Manhunt for suspect who deliberately ran over Garden Grove officer
Marcos Gonzalez, 28
GARDEN GROVE, Calif.—A Garden Grove police motorcycle officer suffered minor injuries today when a motorist he had stopped ran him over and fled the scene, setting off a countywide manhunt.
The officer had pulled over the motorist about 9:30 a.m. at 13321 Brookhurst St., near Trask Avenue, for not wearing a seatbelt, according to Garden Grove police Lt. Jeff Nightengale.
The suspect seemed “nervous,” so the officer requested backup and told the man to get out of his car, Nightengale said.
“The officer patted him down and after a minute or two the guy decides he’s not going along with the program, so he gets back into the car to leave,” Nightengale said. “The suspect gets into the driver’s seat of the car and as the officer’s trying to pull him out he puts the car in reverse and hits the officer with the car door, which knocks him down. Then he puts it in drive and drives over his leg or both legs.”
The officer was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center with minor injuries and was still undergoing tests, Nightengale said. But he was alert enough following the attack to radio in a description of the suspect and call for help, Nightengale added.
The suspect was identified as Marcos Gonzalez, 28, who was described as 5-foot-8 and 220 pounds.
“He has really short hair, if not shaved, and has a soft cast on one of his legs,” Nightengale said.
He was driving a green 2002, four-door Infiniti with tinted windows and no license plates, Nightengale said.
The officer is 35 years old and is a 10-year veteran of the department, Nightengale said.
GARDEN GROVE, Calif.—A woman was in custody today for allegedly poisoning her estranged husband and cutting off his penis at his Garden Grove home.
The crime occurred about 9 p.m. Monday in the 14000 block of Flower Street, said Garden Grove police Lt. Jeff Nightengale.
Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, was booked for aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning, and spousal abuse. She was being held at the Orange County Jail.
GARDEN GROVE, Calif.—Garden Grove police could begin enforcing a new law banning nudity and arcade games in the city’s lingerie cafes as early as this weekend.
The Garden Grove City Council approved the ordinance last week that also calls on police to more strictly enforce the state law banning smoking in the cafes, police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said.
Police have alerted the cafe owners of the new ordinance, and the next step is training officers to enforce it, Nightengale said.
The Metropolitan Division of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) will sponsor the third annual Randy Simmons 5K Challenge Run in honor of their fallen comrade, SWAT Officer Randal Simmons, who was killed while trying to rescue civilians from a suicidal hostage-taker in Feb. 2008.
The Challenge Run will begin at 8 a.m. on Oct. 16, from the LAPD’s Elysian Park Police Academy and wind through the Elysian Park area, ending back at the academy.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A father and son are expected to be sentenced to federal prison terms today for their roles in the illegal trafficking of South African rhinoceros horns in a case brought as part of a nationwide crackdown on the black market in endangered animal parts.
INGLEWOOD, CALIF., Paramedics were called to Crenshaw Boulevard and 113th Street about 10:25 p.m. Sunday on a report of a wounded officer, county fire dispatch supervisor Bernard Peters said. The officer -- whose name and age were withheld -- was taken to a trauma center, where he was treated for a wound to his left calf and released.
