Family Sues Los Angeles County

Mitrice Richardson was a graduate of Cal State Fullerton in Orange County and vanished last September near Malibu. Her family has now brought a suit against Los Angeles County for their lack of efforts. The Richardson family's attorney is alleging negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and wrongful death at the hands of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Richardson was last seen in September when she was arrested one night for not paying a bill at an upscale Malibu restaurant. She was later released from the sheriff's station without her car, phone or any money. Deputies let her go without conducting a psychological evaluation when strong evidence indicated Richardson was having mental problems at the time. Richardson's father, frustrated, commented: "I've been begging. I've been pleading. I've been asking for all the help I can get. I haven't gotten anywhere."

The Sheriff's department is saying, in their defense, that Richardson did not seem mentally incapacitated to the point where they would deem a mental evaluation was necessary.

The multi-million dollar lawsuit is now pending.

Criminal Law Updates by the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo (714) 547-4636

Here is a September 2009 report from MyFoxLA.com Channel 11

Dog Ordinance is Helping to Bring Down Gang Crime

An ordinance, adopted January 2009, in the city of Lancaster in Los Angeles County is seeing positive results after imposing stiff penalties on dog owners. Owners of "potentially dangerous" and "vicious" dogs such as pit bulls and Rottweilers are prevented from using their dogs to bully people or cause physical harm to others.

Since the passage of the law, the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control impounded 1,138 pit bulls and Rottweilers and of those, 362 were voluntarily surrendered by owners.

Lancaster's Mayor, R. Rex Parris, said that a year ago "these individuals delighted in the danger these animals posed to our residents, often walking them without leashes and allowing them to run rampant through our neighborhoods and parks." According to Parris, Lancaster is a lot safer now since the ordinance was passed. Parris said there was a 45% drop in Lancaster's violent gang crime, which includes homicide (Penal Code Section 187), rape(Penal Code Section 220), robbery (Penal Code Section 211) and aggravated assault (Penal Code Section 245(a) (1).

Criminal Law Updates by the Law Offices of William W. Bruzzo (714) 547-4636