Community Scanner

First Street and St. Joseph Avenue. At 7:30 p.m., a female didn’t like a person taking unapproved photos of her, approached the person, who also didn’t like pictures taken of her. Someone allegedly shoved her into a vehicle, then took off, without one of the women. Both women called the cops.

5211 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. A dine and dash was conducted at 7:40 p.m. at El Torito.

Southbound 710 Freeway to the eastbound 91 Freeway. While walking on the freeway at 10 p.m., possible transient, Guillermo Ramirez, 47, was hit by two cars, both of which stopped, their drivers interviewed by the California Highway Patrol. Neither was arrested. The transition road was closed for about four hours while an investigation was conducted.

3800 block Cherry Avenue. An officer was concerned about a stranded pelican that landed on Cherry Avenue at 11:15 a.m., but was advised animal control would probably not respond unless the bird was injured, which he wanted to avoid on busy Cherry. Upon further investigation, a fault in its wing was discovered, which would probably qualify as an injury. The situation was somewhat resolved when a helpful citizen put a leash on the pelican so he or she wouldn’t wander into traffic.

600 block of Daisy Avenue. At 9:30 p.m. someone reported to police there was a metal object in the bed of a truck. Why this metal object was different from pieces of metal in thousands of other truck beds is not clear, but in this case, an investigation by the bomb squad and the closing of the street and evacuating of homes.

Bellflower Blvd. and Wardlow Road. At 2:50 p.m., four vehicles in the southbound Bellflower left turn lane managed to collide, one of them, a white small SUV was the lead car, facing north, hit by a compact, which was hit by another vehicle, while an older gray van brought up the rear. At the scene were police and the fire department, while two drivers continued to converse.

Bellflower Blvd. and Conant Street. At 10:30 a.m., an eastbound small SUV was broadsided by a southbound vehicle that ran the red light, then the SUV rammed into a tree. Neighbors supplied the driver with water and other help until rescue arrived.

5600 block of Parkcrest Street. What began as a home burglary at the 4100 block of Sebren Avenue in Lakewood became an all-out manhunt at 10:40 a.m., when a Long Beach Police black and white, lights and sirens westbound on Carson Street, made a U-turn at Viking Way and headed toward the problem area. According to an L.A. County Sheriff deputy, who was searching a get-a-way car on Carson Street near San Anseline Avenue, burglars ran from the scene on Sebren and ended up in a park community center. Two gave up, including a juvenile, but one was still on the loose. Black and whites and motorcycle officers as well as a sheriff chopper roamed the area with area north-south streets blocked as far south as Harco Street in hopes of catching the final bad guy. An hour later, all this activity subsided.

Palo Verde Avenue between Conant Street and Los Coyotes Diagonal. A resident’s car was ransacked between 9 p.m. the previous day to 10 a.m. according to a Nextdoor poster. “Unfortunately my passenger back window was left open yesterday and someone felt they had the right to hop in and go through my things. Too bad for them I had absolutely nothing of value in my car for them to take. They took everything out of every compartment and left a mess but found nothing. Clearly looking for money. Thank you to my local neighbor who was driving by this morning and told me my window was open.”

Seventh Street at Junipero Avenue. At 6:45 p.m., a large group of skateboarders preferred doing tricks and blocking traffic in the parking lot than following the instructions of police sent to the scene to clear up the bottleneck. Other units were requested to deal with this considerable lack of respect for authority, matched only by their skill riding the boards. So the cops themselves blocked the lot to prevent early departures under the rubric, we’ll show you.

3800 block of Woodruff Avenue. A guy on a bike pirated a porch package, then bicycled south toward Conant at 10:15 a.m.

3700 block of E. Willow St. Not necessarily related to long wait times, at 11 a.m., a substance sprayer arrived at the DMV office. Deemed toxic, it caused a building evacuation at 11:14 a.m. so authorities might investigate. Better solution is the system of appointments, though available times and dates are often a month away.

steve@beachcomber.news