by Liz Mullen
HB, PCH accident
A motorist in a hurry was hit by a truck in Hermosa Beach, causing a traffic collision that destroyed a traffic light and closed Pacific Coast Highway for hours last Friday, July 26.
Both the car and the truck were going southbound on Pacific Coast Highway approaching Second Street, according to Hermosa Beach Police Department Officer Keaton Dadigan.
“The big truck was driving in the far right lane,” Dadigan said. “The car was in the middle lane and tried to make a quick right from the middle lane onto Second Street,” Dadigan said.
That quick right entailed the car crossing in front of the truck.
“The driver thought he had enough room to make a quick right from the middle lane,” Dadigan said. “The truck didn’t stop in time. Those big trucks — it takes a few seconds … especially at a speed of about 30 miles per hour — to come to a full stop.”
The truck hit the car,and then hit the traffic light, knocking it onto its side.
Luckily and a bit miraculously neither the car driver or truck driver were injured, Dadigan said.
Pacific Coast Highway is a state-owned highway, so CalTrans had to be called to deal with the broken traffic light.
“It took several hours — almost the entire day — we had that section of Pacific Coast Highway closed,” Dadigan said.
HBPD Conducts Traffic Enforcement Detail
HBPD conducted a special traffic enforcement detail on Tuesday, July 31, on Pacific Coast Highway. They issued about a dozen citations, Dadigan said.
“Once or twice a month we do what we call special enforcement details,” Dadigan said. “We do details where we focus on one area of the city and try to make our presence known and show people we are enforcing violations,” he said.
HBPD targets areas where most collisions occur. Although the detail was not initiated in response to the truck-traffic light collision on Friday, it was initiated because there have been a lot of collisions on PCH lately. Speed has been a factor in many of those accidents, Dadigan said.
“The speed limit in Hermosa Beach on Pacific Coast Highway ranges from 30 to 35 miles per hour,” Dadigan said. “We were stopping cars going 50, 60. We stopped one car going 70 miles an hour.”
HBPD Make Weapons Arrest
Hermosa Beach Police Department officers took a “ghost gun” from one suspect and arrested a second suspect who hit someone in the head with a car steering wheel club lock during the week of July 7 through July 13.
Additionally, HBPD officers arrested a suspect who brandished a firearm at someone during a fight at the park on the 500 block of Valley Drive.
The fight took place on July 9 when one group of people started yelling at another group. One person pulled out a gun and aimed it at one of the victims.
That victim’s friend pulled out a can of pepper spray and sprayed the person with the gun. After that, both groups fled the scene.
HBPD officers were able to locate all the suspects and one was arrested on a weapons charge.
On July 11, HBPD officers approached a car parked on the 00 block of 11th Street where the driver was smoking marijuana. The driver told HBPD officers there was a loaded gun under the driver’s seat.
MBPD Nabs Target Thieves
Manhattan Beach Police Department officers responded to two vehicle burglaries at the El Pollo Loco, and two incidents involving thieves and shopping carts at the Target during the week of July 18 through July 24.
On July 19, MBPD was called to the Target at 1200 Sepulveda Boulevard about a theft that had just happened. The store detective told MBPD officers that a man, who was known to have stolen from the store in the past, had put items in a shopping cart and left without paying.
MBPD officers found the suspect and another person waiting in a car for the suspect. The person in the car was in possession of drug paraphernalia and both were arrested.
On July 23, MBPD officers were called to the Target, again. The store detective saw three suspects placing a large number of cosmetic items in a shopping cart and then concealing the items in large bags. The three suspects left the store without paying for the items.
MBPD had arrived before the three suspects left the store. All three were arrested for organized retail theft.
On July 20, MBPD responded to a call about a vehicle burglary at the El Pollo Loco on the 800 block of Sepulveda Boulevard. A woman saw a suspect leaving her car and found that debit cards were missing. Later, fraudulent charges were made on the cards.
On July 23, also at the El Pollo Loco, MBPD responded to another vehicle burglary. Burglars entered an unlocked car and took an iPhone and a watch.
There were 44 police reports taken by MBPD during the week of July 18 to July 24, including one for assault, eight for theft, four for vehicle burglary and one for vandalism.
Residential Burglaries in Redondo
There were five residential burglaries in Redondo Beach in early July, three of which involved thieves entering garages and stealing electric bicycles and one involving an opportunist entering a home after the resident was taken to the hospital.
That home burglary occurred on the 2400 block of Rockefeller Lane on July 4. When the resident returned home, he found that his electronics, including an iPhone 11, an Android Moto cell phone, MacBook, Dell and Samsung laptops were missing. Burglars also stole power tools, cash, documents and the resident’s vehicle.
On July 5, burglars smashed a sliding glass door to enter a home on the 500 block of The Village. These burglars made off with foreign and U.S. currency, a Sony camera, a Cartier watch and miscellaneous jewelry. ER
