “Since it opened in the summer of 2022, the 6th Street Viaduct has become not just a way for Angelenos to reach their destinations but a destination in itself, and this theft in a way has stolen that space from all of us.”

An indignant Los Angeles Police Protective League weighed in with a social media post: “The Grinch stole all the Christmas lights in Whoville. In LA, our Grinch stole the copper wire off the 6th Street Bridge — turning out its decorative lights — and causing excessive damage in the process.”

Brenda Martinez, vice president of the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, which acts as a liaison between the community and the city, said her group met on Wednesday to discuss the vandalism and sent photos of the damage to the office of City Councilman Kevin de León, whose District 14 includes the 3,500-foot-long bridge, the longest in the city.

“That is definitely a shock in the sense that I thought we were going to have more respect because it’s new and it’s a big thing right now,” Martinez said Friday. “The majority of the people in Boyle Heights love the bridge, the fact that they have the lights.”

She said the council hopes that the lights will be repaired soon and that deterrents, possibly in the form of protection for the electrical boxes or extra patrols, will be added.

De León was walking the bridge about three weeks ago when he noticed that some of the boxes were open and wires were sticking out, his spokesman, Pete Brown, said Friday, Dec. 22.

De León immediately convened a meeting — on a Saturday — with the general manager of the Bureau of Street Lighting, Brown said.

“He’s very angry over the idea that individuals or an organized group would steal from the public and do it in a way that endangers public safety and takes away from the experience for Angelenos that enjoy this beautiful, iconic symbol of what it is to live in LA,” Brown said.

The Bureau of Street Lighting, Bureau of Engineers and the Los Angeles Police Department are working with the councilman’s office to repair the damage, prevent future thefts and hold the perpetrators accountable, Brown said.

The Grinch stole all the Christmas lights in Whoville. In LA, our Grinch stole the copper wire off the 6th street bridge—turning out its decorative lights—and causing excessive damage in the process. Investigation is ongoing to determine the suspects and various departments are… pic.twitter.com/CNusjwDMpD

— Los Angeles Police Protective League (@LAPPL) December 22, 2023

Zach Seidl, a spokesman for Mayor Karen Bass, said Friday evening that LAPD has increased patrols in the area. And officials at L.A.’s Department of Public Works said they are working to fix the lights.

Public Works “has become acutely aware of the issue of copper wire theft on the 6th Street Bridge,” Lashawn McFadden, a spokeswoman for the department, said in a written statement. “This is serious and has a significant impact on public safety, infrastructure reliability, and the community at large.”

McFadden said the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting maintains the lights on the bridge, and that the bureau has been working with other city agencies to “develop a long-term solution to protect the lights.”

The problem of thefts of copper wiring from utility boxes has been a problem across the country for years.

I wanted to be the first person to rollerskate on the 6th Street Viaduct. #MissionAccomplished pic.twitter.com/rQWRKbsADk

— Claudia Peschiutta (@ReporterClaudia) July 9, 2022

Since its opening last year, the 6th Street bridge has not only ferried thousands of motorists every day, but it has also seen its share of celebrations, stunts and even tragedy.

The bridge brought out thousands of locals to celebrate its grand opening in July 2022 after about six years of construction.

In the weeks that followed, there were a few instances of wild revelry: Street takeovers featuring burnouts, people climbing on the loops and skateboarders riding them like ramps, and a barber cutting a client’s hair in the middle of traffic.

“The street takeovers were an immediate reaction to the grand opening and everybody tried to have a little piece, their 15 seconds of social media fame. That came and went,” said Brown, the councilman’s spokesman. “We made some additions to the bridge, 4- to 8-inch raised reflectors to prevent the spinouts.”

People repeatedly have been spotted climbing the bridge’s arches. In May, a 17-year-old died attempting to scale part of the bridge fell to his death after he slipped, police said.

The new bill, A.B. 2773, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, will also require all police agencies to track whether officers who stop drivers are complying with the law.

During its meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 19, members of the Los Angeles Police Commission asked commanders what the new law would mean for officers making traffic stops.

“This is instead of the officer asking a driver, ‘Do you know why I pulled you over?’” LAPD Captain Steven Ramos told the commission. “Now, the onus is on the officer to tell the individual why they pulled them over.”

On its face, the law written by state Assemblyman Chris Holden of Pasadena and passed in 2022 would require officers to give drivers basic information about the reason they’re being detained.

But the changes to what police are required to tell drivers could also lead to fewer of what are known as pretextual stops: That is, the police practice of stopping drivers purportedly for minor traffic violations with the intent of searching the driver’s car for contraband such as drugs or firearms.

The bill would target “stops whose predicate is mostly discretionary and constitutes a minor infraction like overly tinted windows, dangling objects on a windshield, or broken tail lights,” wrote members of Oakland Privacy, a Bay Area-based civil rights group in support of the law.

Police have used such stops for decades when attempting to break up suspected drug trafficking operations in local communities. And the practice remains legal, with the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of pretextual stops in several rulings.

But in recent years, scrutiny of their use has increased as civil rights advocates have pointed out extreme racial disparities in who police pull over.

In Tuesday’s meeting, LAPD officials noted the department had had already wound down its own pretextual stop policies after a 2020 internal review found they were largely ineffective as well as disproportionality targeting people of color.

That Office of Inspector General report released showed the LAPD was stopping Black and Latino drivers much more often compared to White drivers for minor traffic violations, as well as subjecting them to more intense searches of their vehicles.

The intent of the searches was to suppress violent crime, Inspector General Mark Smith wrote in the report. But the strategy didn’t work: Officers actually found more drugs and guns when they had a reasonable suspicion they might actually find contraband by stopping a vehicle versus when they initiated a pretextual stop.

As a result, since 2022, the LAPD has already been encouraging officers to tell drivers why they were stopping them while recording that interaction on their body-worn cameras, said Lizabeth Rhodes, who directs the department’s Office of Constitutional Policing and Policy.

The change in state law just meant the rule would shift from a strong suggestion to a legal requirement.

“Our pretext stop policy talked about ‘shoulds,’” Rhodes told the commission. “(A.B. 2773) is the Legislature acting. Now, this is a ‘shall.’”

Mei Haskell, 37, her mother Yanxiang Wang, 64, and her stepfather Gaoshan Li, 71, had all been missing from their Tarzana home since early November.

After the torso was found in a bag inside the bin behind an Encino strip mall on Nov. 8, police said they found surveillance camera footage showing Haskell’s husband, 35-year-old Samuel Bond Haskell, dumping the bag. They arrested him at the Westfield Topanga mall the same day.

Coroner’s office records now show investigators have identified the remains as Mei Haskell. Wang and Li remain missing.

Samuel Haskell has remained in jail since his arrest at the mall. He made his first court appearance on Dec. 8, but still has not been arraigned on murder charges for his wife and in-laws. He is due back in court in January.

According to several reports, Haskell is the son of Sam Haskell, a prominent Hollywood agent, and he has credits listing him as the executive producer of a handful of low-budget films.

The discovery of the torso led police to Haskell’s Tarzana home where he lived with his wife, their three children and his in-laws. When police came to the home after the discover of the torso, they said they found blood and other evidence of a killing there.

Several day laborers also reported they had been hired by Haskell to dispose of several garbage bags he handed them. According to NBC4, the workers said Haskell told them there were rocks in the bags, but when they looked inside, they saw body parts. The workers dumped the bags at the home and went to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Topanga station, where they reported what they saw but were initially turned away.