Motorcycle accidents cast gray clouds over Love Ride event

Two separate traffic accidents on the 5 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley left two people dead and two others injured on Sunday, all amid a popular children's charity event that attracts hundreds of motorcycle riders, according to event organizers and the California Highway Patrol.

Authorities and organizers were trying to determine whether the two people killed were taking part in a motorcycle ride from Glendale to Castaic Lake to help raise money for autism research.

"Whether they were or not, this was a tragic accident," said spokeswoman Susan Morrison. "In the 28 years of this event, we've never had a fatality before."

The first crash occurred around 10:24 a.m. when two motorcyclists collided on the northbound 5 Freeway near the 170 Freeway, just south of Brandford Street, said CHP Officer Christian Cracraft. The two bikers were taken to a local hospital.

The crash blocked three of five lanes, forcing authorities to issue a SigAlert. The crash also created heavy traffic for several hours.

The two bikers were taking part in the Love Ride, according to CHP and Morrison.

By Sunday night, the two injured bikers appeared to be doing well, Morrison said.

Shortly after, authorities and organizers appeared to be confused over a second accident involving another biker and his female passenger, who were killed when they were run over by a big rig.

The crash happened in the same location, just about an hour after the first accident, Cracraft said. The lingering traffic from the first crash may have played a role in their deaths, he said. "I don't know if they were trying to catch up with the pack," Cracraft said. "They were splitting traffic on the 3 and 4 lane and got tangled by a big rig and got run over."

The names of the victims were not available Sunday night.

Love Ride Foundation is a nonprofit founded in 1984 by Oliver Shokouh. The organization raises money for children's charities each year. This year, the foundation was raising money for Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism, according to the motorcycle event's website.

-- Ruben Vives

Loaded gun tumbles from checked bag at LAX [Updated]

[FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this post ran with the following headline: "Loaded gun in luggage at LAX escapes detection by TSA." Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the TSA, said that while the agency screens carry-on luggage for firearms, it is not the TSA's responsibility to screen checked baggage for guns. The agency only screens checked baggage for explosives, she said.]

 

Airport security officials at Los Angeles International Airport failed to detect a loaded handgun that was contained in a traveler's checked bag Sunday, according to several law enforcement sources.

An airport ramp crew discovered the loaded .38-caliber handgun Sunday after it tumbled from an unzipped compartment in a duffel bag they were loading onto Alaska Airlines Flight 563, according to the sources. The aircraft was leaving the terminal at LAX at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, bound for Portland, Ore.

Workers called Los Angeles Airport Police to report the discovery. The owner of the gun was questioned at the LAPD's Pacific station and released and allowed to board a later flight to Portland. The gun was turned over to Los Angeles police, the source said.

The law enforcement sources declined to speak for attribution on the case, saying they were not authorized to speak for their departments.

A Transportation Safety Administration spokeswoman said she was unfamiliar with the incident, but was seeking details and would comment later in the day.

[Updated at 1:53 p.m.: TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said the TSA had screened the bag for explosives and there were none.

"It's the airline and passenger's responsibility to ensure that firearms are transported correctly," she said. Dankers noted that since the firearm was in a checked bag, the passenger would not have had access to it on the flight].

According to the law enforcement sources, the traveler had not given the airline required notification that he was traveling with a gun in his checked bag on the trip from Los Angeles to Portland.

The traveler told authorities that he had flown out of Portland with the same bag, with the gun inside, three days earlier. It was not immediately clear whether he had notified the airline about the gun when he flew out of Portland.

Marshall McClain, president of the union representing Los Angeles Airport Police, said the incident showed that the TSA was expending too much effort on duties that police perform and not focusing on its core mission: to thoroughly screen passengers.

"TSA must do their primary mission and do it well," McClain said. "Local law enforcement needs to know that TSA is doing their part and not continuously trying to duplicate the law enforcement side of the airport screening program while their primary mission suffers."

ALSO:

Southbound 710 reopens after morning fatal crash

Inglewood police seize 35 pounds of meth valued at $1.7 million

California earthquake: Temblor caused some damage near epicenter

— Andrew Blankstein and Abby Sewell

Pasadena plans to build 2 new parks

Pasadena's densely packed Central District, considered “park poor” by city officials, may be getting two new parks.

The Pasadena City Council on Monday designated the projects as priorities, a necessary step to secure redevelopment funds to pay most of the estimated $24 million in construction costs.

One park is slated for the corner of Union Street and El Molino Avenue. The other, whose design features a plaza and amphitheatre but no green space, would be built on Madison Street between Colorado Boulevard and Green Street. Both sites are now city-owned surface parking lots. The projects would include the construction of parking garages under each of the parks.

A 2007 city report concluded that the Central District had a lack of green space because of a recent influx of urban housing into a historically commercial area, according to the Pasadena Sun.

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— Adolpho Flores, Times Community News

Loaded gun tumbles from checked bag at LAX (Updated)

[FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this post ran with the following headline: "Loaded gun in luggage at LAX escapes detection by TSA." Lorie Dankers, a spokeswoman for the TSA, said that while the agency screens carry-on luggage for firearms, it is not the TSA's responsibility to screen checked baggage for guns. The agency only screens checked baggage for explosives, she said.]

 

Airport security officials at Los Angeles International Airport failed to detect a loaded handgun that was contained in a traveler's checked bag Sunday, according to several law enforcement sources.

An airport ramp crew discovered the loaded .38-caliber handgun Sunday after it tumbled from an unzipped compartment in a duffel bag they were loading onto Alaska Airlines Flight 563, according to the sources. The aircraft was leaving the terminal at LAX at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, bound for Portland, Ore.

Workers called Los Angeles Airport Police to report the discovery. The owner of the gun was questioned at the LAPD's Pacific station and released and allowed to board a later flight to Portland. The gun was turned over to Los Angeles police, the source said.

The law enforcement sources declined to speak for attribution on the case, saying they were not authorized to speak for their departments.

A Transportation Safety Administration spokeswoman said she was unfamiliar with the incident, but was seeking details and would comment later in the day.

[Updated at 1:53 p.m.: TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said the TSA had screened the bag for explosives and there were none.

"It's the airline and passenger's responsibility to ensure that firearms are transported correctly," she said. Dankers noted that since the firearm was in a checked bag, the passenger would not have had access to it on the flight].

According to the law enforcement sources, the traveler had not given the airline required notification that he was traveling with a gun in his checked bag on the trip from Los Angeles to Portland.

The traveler told authorities that he had flown out of Portland with the same bag, with the gun inside, three days earlier. It was not immediately clear whether he had notified the airline about the gun when he flew out of Portland.

Marshall McClain, president of the union representing Los Angeles Airport Police, said the incident showed that the TSA was expending too much effort on duties that police perform and not focusing on its core mission: to thoroughly screen passengers.

"TSA must do their primary mission and do it well," McClain said. "Local law enforcement needs to know that TSA is doing their part and not continuously trying to duplicate the law enforcement side of the airport screening program while their primary mission suffers."

ALSO:

Southbound 710 reopens after morning fatal crash

Inglewood police seize 35 pounds of meth valued at $1.7 million

California earthquake: Temblor caused some damage near epicenter

— Andrew Blankstein and Abby Sewell

Army Ranger from San Diego killed in Afghanistan on 14th combat deployment

A U.S. Army Ranger from San Diego has been killed in combat in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Sunday.

Sgt. 1st Class Kristoffer Domeij, 29, was killed Saturday in Kandahar province when his unit was attacked by the enemy with an improvised explosive device.

Domeij enlisted in the Army in 2001 and joined the 2nd Battalion, 75thRanger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington in 2002. He was on his 14th combat deployment.

Domeij is survived by his wife, Sarah, and daughters Mikajsa and Aaliyah of Lacey, Wash.; his mother, Scoti Domeij, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; and his brother, Kyle Domeij, of San Diego.

Col. Mark W. Odom, commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment, said Domeij was a “veteran of a decade of deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds of combat missions ... an operator who in real terms had the value of an entire strike force on the battlefield.”

--Tony Perry in San Diego

Reader photos: Southern California Moments Day 296

Red, white, blue and brown: Hikers huddle under an American flag in this Aug. 9 photo in the Mojave National Preserve by Michael Lloyd.

Every day of 2011, we're featuring reader-submitted photos of Southern California Moments. Follow us on Twitter and visit the Southern California Moments homepage for more on this series.

Famed Arches restaurant closes after 90 years

The Arches restaurant, a Newport Beach institution for nearly 90 years, abruptly closed last week for unknown reasons.

A company representative confirmed that the business on Westcliff Drive closed Wednesday night. The phone s disconnected and the doors are locked.

Along with the Arches fades a relic of Newport Beach history. The old-line eatery, opened in 1922, served the likes of Shirley Temple, John Wayne and other Hollywood stars from its original West Coast Highway building. After moving from that location four years ago, owner Dan Marcheano struggled to keep the restaurant afloat.

Marcheano, who bought the restaurant in 1982, could not be reached for comment.

Crashes kill two motorcyclists, create huge backup on 5 Freeway

A series of at least two accidents involving motorcycles, cars and a big rig killed two people and injured at least two others Sunday, causing a massive traffic pileup and closing three lanes of the Golden State Freeway for hours, according to the California Highway Patrol.

CHP Deputy Ed Jacobs said the first crash was reported at 10:24 a.m. and involved two motorcycles and multiple cars on the northbound 5 Freeway near the Hollywood Freeway in the eastern San Fernando Valley. At least two motorcyclists were injured in that accident and the resulting backup brought traffic to a standstill.

"There were people walking in traffic lanes," Jacobs said.

That traffic tie-up may have caused a fatal collision between a motorcycle and a big rig in the same area at 11:12, Jacobs said. In that incident, the driver of the motorcycle and his female passenger died at the scene, despite efforts by motorists to resuscitate them.

The motorcyclists may have been participating in the popular “Love Ride” fundraiser for autism research, which draws as many as 18,000 bikers to Castaic Lake.

"It happened in the right place," Jacobs said, "but we can’t be sure they were part of the ride."

Three of the five northbound lanes of the 5 were closed near Branford Street for more than three hours.

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Irate customer sought in shooting of worker at South L.A. grocery

— Julie Cart  

Loaded gun in luggage at LAX escapes detection by TSA

Airport security officials at Los Angeles International Airport failed to detect a loaded handgun that was contained in a traveler's checked bag Sunday, according to several law enforcement sources.

An airport ramp crew discovered the loaded .38-caliber handgun Sunday after it tumbled from an unzipped compartment in a duffel bag they were loading onto Alaska Airlines Flight 563, according to the sources. The aircraft was leaving the terminal at LAX at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, bound for Portland, Ore.

Workers called Los Angeles Airport Police to report the discovery. The owner of the gun was questioned at the LAPD's Pacific station and released and allowed to board a later flight to Portland. The gun was turned over to Los Angeles police, the source said.

The law enforcement sources declined to speak for attribution on the case, saying they were not authorized to speak for their departments.

A TSA spokeswoman said she was unfamiliar with the incident, but was seeking details and would comment later in the day.

[Updated at 1:53 p.m.: TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said the TSA had screened the bag for explosives and there were none.

"It's the airline and passenger's responsibility to ensure that firearms are transported correctly," she said. Dankers noted that since the firearm was in a checked bag, the passenger would not have had access to it on the flight].

According to the law enforcement sources, the traveler had not given the airline required notification that he was traveling with a gun in his checked bag on the trip from Los Angeles to Portland.

The traveler told authorities that he had flown out of Portland with the same bag, with the gun inside, three days earlier. It was not immediately clear whether he had notified the airline about the gun when he flew out of Portland.

Marshall McClain, president of the union representing Los Angeles Airport Police, said the incident showed that the Transportation Safety Administration had not focused on its core mission, to thoroughly screen passengers, while expending too much effort on duties that police perform.

"TSA must do their primary mission and do it well," McClain said. "Local law enforcement needs to know that TSA is doing their part and not continuously trying to duplicate the law enforcement side of the airport screening program while their primary mission suffers."

ALSO:

Southbound 710 reopens after morning fatal crash

Inglewood police seize 35 pounds of meth valued at $1.7 million

California earthquake: Temblor caused some damage near epicenter

— Andrew Blankstein and Abby Sewell

Berkeley struck by 16 earthquakes in three days

The Berkeley area has been hit by 16 earthquakes in the last three days, all probably caused by movement on the San Francisco Bay Area's dangerous Hayward fault.

The quake series began Thursday with a 4.0 temblor. It was followed by 15 aftershocks, the largest registering 3.8.

Residents reported feeling at least three of the temblors. The first quake was large enough to cause some items to fall from shelves in homes near the Berkeley epicenter, and some plaster fell from the ceiling of a business in Oakland,

Irate customer sought in shooting of worker at South L.A. grocery

An irate customer shot a South Los Angeles supermarket employee in the leg Sunday morning after being informed that the items he wanted to buy were not available, police said.

The suspect entered Superior Grocers on South Avalon Boulevard shortly before 7:30 a.m. He went into the back of the store and asked an employee for some items he wanted to purchase, said Lt. Jon Tippet at the LAPD's Southeast station. 

When the employee said they did not have the things he wanted and told the man to leave the back of the store, the suspect pulled out a gun and shot the worker once in the leg, Tippet said. The shooter then left the store on foot.

"There was no indication that this was a robbery attempt," Tippet said. He was unsure what the items were that the suspect had been trying to buy.

The store employee, who was not identified, was transported to a local hospital and was listed in stable condition. The suspect is still at large.

— Abby Sewell

College students stricken by suspected alcohol poisoning after dance

Eight Occidental College students were hospitalized with possible alcohol poisoning after an on-campus dance party, a spokesman said.

The students, who attended "Splatter," a "paint-themed dance party," were transported to local hospitals between 11 p.m and 1 a.m., college spokesman Jim Tranquada said. He said the incidents were apparently alcohol-related but did not have an update on the students' conditions.

Initial reports described the party as a rave. Tranquada said it was a dance open only to students and that no alcohol was served or allowed at the event.

He said campus officials will be reviewing the night's events but could not say whether any students would be disciplined.

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— Abby Sewell

Photo: Scene of the party. Credit: KTLA News

Crime alerts for Leimert Park, Tarzana and 14 other L.A. areas

Crime reports are up significantly for the latest week in 16 L.A. neighborhoods, according to an analysis of LAPD data by the Los Angeles Times’ Crime L.A. database.

13 neighborhoods reported a significant increase in violent crime. Leimert Park (A) was the most unusual, recording nine reports compared with a weekly average of 2.9 over the last three months.

Tarzana (H) topped the list of four neighborhoods with property crime alerts. It recorded 24 property crimes compared with its weekly average of 13.0 over the last three months.

One neighborhood triggered alerts for both violent and property crime.

Alerts are based on an analysis of crime reports for Oct. 14–Oct. 20, the most recent seven days for which data are available.

— Ben Welsh, Thomas Suh Lauder

Three-alarm fire guts Cerritos strip mall

A Cerritos strip mall was gutted by a three-alarm fire early Sunday morning, causing millions of dollars in damages.

A total of 75 firefighters battled the blaze at the Fountain Plaza Mall, a two-story strip mall on South Street and Gridley Road. The first firefighters to the fire at 2 a.m. and knocked it down by 4:16 a.m., said county Fire Inspector Quvondo Johnson.

No injuries were reported, but the building partially collapsed, with damages estimated at $5 million for the structure and $2 million for the contents.

The cause is under investigation.

ALSO:

Comment about Compton violence offends civil rights group

End of the world 2011: Today is the day, Christian group says

Big-rig chicken spill recalls famous Hollywood Freeway Chickens

-- Abby Sewell

Suspect shot and killed by Downey officers

A suspect was shot and killed by Downey police officers Saturday night, officials said.

L.A. County sheriff's homicide detectives are investigating the officer-involved shooting but had limited information. The shooting occurred at about 7:16 p.m. Saturday at Imperial Highway and Paramount Boulevard.

A spokeswoman at the sheriff's headquarters said one suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and it was unclear whether a second suspect had also been shot.

KTLA reported that Downey police officers were responding to a possible robbery at a nearby Bank of America when they encountered a man meeting the suspect's description. Reports say the man fought officers, leading to the shooting.

Sheriff's detectives were already investigating the fatal shooting of a man by Downey officers on Oct. 12.

Downey police referred questions to the sheriff's department.

— Abby Sewell