Sunbather run over by Newport Beach lifeguard files claim

A sunabther run over by a Newport Beach lifeguard last month has filed an $850,000 claim against the city.

About 12:50 p.m. Aug. 4, Janice Cola, 55, of Orange, was relaxing in her beach chair reading a book on the sand at 54th Street and Seaside Drive, not far from a lifeguard truck, her attorney Jay Weitzler said.

As she read, a lifeguard truck nearby slowly turned right in the sand toward her and drove its front right tire over her thighs, breaking her pelvis.

City officials don’t dispute her account.
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5 lawsuits were filed against Costa Mesa in August

COSTA MESA — There were five personal injury lawsuits filed against Costa Mesa in August, doubling the year’s total in a single month, with allegations ranging from excessive force by police to negligence in filling a pothole at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The city is involved in lawsuits throughout the year, from citizens appealing parking tickets to the city attorney’s office seeking court orders to protect personnel information. But as court records show, there was an unusual amount of litigation filed against the city in August compared with all of last year.

There were five personal injury, property damage or wrongful death lawsuits filed against the city in all of 2009. Between January and July of this year, five such suits were filed.
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Charges dropped against Navy petty officer in anthrax hoax

A U.S. Navy petty officer who vandalized his former Newport Beach apartment and left behind a jar full of a white powder labeled “anthrax” had his charges dropped Tuesday after complying with court orders.

Orange County prosecutors dropped misdemeanor charges of having a fake weapon of mass destruction and vandalism against Phong Huu Nguyen, 29, after he agreed to pay more $4,400 to authorities who responded to the anthrax scare and nearly $1,000 to the owner of the apartment complex.

In July 2009, Nguyen had been recently evicted from the Coronado apartment complex next to Newport Harbor High School. When maintenance workers went in to clean up, they found expletives and the numbers “666” painted on the walls, along with two jars full of a white powder labeled “anthrax.”
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Despite rulling, stem-cell research will continue at UCI center

While a federal judge’s ruling earlier this week halting federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research carries implications nationwide, on the local level the effects are less clear.

At UC Irvine’s Stem Cell Research Center, only a fraction of the work that goes on there is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Since the Bush administration first implemented a funding ban, scientists there have taken the extra step of carefully dividing their research funded by the federal government from the work done through state and private donations, said Hans Keirstead, one of the institute’s leading researchers.

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Hand grenade found at Fashion Island in Newport Beach

A hand grenade was found in a parking structure in Fashion Island this morning, Newport Beach police said.

At about 7:34 a.m., Fashion Island security was patrolling the parking structure between Bloomingdales and Nordstrom when they found the pineapple-shaped grenade standing upright in a parking stall on the second level.

“It was obviously placed there. For what reason, we don’t know,” said Newport Beach Sgt. Steve Burdette. “There’s no rhyme or reason.”

Security closed the building while authorities could respond. A robot from the Orange County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad investigated the grenade and found that the bottom had been drilled out.

There was still a pin in the grenade meaning it could still be explosive, but because the bottom was drilled out it would not blast out fragments like it was designed to, Burdette said.

Police said there were no security cameras in the area the grenade was found and they have no witnesses or leads.

The structure was nearly empty when the grenade was found and no one was injured.

Bell’s Rizzo pleads guilty to Huntington Beach DUI

Former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo pleaded guilty to drunk driving in a Westminster court Wednesday following his March arrest in Huntington Beach.

Rizzo, 56, of Huntington Beach, accepted a court-offered deal in which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of drunk driving and driving with a blood alcohol content of more than .20. Rizzo’s blood alcohol level was .28, or more than three times the legal limit of .08.

At about 10 p.m. March 6, Rizzo was driving home when he passed his house, tried to pull up onto his driveway but instead crashed into his neighbor’s mailbox.

Witnesses called 9-1-1 and Rizzo was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor DUI.

Police stopped him in the middle of the field sobriety exam for his own safety, prosecutors said.

As part of the plea arrangement with Orange County Superior Court, he was ordered to complete a nine-month first-offender alcohol-awareness program and 10 days of community service.

Rizzo is at the center of the Bell salary scandal. He recently resigned after a Los Angeles Times investigation found that he earned nearly $800,000 a year.

Woman hit, killed on Harbor Boulevard

An elderly Palm Springs woman was killed in Costa Mesa on Friday night when she was hit by an SUV as she tried to cross Harbor Boulevard.

Minutes before midnight Friday, police said the 85-year-old woman tried to walk cross Harbor west toward Date Place, a small street leading into a residential neighborhood south of Gisler Avenue across the street from the Target shopping center.

Authorities have not released the 85-year-old woman’s identity pending notification of her next of kin.

Woman hit, killed on Harbor Boulevard

Man arrested after multiple crashes

Newport Beach police said that Joshua Mario Muniz, 24, deliberately drove into cars in Corona del Mar before he ended his rampage, crashing into a wall causing thousands of dollars in damage. (Courtesy Karen Lyons)

CORONA DEL MAR — A Lynwood man was arrested this morning after police said he got behind the wheel drunk and, from a review of a police account, essentially played bumper cars down a Newport Beach street before coming to a stop on a front lawn.

Joshua Mario Muniz, 24, was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk and felony vandalism in the 200 block of Larkspur Avenue in Corona del Mar about 3:44 a.m.

Newport Beach police said that Muniz deliberately drove into cars in the beachside neighborhood before he ended his rampage, crashing into a wall causing thousands of dollars in damage.

…Continue reading Man arrested after multiple crashes

Resident chases down theft suspect

Apparently saying that someone needed money wasn’t a good enough excuse for one Newport Beach man who chased down a burglary suspect he found allegedly rummaging through his friend’s car early Wednesday.

Police hope the arrest of Robert Schweickert, 20, of Newport Beach, can close a few theft cases for detectives after he was arrested in his neighborhood for allegedly searching cars in the middle of the night.

He was caught by Ben Swift, 20, and his friend Charlie. The two happened upon Schweickert in the middle of the night as they came home from a friend’s house. They had seen fliers from police about a number of local burglaries.

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It’s an ‘emotional yo-yo’

Heather Ellis, left, and Rosanne Faul, planned on getting married next month, but federal court judges have issued a stay on all gay marriages for now. (Photo by Don Leach | don.leach@latimes.com)

COSTA MESA — Heather Ellis can’t help but get teary-eyed when talking about how it feels to wait while lawyers and judges argue over the fate of same-sex marriage rights in California.

“I don’t really know how to say it,” Ellis, 38, said. “It’s really odd that we have to go through this.”

Ellis and her partner, Rosanne Faul, 41, live in Costa Mesa. They were planning to marry on Sept. 3 in Santa Ana’s Old Courthouse. But they had to postpone their plans indefinitely when, on Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals put a stay on same-sex marriages until at least December.

…Continue reading It’s an ‘emotional yo-yo’