RL NEWS Briefs: April 27, 2015

Teamsters Picket the Harbor
LONG BEACH — On April 27, the Teamsters union started informational picketing at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles.
The Teamsters are targeting four non-union trucking companies: Pacific 9 Transportation, Intermodal Bridge Transport, Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport. The companies transport cargo to and from four of the port’s 22 terminal operations. The drivers argue that they are improperly classified as independent contractors. The classification makes the drivers vulnerable, with less protections and lower pay.
Dockworkers have reported to work and truckers were able to enter and exit the affected terminals without delay.
The Port of Long Beach does not employ or contract with the drivers involved in this informational action. Harbor Patrol officers and Long Beach Police Department officers are monitoring the situation and are keeping the roadways accessible.

Murder in Long Beach
LONG BEACH — Thirty-four-year-old Donald Parks of Long Beach was shot and killed April 24, on the 100 block of Platt Street in Long Beach.
Long Beach Police Department officials said they responded to reports of shots fired about 11:42 p.m.
When officers arrived, they found Parks on the street having sustained injury from a gunshot wound. The Long Beach Fire Department paramedics responded and pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.
A preliminary investigation found that Parks was outside in front of a residence with a group of individuals when a suspect approached on foot and fired several rounds towards the group. There were no other reports of injury related to this incident. The suspect is not in custody at this time. The shooting is being investigated as possibly gang related.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to call (562) 570-7244 or visit www.lacrimestoppers.org.

Officer Involved Shooting
LONG BEACH — Nineteen-year-old Hector Morejon was shot and killed, and four other suspects were taken into custody, April 23, after unlawfully entering a vacant residence and vandalizing it, officials said.
The incident took place at about 2:45 p.m. at the 1100 block of Hoffman Avenue in Long Beach. Long Beach Police Department officers responded to a report that several people were trespassing and vandalizing a unit in a multi-unit complex.
The preliminary report states that when the officers arrived at the scene they discovered an open window with no screen in the rear of the residence. The officers found a second window that was broken with the screen removed. An officer looked through the opening to the broken window and saw Morejon standing next to a wall. The officer saw Morejon turn towards him, while bending his knees, and extending his arm out as if pointing an object, which the officer perceived was a gun.
At this point, the officer shot the Morejon. The Long Beach resident was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and was later pronounced dead.
The interior of the residence was covered with gang-related graffiti, officials said. No officers were injured during this incident. A weapon was not recovered from the scene.
In a statement, Morejon’s family asked for an independent investigation and the release of the name and badge number of the officer who shot the 19-year-old, “who was unarmed.” The family also is demanding that the “City of Long Beach and its police department suspend the shooting officer.”
All officer-involved shootings where a death takes place are investigated by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.
Twenty-year-old Edgar Rodarte was charged with trespassing; 21-year-old German Rodarte of Long Beach was charged with trespassing and a gang injunction violation; 22-year-old Yesenia Pineda was charged with trespassing; and 22-year-old Celia Cox was charged with trespassing. The four people — all from Long Beach — were arrested on the scene in relation to the incident.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to call (562) 570-7244 or visit www.lacrimestoppers.org.

HCBF Contributes to $1 Million Healthcare Investment in Wilmington, San Pedro
WILMINGTON — On April 24, Harbor Community Benefit Foundation announced that it has awarded $518,000 in Healthy Harbor grants to organizations that will address port-related health impacts in the Harbor communities of Wilmington and San Pedro.
The awards include close to $500,000 in matched funding from other sources, which brings a combined $1 million investment in port-related health to Wilmington and San Pedro residents in 2015.
The goal of the foundation’s Healthy Harbor program is to identify, fund, and strengthen organizations that are actively tackling port-related health issues in Wilmington and San Pedro, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other complications from port environmental impacts. Programs include home visits for children with asthma, full-time asthma nursing at public schools, air quality education, noise and hearing screening, mobile asthma clinics and chronic disease self-management.
Once awarded, each grantee will actively work with the foundation on documenting its efforts and impact through progress reports and site visits. Findings and data are shared publicly through the foundation’s annual reports and website for the benefit of the community and the development of future programs.
The Healthy Harbor Grant program is funded by the Port of Los Angeles through the Port Community Mitigation Trust Fund, which is administered exclusively by the foundation.
2015 Healthy Harbor Grant Recipients:
Coalition for Clean Air
Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma
Providence Little Company of Mary
St. Mary Medical Center Foundation
The Children’s Clinic
The Los Angeles Trust for Children’s Health
Tzu Chi Community Clinic of Wilmington

LAPD Horse “Tagged”
VENICE BEACH — The Los Angeles Police Department is asking for the public’s help to identify a suspect who vandalized a police horse while working at the Venice Beach.
On April 21, while working a crime suppression detail at Venice Beach, an unknown suspect marked the hind-quarters of a horse named “Charly” from
LAPD Metropolitan Division’s Mounted Platoon.
The silver colored graffiti was removed from “Charly” later that evening.
Anyone with information about the vandalism incident is asked to call (310) 482-6313 or visit LAPDOnline.org, click on “webtips” and follow the prompts.