UCI Medical Center

Huntington Beach Teens Beat Man with Skateboards--But Was it Self-Defense or Attempted Murder?

Ever see the movie Kids? Remember that scene where a group of idiots nearly beat a man to death with their skateboards? That's what happened Friday night at Mundy Park in Huntington Beach--but the circumstances are in dispute. Police told the media over the weekend that a brawl broke out between t ... More >>

Cement Truck vs. Garden Grove Garage

You never want anyone to get hurt out there, but the chain of events that led a cement truck to become embedded into a Garden Grove residential garage would have been as fascinating to watch as that old Mouse Trap game they used to hawk on the teevee. The marble dropped around 2:10 p.m. Wednesday wh ... More >>

Man Shot After Allegedly Driving at Uncover Cops and Then Uniformed Officers: Police

The driver of a minivan drew the attention of undercover cops in another vehicle in Garden Grove Thursday night, leading to uniformed officers being called in to question the man, the minivan charging at the approaching police and a lawman firing at and wounding the driver, authorities say. By the t ... More >>

[UPDATED with 3rd Arrest:] Andrew Pacheco, 19, Fatally Stabbed as Attackers Yell Gang Name

See Update Nos. 3-4 on page 2 with the charges prosecutors have filed against three men in this case.See Update Nos. 1-2 on the next page identifying the dead man and the two men arrested for his murder.ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 11, 2:10 P.M.: A 19-year-old man was fatally stabbed Saturday night in an at ... More >>

[UPDATED with Death a Suicide:] Richard Swartz Fatally Stabbed Near Anaheim Gas Station

See the update at the end of this post with police saying Richard Swartz fatally stabbed himself.ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 19, 9:44 A.M.: A man found stabbed and bleeding in a gas station driveway in Anaheim this morning died a short time later at UCI Medical Center in Orange.The clerk at the Mobil on Li ... More >>

Justin Soto Identified by Readers as 25-Year-Old Shot to Death in Brea

A 25-year-old man who was shot in the stomach collapsed on a Brea street Saturday night and later died at UCI Medical Center in Orange.Three people were questioned by police about the shooting, which happened after 9 p.m. in the 300 block of South Cedar Avenue.

[UPDATED with Arrest:] Jose Chavez Killed and Teen Seriously Wounded in Placentia Shootings

See the Update No. 2 on page 2 with an arrest made in this case.See Update No. 1 on the next page that reveals the victims' ages and which was which.ORIGINAL POST, MARCH 7, 11:15 A.M.: One male was killed and a second seriously wounded in shootings near Melrose and Center streets in Placentia Wednes ... More >>

Horton Hears a Boom: Armed Parolee Expected to Survive 2 Rounds Fired by Santa Ana Cops

Santa Ana Police say they got a call just before 2 a.m. this morning about a man with a gun in the caller's residential garage near North Gunther Street and Morningside Avenue.John Berry Horton, 43, pointed a .44 magnum revolver at arriving officers and, after refusing orders to drop his weapon, was ... More >>

[UPDATED with I.D.:] Roman Nafarrate, OC Homicide No. 45: Shot to Death in Anacrime Alley

See the update at the end of this post identifying the fatal shooting victim.ORIGINAL POST, NOV. 8, 10:15 A.M.: It's been a bloody year in the streets of Anaheim, and they just got bloodier. A man in his 30s was pronounced dead at UCI Medical Center Wednesday night after being discovered with a guns ... More >>

[UPDATED with I.D.:] Santa Ana Police Officer Shoots Parolee Toting Large Handgun

See the update at the end of this post identifying the alleged gunman.ORIGINAL POST, SEPT. 10, 10:09 A.M.: It's not often that a parolee carrying a large gun can confront a police officer, get shot multiple times and live to talk about it. But that's what Santa Ana Police are saying about the man in ... More >>

Bryan Scott, OC Jail Inmate, Dies in Custody at UCI Medical Center

The headline pretty much says it all. According to a two-paragraph press release issued Sept. 2 by the Orange County Sheriff's Dept., Bryan Scott, a 49-year-old man, perished while being treated for an undisclosed condition inside the jail ward of the UCI Medical Center. The press release states tha ... More >>

Rose Mary Ayala, Hospital Patient, Faces Hate Crime Battery in Hot Coffee Attack on Helper

What's the deal today with young people breaking into nursing getting picked on? Earlier today we informed about the jail sentence for a nursing teacher who got too touchy-feely with his teen students.Now it's a Hispanic hospital patient who is being charged with the "unprovoked hate crime battery" ... More >>

15-Year-Old Girl Has Quite a Scare After Getting Electrocuted in Backyard Pool

There was a freaky incident in Garden Grove this past weekend when two sisters, ages 15 and 23, were electrocuted in a backyard swimming pool for reasons so far unknown.After being pulled out of the pool in the 11400 block of Rainer Court, the unresponsive teen underwent life-saving efforts from her ... More >>

Huntington Beach Police SWAT Officer Shot--by Fellow SWAT Officer

Following a day of training, SWAT team officers were cleaning their weapons at the Huntington Beach police station around 10 p.m. Wednesday when an officer's revolver fired.The round struck the floor and ricocheted, striking the leg of a colleague, according to police spokesmen. The unidentified sho ... More >>

Tri Nguyen, OC Homicide No. 25: Tue Minh Nguyen, 84 y.o.'s Son, Held for Fatal Beatdown

A Westminster man is believed to have argued verbally with his 84-year-old father in a medical center parking lot Friday afternoon before things turned physical and the old man was fatally beaten, police say.Now, the 51-year-old son is accused of murder.

[UPDATED with Victim I.D., Suspect Wanted for Santa Cruz Murder:] Daniel Rowlett, OC Homicide No. 23: Found Stabbed in Truck

See Update No. 2 at the end of this post identifying murder victim Daniel Rowlett, 67, and disclosing suspect Felipe Jesus Delgado is also wanted for murder in Santa Cruz County.See Update No. 1 on next page about the murder arrest of Anaheim 21-year-old Delgado, who police initially identified by h ... More >>

[UPDATED with Victim Speaks Out:] Daniel Tosh Has Nothing on This Hit-and-Run Footage

See update at end of post.ORIGINAL POST, JUNE 11, 3:36 P.M.: In an attempt to locate the driver and passenger of a vehicle that rammed into a 20-year-old man, who was thrown into the windshield and air, the Buena Park Police Department has released the graphic surveillance video that is shown after ... More >>

[UPDATED with Blood Spilled:] Chapman and Fullerton Undies Runs are Sights for Sore Eyes (and Fingers)

UPDATE, MAY 21, 3:35 P.M.: It's been pointed out that since this blog mentioned the hospitalization of two young women in their 20s--one for "alcohol-related" complications and the other for an arm injury suffered after falling down--following Chapman University's 2012 Spring Undies Run, we should a ... More >>

Nick Burresch and Phillip Reinig, OC Homicides Nos. 3 and 4: Shot Outside Home

​"POP-POP-POP-POP-POP-POP."Neighbors in the 500 block of South Clifton Street, near Lambert Road in La Habra, heard six shots around 7:15 p.m. on Thursday. Police quickly arrived to find Nick Burresch, 24, and Phillip Reinig, 30, bleeding out in front of a home.

[UPDATED with Afghan Marine Similarities:] Soraya Faroqi and Her Unborn Child, OC Homicides Nos. 64 and 67: Boyfriend Ahmad Siddiqi Held in Stabbing Deaths

Ahmad Siddiqi​UPDATE, DEC. 22, 2:12 P.M.: U.S. Marine Cpl. Ahmad Siddiqi cut a plea deal in an insurgent beating case last year that prevented him from being deported back to his native Afghanistan, where he was sure the Taliban would kill him. If he's the same Ahmad Siddiqi sitting in Orange Cou ... More >>

[UPDATED with Suspect Dead and I.D.'d:] Anaheim Police Shooting Injures One

​UPDATE, NOV. 9, 1:12 P.M.: The man shot by an Anaheim police officer near Casa Madrid Apartments on East Ball Road Friday later died.He has been identified as Marcel Luis Ceja, 22, of Anaheim.Ceja was among three pedestrians stopped by the unidentified officer just before noon. The cop later radi ... More >>

[UPDATED with No Attempted Murder Charge:] Marcos Gonzalez Caught After Allegedly Using Car to Run Over Motorcycle Cop

​UPDATE, NOV. 7, 2:15 P.M.: The Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) announced today it is charging  Marcos Gonzalez with one felony count of assault of a police officer with sentencing enhancements for causing great bodily injury and having a prior conviction for possession for ... More >>

Jose Velazquez Castillo, Mowing Backyard Lawn, Falls into Pool and Drowns

​This sounds like the opening to a Six Feet Under episode: Jose Velazquez Castillo was mowing the back lawn of his Anaheim home Saturday afternoon when he fell backward into his swimming pool and apparently drowned.The 41-year-old resident of the home in the 800 block of South Stone Circle could ... More >>

[UPDATED with 1 More Photo:] 3 Returning From Crystal Cathedral Service Perish in Fiery Crash

UPDATE, AUG. 9, 1:07 P.M.: One more shot by the Weekly's Brandon Ferguson from last night's triple-fatal accident in Buena Park shows the wreckage:​

[UPDATED with Victim's Death:] Leovardo Vera Bustos, OC Homicide No. 33: Dies From Single Punch Outside Nightclub

Medina-Perez​UPDATE, JULY 26, 7:44 A.M.: 24-year-old Westminster resident Leovardo Vera Bustos has died from the brain injuries suffered after sustaining a single punch in front of La Barca NIght Club in Stanton on July 5.Bustos fell backward, hit the ground hard, lost consciousness and never reg ... More >>

[UPDATED with Arraignment Continued to Sept.:] Catherine Kieu Becker Cut Off Hubby's Pecker and Tossed It in Garbage Disposal (Allegedly)

​UPDATED, JULY 22, 4:22 P.M.: Orange County Superior Court Judge Debra Carrillo in Westminster agreed to continue Catherine Kieu Becker's arraignment until Sept. 23.The 48-year-old Garden Grove resident's public defender, Frank Bittar, asked Carrillo to bar the media from covering the proceedings ... More >>

Unidentified Man in His 40s, OC Homicide No. 29: Shot in Anaheim Park

​Anaheim police received a call about a man who had been shot at Julianna Park around 10 Monday night.Officers arrived to find him suffering from a single gunshot wound. The yet-to-be-identified man was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead just before 11 p.m.

Emanuel Pennington, OC Homicide No. 28: Stabbed in Street Outside Family Party

​Garden Grove police officers were on their way to the 8200 block of Acacia near Fern Street, where reports had come in of three or four people fighting in the street just after midnight, when a dispatcher informed over the radio that someone in the middle of the altercation had been stabbed. Cops ... More >>

Enrique Mengoza Held for Arson After Allegedly Trying to Kill Himself by Burning Down his Home

​A man arrested Thursday morning for setting his own Westminster home on fire, which sent him and three others to the hospital, may have been trying to kill himself, according to authorities.Three hours after the fire was reported around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, 61-year-old Enrique Mengoza returned to ... More >>

[UPDATED with I.D.:] Gustavo Lugo, OC Homicide No. 9: Shot in Head After Attending House Party

​UPDATE, APRIL 19, 11:23 A.M.: Anaheim police have identified the man shot in the head after attending a house party Friday night as Gustavo Lugo, 20, of Anaheim.Police say about 100 people were at the party in the 9200 block of West Houston Avenue but that no description of the shooter or motivat ... More >>

Unidentified 26-Year-Old Man, OC Homicide No. 10: Stabbed to Death at County's Best Taqueria

Anyone seen my knife?​Taqueria Tapatia may have been deemed by this very site "the county's best taquería," but the Santa Ana eatery earned a rep for something else early Saturday.Being a murder site.A 26-year-old man stabbed multiple times in the chest during a fight inside the taqueria at 202 S ... More >>

A Skype Wedding: Groom Marries His Bride From a Hospital Bed at UCI Medical Center

​Nothing was going to stop Helen Oh from getting married this past Saturday, not even the fact that her hubby-to-be, Samuel Kim, had come down with a lung infection that landed him in the isolation ward of the UCI Medical Center in Orange. Family and friends from Korea and New York had flown in fo ... More >>

[UPDATED] Marques Murray, OC Homicide No. 5: Shot Watching Hoops in Motel

Steven Matthew LeClaire, Jr.​UPDATE, FEB. 28, 5:19 P.M.: U.S. Army Specialist Steven Matthew LeClaire, Jr. was AWOL when he opened fire without provocation on three men Thursday night, according to prosecutors.After allegedly killing his friend Marques Murray, 24, and wounding his father, Steven F ... More >>

State Report Blasts UC Irvine Dialysis Center; University Claims Recommendations in Place

​After a November inspection of UC Irvine's dialysis center, state regulators filed a 70-page report detailing poor oversight, unsanitary conditions and mistakes that put patient care and Medicare funding of the facility at risk.News of the report, posted by the Los Angeles Times today, prompted U ... More >>

Immigration Detainee Dies at Theo Lacy Jail

​Remember that cover story that ran in the Weekly a few weeks back about suicides and strange deaths inside Orange County Jails? The one that mentioned how the Sheriff's Dept. is filling up empty bunks with hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees? Well, now we can add an IC ... More >>

Angel Herrera Leal Convicted of Murder in Wrong Way Disney Way DUI Crash

​We told you last week about Angel Herrera Leal facing a murder charge in Fullerton's North Justice Center a December 2008 crash on the 5 freeway near Disney Way in Anaheim that occurred after the Los Angeles 30-year-old drove several miles the wrong way. Leal was found guilty by a jury today of ... More >>

[UPDATED:] California Adventure's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Becomes a Real Tower of Terror

​UPDATE: More details from Disneyland and Anaheim Police (see below) . . . Subject for your approval: it's the dark of night, and a young man fortified with hooch jokes around with friends on the way to an elevator in an elegant Hollywood hotel that has fallen into disrepair.

18-Year-Old Man, OC Homicide No. 38: Stabbed in Knife Fight at House Party

​A house party was raging in the 300 block of West Bush Street in Anaheim just after midnight Sunday when things turned ugly.A fight broke out. Knives were whipped out. Much mayhem ensued.Two young men bolted out of the home and collapsed in a nearby alley. Both were 18. Both had been stabbed.

Just Another Orange County Murder: Mary Bowman

View Larger MapThe 40-year-old daughter of Mary Bowman, 75, called 9-1-1 about 8 p.m. Wednesday to say her mother was not feeling well. Paramedics at Bowman's condominium at 1700 West Cerritos Avenue in Anaheim to discover she was suffering from a major head injury. She was rushed to UCI Medical Cen ... More >>

Crime Time: Boozy Mom, Asshole Cop, Thieving Aliens, Fast-Acting Pharmacist and Lotsa Stabbers

It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more boozy moms, asshole cops, fast-acting pharmacists, apartments full of thieving aliens and loads of stabbings!Courtesy of Costa Mesa Police DepartmentCraig Anthony McVay, 48, of Garden Grove, was in the midst of three years probat ... More >>

Just Another Orange County Murder: Renato Gaitan [UPDATED]

View Larger Map UPDATED WITH ARRESTS IN CASE.Suspected gang members were hanging out near an apartment complex in the 2100 block of West Alameda Avenue in Anaheim some time before 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, when a shot rang out. Police arrived to find Renato Gaitan, 29, of Anaheim, lying ne ... More >>

Crime Time: Nekkid Folks, Robber Baby, Strip-Club Stabbers, Loaded Brownie and a Flaming Bag of Poo

Courtesy of Orange Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentWe call this collage "Robberies, Solved and Unsolved." Top left: a man hands a teller a note demanding cash at Chase Bank in Orange. Top right: Booking photo of Adam J. Bennett, 20, of Santa Ana, who is suspected of robbing $ ... More >>

UC Irvine To Fire Whistleblower Nurse?

Paul SchultzThis is not Ethel Mark, but isn't she so cute?A cardiac care nurse at UC Irvine who raised questions about faulty narcotics pumps, proper nurse rotations and mandatory breaks was notified by management that she could expect to fired in early July, according to the California Nurses Assoc ... More >>

Just Another Orange County Murder: John Doe in Anaheim

View Larger Map Police responding to a call of a man down in an alley near South Olive Street and East Valencia Avenue in Anaheim around 9 p.m. Friday found a 20-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his chest. The unidentified man was taken to UCI Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 9:5 ... More >>

Crime Time: No Incidents at Home Plate Before Angel Game

Photos by Professional Services Responder George Ridley Olszynski, Lewellyn, Palmer and Hutchens play hardball.This week's Weekly round-up of local police calls is illustrated with a photo of Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, Anaheim Police Sgt. Greg Palmer, who is president of the Anaheim Pol ... More >>

Two Local Hospitals To Be Fined For Violations

marosh / Flickr / Creative CommonsThis might sting a little.St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and UCI Medical Center in Irvine will both face administrative fines from the California Department of Public Health, the department announced today. Each fine is $25,000, and comes as a result of "a det ... More >>

Tuesday's Headlines. No Surprises: Moxley called it

Moxley called it: Last night, the Los Angeles Times reported that OC Sheriff Mike Carona had been indicted on federal corruption charges. If you haven't already, read R.Scott Moxley's post on the subject, with links to his ballsy coverage of the official over the years. Note: The indictment is unde ... More >>

Unreal Estate

Santa Ana, $499,000

Mea Culpa, We Fuck-Uppa

There were two HUUUUGE mistakes in the virtual droolings below. First, in KEN CALVERT'S MOD SQUAD, we reported that OC Blog has always been behind state Senator John Campbell (R-Richy Richland) from the beginning of his quest for the 48th Congressional District seat. A close follower of Clockwork an ... More >>

The Talking Drug