Community Scanner

Long Beach Blvd and Del Amo Blvd. A 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. DUI checkpoint conducted by the Long Beach Police Department Traffic Section, was held at an intersection used by many drivers entering and exiting the city from Compton and Carson as few other viable routes are available in the area. Of the 213 vehicles screened, a grand total of three DUI-alcohol suspects were arrested, which meant 210 drivers showed no obvious indication of DUI, pretty much an encouraging total. Then there were the 14 drivers cited and or arrested for operating a vehicle while unlicensed with a suspended or revoked license, a bad move at any intersection.

1900 block of Florida St. A collision between a motorcycle and a car, under which the bike got stuck, resulted in a fight at 12:55 p.m. Then a tatted battler walked away, cops looking for him.

5200 E. Second St. At 12:45 p.m., a man in his 50s presented to a bank employee, who had already been notified by another branch of the identical bank at the Traffic Circle that this gent was going around showing his ID. This time, authorities were called in to sort out the case of the traveling fake ID.

4100 E. Seventh St. At 1 p.m., a man on a bike reached over a fence and helped himself to a package from Amazon that he was likely not entitled to. He then left on his bike, wondering what package that one came from?

Mezzanine St. near Clark Ave. At 2:50 p.m., a dark sedan sped away in an unsuccessful snatch attempt of a porch package, leaving neighbors nervous about their own deliveries.

Gerald Desmond Bridge at the northbound 710 Freeway At 9:24 p.m. a pedestrian jumped in front of an eastbound 2011 Freightliner semi-tractor. The male victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased. The driver of the semi-tractor, a 36-year-old resident of La Puente, who had a valid driver’s license and insurance, was interviewed at the scene and released. The pedestrian had no identification on his person and appeared to be possibly homeless.

Traffic was jammed up at this choke point for a considerable while as authorities investigated the circumstances.

300 block of Newport Ave. At 9:55 a.m., a bald man with a mustache, thought to be homeless, attempted to steal a bicycle, even though passersby were attempting to prevent the theft. That’s when the screwdriver was allegedly produced. He then took the very distinctive beach cruiser with pink wheels southbound to Redondo Ave.

230 block of Redondo Avenue. Seven black and whites responded to the pink wheel bike caper, issuing the suspect a ticket at 10:24 a.m. Then the cops went away as did the suspect, this time on leg power. Happily, the woman got her pink-wheeled bike back.

Downtown. Between 12:27 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., LBFD received 28 calls reporting an odor. The calls began from the south shore Hotel Maya area and then spread into downtown, which included the area of fire department headquarters and city hall, which is due to be torn down, though a connection is not established. One call came from as far away as the 300 block of E. 6th St. Meanwhile, the South Coast Air Quality Management District received seven stink calls. The AQMD inspector couldn’t even pick up the scent, much less find where it started, thus failing the smell test.

Pine Avenue and First Street. At 5:50 a.m., while investigating a call, police returned to their car to find something they hadn’t seen before, “a suspicious box with wire sticking out of it on the trunk of their police car,” said police department spokesman Sgt. Brad Johnson said. Cops shut down streets in the area and called in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad, which investigated, and determined the package wasn’t an explosive.

Meanwhile, the opening of the area of Pine and Pacific from Ocean Boulevard to Broadway and First Street from Pacific to Long Beach Boulevard of downtown was delayed. Even the Blue Line skipped the First Street stop. At 8 a.m., everything reopened, save a small stretch of Pine between First and Broadway that remained shut down for further investigation.

Long Beach Airport. At 3 p.m., the pilot of a twin-engine plane made a gear-up emergency landing with no injuries. After the pilot told the tower of mechanical problems and circled for about 20 minutes in an attempt to fix the issue, he landed without the plane’s rear landing gear completely lowered. There was no fire or fuel spill but authorities took to the runway to look for damage to the road.

steve@beachcomber.news