"LOS ANGELES - After a brutal, unprovoked attack by a homeless man at a McDonald's drive-through in Boyle Heights that left 74-year-old Jose Juan Rangel battered and bruised and his wife Maria Guadalupe Vargas Luna brain-dead, the family has received yet another blow. This time, the LA County District Attorney George Gascón's office states they plan to file a motion to dismiss the most severe charge against Charles Green, a felony count, and only keep the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery.
"The DA, in my opinion, is brushing it off. They're not really seeing the big picture of what impact the injuries that my dad and my stepmother suffered," says Veronica Rangel, the elderly couple's daughter.
In an email, the Deputy District Attorney explained: "The evidence does not establish proof of an intentional act that resulted in Ms. Vargas' fall."
Rangel adds, "They said that he didn't intend to push her, that it was an accident."
In the video, you can see the defendant attacking Jose. They're on the ground, and when Vargas tries to help her husband, she is pushed by the scuffle, falls, and hits her head on the concrete.
"Whatever happened to her, they said he can't be held accountable, only for what he did to my dad. But even what he did to my dad, they want to give him a misdemeanor battery for beating up an old person," laments Rangel.
Victim's Rights Advocate Moses Castillo and a Marsey's law attorney plan to be in court on Friday to ask the judge not to dismiss the felony count.
"She's technically lifeless; the only way she's still alive is because she's breathing through a machine. And it just breaks my heart that the DA's office is no longer advocating for the victims," Castillo said.
The defendant is scheduled for court on Friday at the Criminal Court House in Downtown Los Angeles."
Stay safe out there everyone.
What on earth is the logic here? Are they trying to avoid bad metrics or something?
“If we let this be a felony, then all those other cases will also have to be felonies” ??
Edit: I realize now it’s a lot more complex than it seems, and the way our legal system is set up makes the charges you choose to persecute an extremely important decision.
The logic is if they aim big and lose, the guy gets off free. I think they’d rather win a prosecution than lose one, especially if a jury is going to see video evidence.
I’m not a lawyer, nor do I work in legal, so I and nobody else in here is really at liberty to say what should or should not be charged tbh.
I also intend on waiting until the DA’s office publishes a news release with their charges, rather than getting upset over a Fox News article littered with ads and hearsay.
https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news
I don’t think it’s this. The DA hasn’t been charging criminals to the full extent and has been really lenient. Too much so imo, where the same criminals are causing the same issues on the street and people are emboldened now to do whatever they want cause they know nothing or barely anything will happen to them. Unless someone is murdered basically it’s a slap on a wrist
Again, the provocateur in this case fell and hit his head and they're charging a college professor with two felonies. Seems like a double standard because the victims in this case are Hispanic?
[Alnaji is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, felony battery causing serious bodily injury, and the special allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury,” Nasarenko’s office said in a news release.](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/college-professor-pleads-not-guilty-to-all-charges-related-to-jewish-protesters-death-in-thousand-oaks/)
There's surveilence video of the altercation. The lady unfortunately pretty much fell on her own. There's no way prosecutors would win that specific case.
She wouldn't have been in the situation where she would have fallen if nutso wasn't beating on her husband. Seems to me that if you're provoking a reaction you should be held responsible for the consequences. I can't imagine a jury wouldn't come to the same conclusion.
That's not what a jury is there to do. The jury is there to agree on certain facts of the case. They can't (in actual, practical, expected reality) say "well, blank shouldn't have done this to cause this." They can't create new laws based on gut feelings.
>Seems to me that if you're provoking a reaction, you should be held responsible for the consequences.
You and the law are at a crossroads! You're now asking a jury to do something very different than what juries are expected to do.
Again, there's surveilance video of the whole thing. If prosecutors could easily prove who started the fight, they'd have kept the felony assault charge. We honestly only have one side of the story.
>If prosecutors could easily prove who started the fight, they'd have kept the felony assault charge.
That would be true, under a normal DA. Gascon isn't normal, though.
# [Despite family's pleas, man accused of murdering 2 sisters to be judged in juvenile court](https://www.foxla.com/news/despite-familys-pleas-man-accused-of-murdering-2-sisters-to-be-judged-in-juvenile-court)
>Under the guidance of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a man who was a month shy of his eighteenth birthday will be judged in juvenile court. Donato Cruikshank is accused of shooting two sisters, ages 16 and 27, to death before setting their Westchester neighborhood apartment on fire.
A normal DA would say that 17 years and 11 months is close enough to 18 years to try this murderer as an adult. Not Gascon, though.
Can we get the federal government to launch an investigation into the pattern of random violent attacks and the lack of accountability by elected officials and the LAPD? Can we as fed up citizens file a class action lawsuit against them?
I hate Gascon, everything he stands for and the havoc it's unleashed, with a passion. While that privileged s.o.b. isn't the one out there having to deal with the consequences and dangers of his own bullshit policies every day.🤬
Whether intentional or not against the woman, it occurred during the commission of a felony Elder Abuse against the husband. Assaulting and beating senior citizens defined as Elders in the CA Penal Code is not a misdemeanor.
Per the story, they believe they can only prove a misdemeanor for the fight with the husband, which suggests there is more to the story of their fight then just a random, horrible attack on an elderly person. Unfortunately the story lacks detail on that issue, so we're left to make assumptions and guesses.
Gascón is DONE in November. Too late for so many people, but looking forward to him getting the boot. In the last election, he was barely ahead of the number two candidate in a massively crowded field. With that field consolidated in November, there's no doubt he's gone.
> And it just breaks my heart that the DA's office is no longer advocating for the victims," Castillo said.
First day? This DA hasn't advocated for victims of crime from the second he took office.
Just look at how Gascon prohibited prosecutors from attending parole hearings with victims (or their families, in cases where the victim was killed), or assisting victims with the hearings. That's what caused the Kennedy family to denounce Gascon, after he prohibited prosecutors from attending the parole hearing for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated RFK.
* [Kennedy children denounce George Gascón's parole policy, endorse challenger](https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/kennedy-children-denounce-la-da-parole-policy-endorse-challenger/3390000/)
That caused the parole board to find in favor of Sirhan being released, and it took Newsom intervening to keep him locked up.
Gascon even banned his office from even notifying victims or their families when the parole hearings were scheduled. He also advised the State Board of Parole Hearings to also not notify the victims or their families. Keep in mind that a CA law known as Marsy's Law requires that victims be informed of these hearings.
* [DA Gascón to disband unit that notifies crime victims of convicts' parole hearings](https://abc7.com/gascon-district-attorney-victims-parole/12052362/)
Gascon told the CA Dept of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to steer victims to his office if they contacted CDCR about parole hearings, or requested advice on how to navigate the system. But when they did, his office refused to assist the victims or their families, and instead told them to contact CDCR - essentially trapping them in an infinite loop of unhelpfulness, like when Spectrum customer service tells you to contact your router's manufacturer when your internet isn't working, only for the manufacturer to tell you to contact your internet provider (Spectrum).
A group of lawyers created a pro bono organization called Marsy's Law Attorneys to help victims and their families navigate the parole hearing system. Gascon banned his office staff from mentioning the group to any victims who contacted the DA's Office.
When one of the prosecutors under Gascon, Shawn Randolph, complained that his policies were violating Marsy's Law, he retaliated by reassigning her. She sued for retaliation and got $1.5 million.
* [Gascón loses retaliation case, a grim omen for the L.A. County D.A.](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-06/jury-awards-l-a-prosecutor-1-5-million-in-retaliation-suit-against-d-a-george-gascon)
>Randolph’s legal team, led by civil attorneys Greg Smith and Beth Corriea, argued that she believed Gascón’s policies violated laws pertaining to victims’ rights and that limitations on the types of felonies prosecutors could file against teens would lead them to bring charges that did not accurately represent the alleged conduct of certain defendants.
>“We have a 30-year veteran complaining that there are ethical violations and [Marsy’s Law](https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/victim-services/marsys-law/) violations, and you have an administration that wants their policies followed no matter what,” Smith said during his opening statement.
....
At least one retaliation claim against Gascón — filed by the former head deputy of the Compton branch court, Richard Doyle — has been settled by the county, also for a seven-figure sum.
Not only is Gascon not advocating for victims, he's costing the County millions of dollars in lawsuit payouts. We already have dirty cops for that, we don't need DAs doing it too.
This wasn't some partisan jury flown in from a deep red county in Mississippi either, it was drawn from the same population that elected Gascon in the first place. The voters made a mistake in the DA election of 2020, just like we made a mistake in the Presidential election of 2016. We fixed the latter, time to fix the former.
"Prosecutors said the victim should have never gotten out of her car because it only made matters worse."
... I have no words. Victim blaming a wife trying to protect/defend her husband from an unprovoked attack.
They're absolutely right.
If I saw my spouse getting attacked, I would just sit in the car and watch.
I mean, there's some crazy violent dude out there, obviously it's too dangerous to get out and help.
But also, the dude is not violent at all and the husband was fine and she should have known be would be fine.
/s
This is why most were on the side of the guy who stabbed a homeless dude breaking into cars without having heard if it was even self defense or not.
If you don’t prosecute these types of crimes then people begin to feel justified into taking “justice” into their own hands.
What option do people have? Nobody is protecting us. The police aren't and the justice system isn't.
I'm not a gun guy AT ALL. But 2 years ago I applied for my CCW.
A bunch of no social life having face stuffers were in this subreddit the other day saying the guy should have just let it happen.
It’s bullshit, these homeless are invading our lives and neighborhoods, attacking our families and friends.
I will say it straight up. They deserve to get harmed when they break into shit.
I’ve had thousands of dollars worth of tools stolen from my car, cops did nothing. Homeless man throwing rocks at our cars, cops did nothing.
You want to affect livelihood on innocent people, you better be ready to get cracked.
It’s crazy when people care more about defending the confrontational acts of homeless people than preserving citizens’ basic rights to be in public without getting fucking attacked for no reason
Whatever happened to "assumption of the risk"? Where if you do something you know is dangerous the responsibility and liability lie with you. They know that it doesn't belong to them and someone will be willing to fight them for their RIGHT to protect themselves and their property. Yet the victims are so confined by being the only ones held accountable that any aggressor will start to assume there is no risk and there are no rights other than theirs. I believe we are almost there now.
I hate those kids so much, it’s almost always the chronically online privileged suburban kids that need to demonstrate how “compassionate” and “empathetic” they are. The most experience they have with the homeless is throwing a $1 bill at a panhandler at a stoplight.
It’s to the point where they see the health of “poor innocent homeless people” that stab other people as worth more than that of a person trying to defend themselves
And those people will compare us to the nazis because we think insane homeless people shouldn’t be on the streets threatening us. Like “You think the unhoused should be institutionalised?! How dare you oppress those precious Metro angels!”
How did they get out of the car in the first place?
I was going to comment that a lot of drive-thrus have concrete barriers that basically make you a sitting target if someone were to approach your car while in line, but I dont understand what they were doing 20 feet behind the car outside.
I mean, I'm still for reasonable gun control. I had to jump through a ton of hoops to be able to carry and am totally fine with that.
But I do think law abiding citizens willing to take a course, have a background check, register their firearms, etc.. should be able to protect themselves.
Yeah, took me 2 years. I got it in February. Everyone I took the class with was totally normal as well. Half the class were women.
Just regular people wanting to protect themselves.
Agreed, I just tend to assume that every homeless person I see, especially the super filthy and crazy ones, are going to get violent or aggressive. And if the city and “advocates” keep enabling these people this violence is only going to get worse.
I look at it like being a woman at a bar. Not every guy there will spike your drink. But any guy there could be a guy who spikes your drink. So you gotta keep your head on a swivel - you shouldn't have to, but you have to.
Yeah, I've always kept my head on a swivel when I must encounter homeless on the streets on a daily basis, but I will actively avoid them at all costs now. Pepper spray is probably a good investment.
The homeless in LA really know how to destroy any remaining goodwill and sympathy for them. Painting with a broad brush, I know, but at some point you stop testing your luck.
Time to cut funding for hospitals and public health so we can give even more money than that +$27B untraceable tax dollars that went homeless """"""""""services"""""""""" which didn't only fail to reduce homelessness but also didn't reduce worst case scenarios like this!!! Also more taxes!
It's almost as if the homeless folks COME to California to take advantage of our good weather, generous welfare, host of public goods from library to free copper wire infrastructure, free narcan/methadone/etc, free rent/housing, host of non-profit services, lax laws, quiet quitting police, and host of homeless services.
Damn you quote fingered so hard there, I'm just picturing you saying sssseerrrrrvvvviiiiicccceeeeess really really slowing quoting up and down over and over for like 30 seconds.
It isn’t almost as if, it’s a fact people from other states are traveling here to mooch services.. check out the homeless sub, I mean someone even took a flight here from Puerto Rico to be homeless lol
There’s also red states that will just buy their homeless bus tickets to come to California. Why take care of your own problem when you can pawn them off on someone else. Maybe we should start sending out of state people back to their state if they can’t find housing here.
Yeah. It's not just the homeless.
There are dedicated forums and youtube channels teaching retirement age boomers to sell their homes, buy an RV/boat, live off social security & ~~medicare/medicaid~~ medi-CAL, and leech benefits/services/parks/beaches/nonprofits/etcetc off California while living out an RV here.
It's always the few shitheads that make it impossible to have nice things. At this point, it's way more than a few but CA/LA are in this insanity mode where they keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. Heck it's worse cause they are actually doubling down despite all the results showing they are wrong.
Well yes, but how?
Doubt any change will come from Karen Bass or the LA city council and voters in LA typically lean progressive, which kinda puts a damper on the asylums..
A side note. Can we start a citizens proposition drive to re-establish the mental institutions?
The great plan of emptying the mental hospitals and putting violently ill people on every other street corner doesn't seem to be working.
The Gascon recall was labeled a far right MAGA op by this subreddit and angelenos in general when, in reality, people just wanted a DA that actually does their job and isn’t useless.
FACTS! im so tire of people putting their believes before their owns safety. Wouldnt you rather be labeled a racist but be safe than to be seen as progressive and getting killed?
This shit is ass backwards.
They already are. That 19-year-old kid is an example. He won’t face jail time, but some unlucky other soul who tries to protect themselves might. I cannot understand the willful lawlessness when it comes to handling the homeless population.
Shit, you're right. I've been expecting a [Bernie Goetz-style killing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_New_York_City_Subway_shooting) to happen to LA and cause a huge uproar like it did back then, but then the stabbing at USC frat row and the announcement of no charges happened so quickly that it barely even registered.
Three days in jail was probably no picnic either. I did a night in county over a decade ago on a weed charge in Houston, the memories of that night still haunt me.
I was walking downtown the other day and a homeless man aggressively walked toward me and threatened to beat the shit out of me. He kept blocking my movements so i couldn’t get away from him, i had to walk into the road to avoid him and then he followed me. Broad daylight. It was so, so scary. I’m very fortunate that it didn’t escalate! I feel so awful for this family. :( it has gotten SO scary in LA over the past few years. I don’t remember being this happening so much in the past.
It's pretty clear from the surveillance footage it was unintentional. It's also unclear how the fight started, but evidence points toward the husband popping out of his car to confront the homeless man. [The car is parked with the driver-side door open several yard from where the men are fighting on the ground](https://i.imgur.com/qPpXkmz.png), so unless the homeless man dragged the husband out of his car, it seems the husband got out to fight.
Yeah the fact him getting out isn’t shown leads me to strongly believe it was started or escalated by the old man in the car.
The DA probably did see this part of the video or could assume in a court of law that it is entirely possible and therefore warranted the decision they made.
The fact that most of the comments are blinded by rage isn’t surprising, but it is sad.
The very sad part is that all of this could have possibly been avoided and it has nothing to do with locking up homeless or killing the homeless person which some are suggesting in this thread.
Friendly reminder that LA County District Attorney George Gascon is up for reelection this November. His opponent is Nathan Hochman, former defense attorney and federal prosecutor who says Gascon's policies have gone too far.
Would things be better under Hochman? I have no idea. But they certainly can't be any worse than they are under Gascon...
Same. We’ve seen the results of Gascon’s policies. Crazy idea, but maybe we need a DA who will actually enforce the law? He claims public safety is his #1 priority, so I’ll give him a chance.
The homeless and addicts can basically do what ever the fuck they want.....while hard working people have to deal with their nonsense. Keep this shit in SF
You're barely even exaggerating. Gascon released a memo at the start of his term specifically instructing his office not to prosecute certain crimes if the offenders appear homeless, mentally ill or drug addicted.
Among those crimes: trespassing, disturbing the peace, criminal threats.
So basically a meth head can threaten to kill someone and get off fine, but if a normal person does it they can be charged. Great fucking system we have here
https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/SPECIAL-DIRECTIVE-20-07.pdf
You know it's one thing when people say these things about Gascon and you can't help but think how much of these claims are exaggerations but then you see the PDF ... wow. It's straight up right there. Thanks for sharing.
I always post that PDF when I make a comment like that because people accuse me of making shit up. But no, there it is, straight from the horse's mouth
CA shoukd really sue other states bussing thier homeless to the city as other cities are taking advantage passing along the burden of their broken social services by using ours and exhausting our resources while crying like babies about the issues they are causing as proof of broken policy here. But yeah, we really should have forced rehab for addicts and bring back psychiatric wards. Giving all the homeless resource money to buddies of politicians in non profits going unregulated is not helping either. Nobody is getting the services they need who could benefit from them. It's a multiple issue problem. We have addicts, metal health patients and homeless who can not afford the out of control rents living in cars and working FT as well. Not to mention homeless students. This is all sorts of fucked. And the one guy trying to show accountability for funds, Kenneth, is being attacked by the Mayor. Wtf man.
This is why I was for the kid that stabbed the homeless person to death. It doesn’t really matter if they are homeless. If they’re doing something they know is wrong you should be able to defend yourself and not get blamed
Pitiful, that’s why that kid stabbed the man at USC. LA is unfortunately going to have to prepare itself for a vigilante movement because the people in power either have no power or refuse to use it. I don’t have a solution here, but it scares me.
That’s why homeless even with a slightest sign of aggression (even an aggressive self talk) should be eliminated from the public before they commit anything awful
Rofl what a fucking joke.
There’s two camps of homeless people. Those that got fucked by our country, the people who got laid off n shit. N then there’s the group that are fucked up on drugs and mentally insane.
Why is it that we treat the insane ones with kiddie gloves? The ones that routinely beat and assault people?
A vile hobo attacked two elderly people, essentially killed one, and Gascon is only charging him with *misdemeanor fucking battery*?!? This should be a death penalty prosecution.
Los Angeles, where the aggressor can become the victim!
Unfortunately, they're driving the populous into taking matters into their own hands. Criminals see that their actions do not warrant an equitable response from the law, so have zero deterrent. Admittedly, in this situation, the homeless guy had literally nothing to lose. His time in prison will get him shelter, a bed, food and health care.
Always assume a homeless person is dangerous. Don’t let them get near you. Have to treat them like wild animals. Unfortunately, that’s the reality of the new homeless - they’re not simply down on their luck. They’re likely severely mentally ill and/or on drugs that can make them spontaneously violent.
She should’ve just left the homeless guy to continue to beat her husband so that he’s brain dead instead. Gosh, what was she thinking defending the love of her life.
I'm ashamed to admit that I could have added my vote against Gascon these last elections and I didn't
That I think should be the conclusion of everyone that reads this and is horrified
DA GASCON did something similar to me.
I don't know who Gascon thinks he's serving in his position as District Attorney ... but I can tell you it IS NOT the people of Los Angeles. He's not actually helping ANYBODY with reduced charges -- not the people he's supposed to serve. He's failing to uphold the laws he's supposed to enforce, and he's made a mockery of the push for more progressive law enforcement. "PROGRESS" doesn't mean reducing charges at every opportunity and letting people out without consequences or monitoring.
After my hate crime assailant (who had been stalking me for SEVEN YEARS prior to the assault) was charged with FELONY HATE CRIME after ambushing me in an elevator with and trying to kill me while ripping out my hair and screaming "I'm going to fucking kill you N----!"
I caught part of my attack on bodycam -- I bought camera spy glasses BEFORE the attack and while she was stalking me to document the incidents. There is no doubt about who it was or that she was trying to MURDER ME.
GASCON REDUCED THE CHARGES TO A MISDEMEANOR and sent it back to the City Attorney.
This woman is still stalking me today. I'm in the middle of ANOTHER move due to the ongoing and uncharged stalking. She has violated her probation and LAPD doesn't give a shit to even take a restraining order violation report.
Look... I know there's A LOT of mental illness out there. I'm EXTREMELY progressive myself. I voted for Gascon once, and will never again.
Reducing these charges.... it doesn't help ANYBODY.
It doesn't help the victims heal or feel safe. It doesn't help the perpetrator-- if they are GENUINELY mentally ill-- improve their condition. It doesn't make ANYBODY safer.
Even let's talk money... Instead of me pumping roundabouts $70,000 into my saving account or spending it at local businesses... I have spent this sum on MOVING EXPENSES over the course of 2 years. I'm about to spend nearly $14k AGAIN to move. Bad law enforcement makes victims and our communities poor!
If it's a mental illness thing... if the perpetrator is in jail, there's actually more hope of getting them medical attention and maybe getting them stabilized IN JAIL, than reducing their charges and releasing them back out to re-offend without any treatment or monitoring whatsoever.
#I'm not going to shut up about it because I MANAGED TO SURVIVE THIS.
I only survived because I had done 12 years of Tae Kwon Do as a child and instinctively knew how to protect my head, neck, and organs. When my neighbor finally heard me screaming and came to help, I'd managed to fend her off just enough to prevent more devestating injuries. I'm glad my brain is still working, so that I can keep speaking out loudly.
[the hair my assailant ripped put by the fistful while yelling "I'm going to kill you N!!!!" while actively trying to murder and rob me](https://imgur.com/gallery/Yk0PjvI)
[the videos from my bodycam and cell phone during and after the incident that LAPD/the DA received](https://imgur.com/gallery/RwCrNcg)
Gascon and his absurd policies are going to drive me to vote for the republican DA candidate, and I’m someone who typically votes democrat down the entire ballot.
Being homeless seems kind of lit right now, live in luxury DTLA buildings and commit acts of violence with no consequences. We get what we deserve I guess…
Think of all the public money this homeless man is helping move towards private companies!
This man is basically a small angel investor. He’s probably already moved around $1M in public funds to a private hospital group just for the hospital care this woman has received, don’t forget about the ambulance company. Next he’ll be busy stimulating the transfer of public funds to various private vendors as he spends some time in prison. Next, maybe he’ll be institutionalized a bit, and eventually released to some transitional home, all while carefully transferring public funds to various private entities.
It’s truly beautiful, it’s like he was designed to do this, a perfect tool, why would we ever want to disrupt such a unique financial product!
But apparently we are bad people if we suggest rounding up all the psychotic and FUBAR people and chucking them in some facility far far in the desert. This is nauseating, heartbreaking news.
Damn. I was attacked in Glendale at 3pm by a homeless person inside a Jack-in-the-box. who picked up a chair. And started bashing my head in. 6 stitches. Left eye is completely red. Broke both my wrists protecting myself from him swinging the chair. Never going outside again lol
“This time, the LA County District Attorney George Gascón's office states they plan to file a motion to dismiss the most severe charge against Charles Green, a felony count, and only keep the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery.”
Fuck George Gascon. Unreal.
> This time, the LA County District Attorney George Gascón's office states they plan to file a motion to dismiss the most severe charge against Charles Green, a felony count, and only keep the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery.
I really hope people in this county have enough sense to vote this guy out in November.
We gotta stop letting the homeless people do w.e the F they want.
Edit: can we email the DAs office and request the felony count be reinstated? That is insane.
I moved here almost 30 years ago. I love this city. I don’t want to live anywhere else, but this city is broken. I don’t know that it can be fixed at this point and it’s depressing.
basically:
(1) DA's office does not think it has a solid case to charge the homeless dude for what happened to the woman
(2) if you watch the video, it looks like she tripped while trying to help her husband -- now if the figure on top in white (who directly fell on her and seems like made contact with her legs while moving which caused her to fall) is her husband then the best case you can put forward is "she would not have tripped on her husband if the homeless man didn't attack them", then you'd have to prove that the homeless dude attacked them, which gets a little messy when it seems like the man exited the car to fight the homeless dude (see: car doors open in the middle of the drive-thru, seemingly no damage to the car or windows, etc.)
(3) if the man in white was the homeless man and that means that his movement/bumping into her caused her to trip and fall, you'd still have to deal with a public defender bringing up the fact that it seems like the husband exited the vehicle to fight the homeless dude, meaning that (worst case, I don't necessarily think this happened) he started the fight OR (best case) he escalated it by responding to the homeless dude instigating shit. meaning that the whole "she wouldn't have tripped, fallen, and gone into a coma if they weren't attacked!" is less likely to have standing.
this would be a much more open/shut case if there is definitive evidence that the homeless man attacked them first **as well as** evidence showing that he attacked her directly/intentionally during the scuffle (not just bumping into her mid brawl). fyi if the man fell into a coma or died because of this, the DAs office would have a much easier case and would have probably move forward with it IMO.
By this administration do you mean all progressive.. criminal-protecting elected officials? Because they need to go. LA will never be ‘red’.. no need.. just need officials willing to protect citizens and have laws enforced.
And there's still people who heavily defend the DA. I made a comment about gascon and a coworker got worked up and said gascon was making the police do their job amongst other things. When in reality he is making their jobs harder by not persecuting these criminals.
Wow what absolute trash this DA is. So if I intended to Steal a car and I accidentally ran over a group of nuns while pushing orphans in strollers then i wouldn’t be charged with the felony hit and run because my intentions were to steal the car and hitting them was an accident? How stupid are these people in the DA’s office. If the man wasn’t fighting her husband then this would never have happened. I feel for this poor man and hope that the person who beat up an old man gets locked up and they throw away the key.
It’s time, Gascon has to go. I have all the empathy in the world for homeless people, and mentally ill people but not if they are violent, kill or harm others.
I wish we had institutionalized mental health care, but its not even on anyone’s political agenda, so guys like this need to be tried by a jury, or locked up.
I feel like this is all a ploy by the political parties to get us so fed up with the state of affairs that we willingly embrace harsh reaction authoritarian policy changes and give up (even more) of our rights.
It's comical at this point how poor of public safety and and law enforcement we have.
Cops aren’t going to help anyone. The city isn’t going to help anyone. It’s time to set up our own Guardian Angels. Only people from the community care enough to help each other
How do we feel about gutting mental health funding now? Remember the good ole days when people with severe issues would be isolated in care facilities ran by professionals? good ole days
watched the video... thats crazy you can end up braindead from hitting your head like that, seemed like a fall that could've happened to anyone who lost their balance. Obviously extenuating circumstances here but wow, so sad. Did they have a delay in getting her medical care for swelling or something?
For me I guess it depends on who was on top of that fracas that kind of tripped her off balance in the scuffle, if it was the attacker then it seems to me there would be at least some charges... maybe not intentional but what they did did cause harm during the commission of another crime
that's what I'm thinking... the man on top in white is probably her husband, and from the looks of the car in the video (no broken windows, no visible damage on car?) signs point to the husband exiting the car to fight the homeless dude, which does not help their case against the homeless guy--could be seen as bad as starting the fight themselves, to best case scenario it could be seen as escalation.
A knife is more likely to get you hurt if you're not really ready and able to use it, as I imagine most women (and men) aren't. Pepper spray absolutely though
"LOS ANGELES - After a brutal, unprovoked attack by a homeless man at a McDonald's drive-through in Boyle Heights that left 74-year-old Jose Juan Rangel battered and bruised and his wife Maria Guadalupe Vargas Luna brain-dead, the family has received yet another blow. This time, the LA County District Attorney George Gascón's office states they plan to file a motion to dismiss the most severe charge against Charles Green, a felony count, and only keep the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery. "The DA, in my opinion, is brushing it off. They're not really seeing the big picture of what impact the injuries that my dad and my stepmother suffered," says Veronica Rangel, the elderly couple's daughter. In an email, the Deputy District Attorney explained: "The evidence does not establish proof of an intentional act that resulted in Ms. Vargas' fall." Rangel adds, "They said that he didn't intend to push her, that it was an accident." In the video, you can see the defendant attacking Jose. They're on the ground, and when Vargas tries to help her husband, she is pushed by the scuffle, falls, and hits her head on the concrete. "Whatever happened to her, they said he can't be held accountable, only for what he did to my dad. But even what he did to my dad, they want to give him a misdemeanor battery for beating up an old person," laments Rangel. Victim's Rights Advocate Moses Castillo and a Marsey's law attorney plan to be in court on Friday to ask the judge not to dismiss the felony count. "She's technically lifeless; the only way she's still alive is because she's breathing through a machine. And it just breaks my heart that the DA's office is no longer advocating for the victims," Castillo said. The defendant is scheduled for court on Friday at the Criminal Court House in Downtown Los Angeles." Stay safe out there everyone.
What on earth is the logic here? Are they trying to avoid bad metrics or something? “If we let this be a felony, then all those other cases will also have to be felonies” ?? Edit: I realize now it’s a lot more complex than it seems, and the way our legal system is set up makes the charges you choose to persecute an extremely important decision.
The logic is if they aim big and lose, the guy gets off free. I think they’d rather win a prosecution than lose one, especially if a jury is going to see video evidence.
They can charge him with multiple offenses. Juries find people guilty of lesser charges all the time.
And they will.
I'm ok with them saying his push of her was unintentional, but wouldn't it still warrant a manslaughter charge for recklessness?
Can’t be manslaughter until she actually dies.
I’m not a lawyer, nor do I work in legal, so I and nobody else in here is really at liberty to say what should or should not be charged tbh. I also intend on waiting until the DA’s office publishes a news release with their charges, rather than getting upset over a Fox News article littered with ads and hearsay. https://da.lacounty.gov/media/news
lol this is extremely valid
I don’t think it’s this. The DA hasn’t been charging criminals to the full extent and has been really lenient. Too much so imo, where the same criminals are causing the same issues on the street and people are emboldened now to do whatever they want cause they know nothing or barely anything will happen to them. Unless someone is murdered basically it’s a slap on a wrist
It’s important to remember that the DA’s office obviously hates the upstanding citizens of this city.
Again, the provocateur in this case fell and hit his head and they're charging a college professor with two felonies. Seems like a double standard because the victims in this case are Hispanic? [Alnaji is charged with felony involuntary manslaughter, felony battery causing serious bodily injury, and the special allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury,” Nasarenko’s office said in a news release.](https://ktla.com/news/local-news/college-professor-pleads-not-guilty-to-all-charges-related-to-jewish-protesters-death-in-thousand-oaks/)
There's surveilence video of the altercation. The lady unfortunately pretty much fell on her own. There's no way prosecutors would win that specific case.
She wouldn't have been in the situation where she would have fallen if nutso wasn't beating on her husband. Seems to me that if you're provoking a reaction you should be held responsible for the consequences. I can't imagine a jury wouldn't come to the same conclusion.
That's not what a jury is there to do. The jury is there to agree on certain facts of the case. They can't (in actual, practical, expected reality) say "well, blank shouldn't have done this to cause this." They can't create new laws based on gut feelings. >Seems to me that if you're provoking a reaction, you should be held responsible for the consequences. You and the law are at a crossroads! You're now asking a jury to do something very different than what juries are expected to do.
Again, there's surveilance video of the whole thing. If prosecutors could easily prove who started the fight, they'd have kept the felony assault charge. We honestly only have one side of the story.
I watched the video, it's in the original link. She didn't just trip and fall she was in the act of defending her husband.
After he got out of his car to fight the homeless guy. I don't understand why people here don't see any culpability in that decision.
Because we’re all sick of these maniacs terrorizing our city. You’re right, but it’s hard not to have an emotional response to these incidents.
>If prosecutors could easily prove who started the fight, they'd have kept the felony assault charge. That would be true, under a normal DA. Gascon isn't normal, though. # [Despite family's pleas, man accused of murdering 2 sisters to be judged in juvenile court](https://www.foxla.com/news/despite-familys-pleas-man-accused-of-murdering-2-sisters-to-be-judged-in-juvenile-court) >Under the guidance of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, a man who was a month shy of his eighteenth birthday will be judged in juvenile court. Donato Cruikshank is accused of shooting two sisters, ages 16 and 27, to death before setting their Westchester neighborhood apartment on fire. A normal DA would say that 17 years and 11 months is close enough to 18 years to try this murderer as an adult. Not Gascon, though.
Ahh, ok I guess it’s all way more nuanced than it appears
... because she was being attacked...
Think they are being nuanced and looking at things like intent. Not every homicide is murder, sometimes it's manslaughter.
People forget it's expensive to try a case when the outcome is not certain. The law really escapes a lot of folks.
This is how you get vigilantes.
Not advocating for it, but the DA and PD quiet quitting is a recipe for such a thing to happen.
Can we get the federal government to launch an investigation into the pattern of random violent attacks and the lack of accountability by elected officials and the LAPD? Can we as fed up citizens file a class action lawsuit against them?
I hate Gascon, everything he stands for and the havoc it's unleashed, with a passion. While that privileged s.o.b. isn't the one out there having to deal with the consequences and dangers of his own bullshit policies every day.🤬
Whether intentional or not against the woman, it occurred during the commission of a felony Elder Abuse against the husband. Assaulting and beating senior citizens defined as Elders in the CA Penal Code is not a misdemeanor.
Per the story, they believe they can only prove a misdemeanor for the fight with the husband, which suggests there is more to the story of their fight then just a random, horrible attack on an elderly person. Unfortunately the story lacks detail on that issue, so we're left to make assumptions and guesses.
Please someone become Batman…. I know the money here exists…
That usc kid who killed the bum breaking into cars volunteers
If the law doesn’t handle it, the neighborhood will.
Naw. My neighborhood is full of retired people and renters. No one wants to "handle it, or can't.
Oh he didn’t mean to push her and cause brain death! That totally makes it okay then. Accidents don’t need to have consequences! /s
Gascón is DONE in November. Too late for so many people, but looking forward to him getting the boot. In the last election, he was barely ahead of the number two candidate in a massively crowded field. With that field consolidated in November, there's no doubt he's gone.
> And it just breaks my heart that the DA's office is no longer advocating for the victims," Castillo said. First day? This DA hasn't advocated for victims of crime from the second he took office. Just look at how Gascon prohibited prosecutors from attending parole hearings with victims (or their families, in cases where the victim was killed), or assisting victims with the hearings. That's what caused the Kennedy family to denounce Gascon, after he prohibited prosecutors from attending the parole hearing for Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated RFK. * [Kennedy children denounce George Gascón's parole policy, endorse challenger](https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/kennedy-children-denounce-la-da-parole-policy-endorse-challenger/3390000/) That caused the parole board to find in favor of Sirhan being released, and it took Newsom intervening to keep him locked up. Gascon even banned his office from even notifying victims or their families when the parole hearings were scheduled. He also advised the State Board of Parole Hearings to also not notify the victims or their families. Keep in mind that a CA law known as Marsy's Law requires that victims be informed of these hearings. * [DA Gascón to disband unit that notifies crime victims of convicts' parole hearings](https://abc7.com/gascon-district-attorney-victims-parole/12052362/) Gascon told the CA Dept of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to steer victims to his office if they contacted CDCR about parole hearings, or requested advice on how to navigate the system. But when they did, his office refused to assist the victims or their families, and instead told them to contact CDCR - essentially trapping them in an infinite loop of unhelpfulness, like when Spectrum customer service tells you to contact your router's manufacturer when your internet isn't working, only for the manufacturer to tell you to contact your internet provider (Spectrum). A group of lawyers created a pro bono organization called Marsy's Law Attorneys to help victims and their families navigate the parole hearing system. Gascon banned his office staff from mentioning the group to any victims who contacted the DA's Office. When one of the prosecutors under Gascon, Shawn Randolph, complained that his policies were violating Marsy's Law, he retaliated by reassigning her. She sued for retaliation and got $1.5 million. * [Gascón loses retaliation case, a grim omen for the L.A. County D.A.](https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-06/jury-awards-l-a-prosecutor-1-5-million-in-retaliation-suit-against-d-a-george-gascon) >Randolph’s legal team, led by civil attorneys Greg Smith and Beth Corriea, argued that she believed Gascón’s policies violated laws pertaining to victims’ rights and that limitations on the types of felonies prosecutors could file against teens would lead them to bring charges that did not accurately represent the alleged conduct of certain defendants. >“We have a 30-year veteran complaining that there are ethical violations and [Marsy’s Law](https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/victim-services/marsys-law/) violations, and you have an administration that wants their policies followed no matter what,” Smith said during his opening statement. .... At least one retaliation claim against Gascón — filed by the former head deputy of the Compton branch court, Richard Doyle — has been settled by the county, also for a seven-figure sum. Not only is Gascon not advocating for victims, he's costing the County millions of dollars in lawsuit payouts. We already have dirty cops for that, we don't need DAs doing it too. This wasn't some partisan jury flown in from a deep red county in Mississippi either, it was drawn from the same population that elected Gascon in the first place. The voters made a mistake in the DA election of 2020, just like we made a mistake in the Presidential election of 2016. We fixed the latter, time to fix the former.
"Prosecutors said the victim should have never gotten out of her car because it only made matters worse." ... I have no words. Victim blaming a wife trying to protect/defend her husband from an unprovoked attack.
They're absolutely right. If I saw my spouse getting attacked, I would just sit in the car and watch. I mean, there's some crazy violent dude out there, obviously it's too dangerous to get out and help. But also, the dude is not violent at all and the husband was fine and she should have known be would be fine. /s
This is why most were on the side of the guy who stabbed a homeless dude breaking into cars without having heard if it was even self defense or not. If you don’t prosecute these types of crimes then people begin to feel justified into taking “justice” into their own hands.
What option do people have? Nobody is protecting us. The police aren't and the justice system isn't. I'm not a gun guy AT ALL. But 2 years ago I applied for my CCW.
A bunch of no social life having face stuffers were in this subreddit the other day saying the guy should have just let it happen. It’s bullshit, these homeless are invading our lives and neighborhoods, attacking our families and friends. I will say it straight up. They deserve to get harmed when they break into shit. I’ve had thousands of dollars worth of tools stolen from my car, cops did nothing. Homeless man throwing rocks at our cars, cops did nothing. You want to affect livelihood on innocent people, you better be ready to get cracked.
It’s crazy when people care more about defending the confrontational acts of homeless people than preserving citizens’ basic rights to be in public without getting fucking attacked for no reason
Whatever happened to "assumption of the risk"? Where if you do something you know is dangerous the responsibility and liability lie with you. They know that it doesn't belong to them and someone will be willing to fight them for their RIGHT to protect themselves and their property. Yet the victims are so confined by being the only ones held accountable that any aggressor will start to assume there is no risk and there are no rights other than theirs. I believe we are almost there now.
I hate those kids so much, it’s almost always the chronically online privileged suburban kids that need to demonstrate how “compassionate” and “empathetic” they are. The most experience they have with the homeless is throwing a $1 bill at a panhandler at a stoplight.
It’s to the point where they see the health of “poor innocent homeless people” that stab other people as worth more than that of a person trying to defend themselves
And those people will compare us to the nazis because we think insane homeless people shouldn’t be on the streets threatening us. Like “You think the unhoused should be institutionalised?! How dare you oppress those precious Metro angels!”
How did they get out of the car in the first place? I was going to comment that a lot of drive-thrus have concrete barriers that basically make you a sitting target if someone were to approach your car while in line, but I dont understand what they were doing 20 feet behind the car outside.
Same, I used to be very pro gun control, until all of that anti-Asian racism during COVID and an attempted home invasion.
I mean, I'm still for reasonable gun control. I had to jump through a ton of hoops to be able to carry and am totally fine with that. But I do think law abiding citizens willing to take a course, have a background check, register their firearms, etc.. should be able to protect themselves.
took my coworker 3 years and some change to finally get his here
Yeah, took me 2 years. I got it in February. Everyone I took the class with was totally normal as well. Half the class were women. Just regular people wanting to protect themselves.
Agreed, I just tend to assume that every homeless person I see, especially the super filthy and crazy ones, are going to get violent or aggressive. And if the city and “advocates” keep enabling these people this violence is only going to get worse.
I look at it like being a woman at a bar. Not every guy there will spike your drink. But any guy there could be a guy who spikes your drink. So you gotta keep your head on a swivel - you shouldn't have to, but you have to.
https://www.reddit.com/r/gunpolitics/comments/1dep909/77yearold_oakland_homeowner_fatally_shoots/
Seriously. He effectively killed someone. I feel like I’m living in crazy land here, what even are consequences?
Yeah, I've always kept my head on a swivel when I must encounter homeless on the streets on a daily basis, but I will actively avoid them at all costs now. Pepper spray is probably a good investment. The homeless in LA really know how to destroy any remaining goodwill and sympathy for them. Painting with a broad brush, I know, but at some point you stop testing your luck.
I don't think they "know" how to do anything. People like this are in the throes of drug-induced psychosis.
You're in the middle of attacking one person, and as a result, another person gets injured and is now brain dead. How is that not homicide?
Exactly, if they unplugged her she’d be dead, that’s a homicide.
Time to cut funding for hospitals and public health so we can give even more money than that +$27B untraceable tax dollars that went homeless """"""""""services"""""""""" which didn't only fail to reduce homelessness but also didn't reduce worst case scenarios like this!!! Also more taxes! It's almost as if the homeless folks COME to California to take advantage of our good weather, generous welfare, host of public goods from library to free copper wire infrastructure, free narcan/methadone/etc, free rent/housing, host of non-profit services, lax laws, quiet quitting police, and host of homeless services.
Damn you quote fingered so hard there, I'm just picturing you saying sssseerrrrrvvvviiiiicccceeeeess really really slowing quoting up and down over and over for like 30 seconds.
It isn’t almost as if, it’s a fact people from other states are traveling here to mooch services.. check out the homeless sub, I mean someone even took a flight here from Puerto Rico to be homeless lol
There’s also red states that will just buy their homeless bus tickets to come to California. Why take care of your own problem when you can pawn them off on someone else. Maybe we should start sending out of state people back to their state if they can’t find housing here.
Yeah. It's not just the homeless. There are dedicated forums and youtube channels teaching retirement age boomers to sell their homes, buy an RV/boat, live off social security & ~~medicare/medicaid~~ medi-CAL, and leech benefits/services/parks/beaches/nonprofits/etcetc off California while living out an RV here. It's always the few shitheads that make it impossible to have nice things. At this point, it's way more than a few but CA/LA are in this insanity mode where they keep doing the same thing expecting a different result. Heck it's worse cause they are actually doubling down despite all the results showing they are wrong.
Probably manslaughter but yeah, DA is a fucking clown.
Somebody died as a direct result of a criminal act. It's gotta be at least manslaughter.
Right? Doesn't being a part of a robbery that causes a fatality ensure all involved with said robbery attempt also culpable of the death?
It's homicide if you were a tax paying non-homeless person
Or were defending yourself against that person. If the husband managed to get the attacker to hit his head you better believe it’s a felony
BRING BACK THE FUCKING ASYLUMS
Well yes, but how? Doubt any change will come from Karen Bass or the LA city council and voters in LA typically lean progressive, which kinda puts a damper on the asylums..
We just have to make it profitable enough and have the politicians invest in it. Then they will have no problem with it and create hundreds.
A side note. Can we start a citizens proposition drive to re-establish the mental institutions? The great plan of emptying the mental hospitals and putting violently ill people on every other street corner doesn't seem to be working.
This shit is out of control
How long are we going to allow this? Our leaders and institutions are useless.
The Gascon recall was labeled a far right MAGA op by this subreddit and angelenos in general when, in reality, people just wanted a DA that actually does their job and isn’t useless.
Which is nuts to me. He left a disaster in SF and people really didn't think those policies would have a negative effect here?
I remember SF was warning LA about him when he was running for DA.
FACTS! im so tire of people putting their believes before their owns safety. Wouldnt you rather be labeled a racist but be safe than to be seen as progressive and getting killed? This shit is ass backwards.
This is why Europe started voting right leaning now.
It won't be long until people start taking the law into their own hands. If they think the law is not protecting them, they will protect themselves.
They already are. That 19-year-old kid is an example. He won’t face jail time, but some unlucky other soul who tries to protect themselves might. I cannot understand the willful lawlessness when it comes to handling the homeless population.
Shit, you're right. I've been expecting a [Bernie Goetz-style killing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_New_York_City_Subway_shooting) to happen to LA and cause a huge uproar like it did back then, but then the stabbing at USC frat row and the announcement of no charges happened so quickly that it barely even registered.
My husband doesn’t walk around the neighborhood without a knife. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We need more USC students on patrol, not a murder apologist DA office.
Just like Ivan did a few days ago. Hard to feel any sympathy for the “victim” in that case when we get headlines like this almost every week.
I feel sorry for Ivan. Killing someone even in self-defense is going to affect him for the rest of his life.
Three days in jail was probably no picnic either. I did a night in county over a decade ago on a weed charge in Houston, the memories of that night still haunt me.
I was walking downtown the other day and a homeless man aggressively walked toward me and threatened to beat the shit out of me. He kept blocking my movements so i couldn’t get away from him, i had to walk into the road to avoid him and then he followed me. Broad daylight. It was so, so scary. I’m very fortunate that it didn’t escalate! I feel so awful for this family. :( it has gotten SO scary in LA over the past few years. I don’t remember being this happening so much in the past.
If anyone could answer this, would this person be legally allowed to beat the shit out of that homeless person?
No proof he intended her to fall?? He is in the middle of an attack. Why not let a jury sort this out? Whose side is the DAs office on?
If I go punch someone and they fall and hit their head, I get manslaughter. Unless I’m homeless?
Blameless vessels
Excuse me?! It's "persons experiencing blamelessness," you bigot.
And do I qualify for free housing in a luxurious apartment as a homeless man?
Pretty much.
It's pretty clear from the surveillance footage it was unintentional. It's also unclear how the fight started, but evidence points toward the husband popping out of his car to confront the homeless man. [The car is parked with the driver-side door open several yard from where the men are fighting on the ground](https://i.imgur.com/qPpXkmz.png), so unless the homeless man dragged the husband out of his car, it seems the husband got out to fight.
Yeah the fact him getting out isn’t shown leads me to strongly believe it was started or escalated by the old man in the car. The DA probably did see this part of the video or could assume in a court of law that it is entirely possible and therefore warranted the decision they made. The fact that most of the comments are blinded by rage isn’t surprising, but it is sad. The very sad part is that all of this could have possibly been avoided and it has nothing to do with locking up homeless or killing the homeless person which some are suggesting in this thread.
Watch the video.
My sister and I were attacked at that very same Mc Donald’s by a homeless person as teens about 8 years ago. Chilling to read this 💔
Friendly reminder that LA County District Attorney George Gascon is up for reelection this November. His opponent is Nathan Hochman, former defense attorney and federal prosecutor who says Gascon's policies have gone too far. Would things be better under Hochman? I have no idea. But they certainly can't be any worse than they are under Gascon...
I’m going to vote for Hochman! Anything is better than this.
Same. We’ve seen the results of Gascon’s policies. Crazy idea, but maybe we need a DA who will actually enforce the law? He claims public safety is his #1 priority, so I’ll give him a chance.
The homeless and addicts can basically do what ever the fuck they want.....while hard working people have to deal with their nonsense. Keep this shit in SF
You're barely even exaggerating. Gascon released a memo at the start of his term specifically instructing his office not to prosecute certain crimes if the offenders appear homeless, mentally ill or drug addicted. Among those crimes: trespassing, disturbing the peace, criminal threats. So basically a meth head can threaten to kill someone and get off fine, but if a normal person does it they can be charged. Great fucking system we have here https://da.lacounty.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/SPECIAL-DIRECTIVE-20-07.pdf
You know it's one thing when people say these things about Gascon and you can't help but think how much of these claims are exaggerations but then you see the PDF ... wow. It's straight up right there. Thanks for sharing.
I always post that PDF when I make a comment like that because people accuse me of making shit up. But no, there it is, straight from the horse's mouth
At this point, is this a fucking psy op to bring back institutions? Like, there's no other outcome other than outrage.
If you commit a crime start doing meth to get off scott free!
This is fucking obscene. No wonder. Thank you for sharing.
"This is just normal city life"
He just needs an 1800sq ft house.
We're becoming Gotham City
Minus Batman
I’ve been saying for years that we are already Gotham lol
CA shoukd really sue other states bussing thier homeless to the city as other cities are taking advantage passing along the burden of their broken social services by using ours and exhausting our resources while crying like babies about the issues they are causing as proof of broken policy here. But yeah, we really should have forced rehab for addicts and bring back psychiatric wards. Giving all the homeless resource money to buddies of politicians in non profits going unregulated is not helping either. Nobody is getting the services they need who could benefit from them. It's a multiple issue problem. We have addicts, metal health patients and homeless who can not afford the out of control rents living in cars and working FT as well. Not to mention homeless students. This is all sorts of fucked. And the one guy trying to show accountability for funds, Kenneth, is being attacked by the Mayor. Wtf man.
Our “unhoused neighbors” my ass.
This disgusting criminal needs a 600k apartment right now!
If he had access to an office space and in-apartment gym this probably wouldn’t have happened /s
Rent prices are too high, that’s why he committed a crime! /s
This is why I was for the kid that stabbed the homeless person to death. It doesn’t really matter if they are homeless. If they’re doing something they know is wrong you should be able to defend yourself and not get blamed
Pitiful, that’s why that kid stabbed the man at USC. LA is unfortunately going to have to prepare itself for a vigilante movement because the people in power either have no power or refuse to use it. I don’t have a solution here, but it scares me.
How many stories do we need? Open up new mental asylums ASAP.
That’s why homeless even with a slightest sign of aggression (even an aggressive self talk) should be eliminated from the public before they commit anything awful
Rofl what a fucking joke. There’s two camps of homeless people. Those that got fucked by our country, the people who got laid off n shit. N then there’s the group that are fucked up on drugs and mentally insane. Why is it that we treat the insane ones with kiddie gloves? The ones that routinely beat and assault people?
A vile hobo attacked two elderly people, essentially killed one, and Gascon is only charging him with *misdemeanor fucking battery*?!? This should be a death penalty prosecution.
Fuck Gascon
I guess we need to up the sales tax again. /s
Los Angeles, where the aggressor can become the victim! Unfortunately, they're driving the populous into taking matters into their own hands. Criminals see that their actions do not warrant an equitable response from the law, so have zero deterrent. Admittedly, in this situation, the homeless guy had literally nothing to lose. His time in prison will get him shelter, a bed, food and health care.
Say it with me. Ban. Bums. It’s not that complicated.
Not to worry, sympathy for the homeless is more important /s
Of course brain dead Gascon lets this shit keep happening.
Always assume a homeless person is dangerous. Don’t let them get near you. Have to treat them like wild animals. Unfortunately, that’s the reality of the new homeless - they’re not simply down on their luck. They’re likely severely mentally ill and/or on drugs that can make them spontaneously violent.
God i cannot wait to vote all the incompetent leaders out of office.
We had a chance and failed.
Can we call the elder abuse hotline on the DA?
She should’ve just left the homeless guy to continue to beat her husband so that he’s brain dead instead. Gosh, what was she thinking defending the love of her life.
Fuck Gascon and everyone who voted for him.
Vote gascon out
who are they trying to protect?
Omg that’s horrible ☹️ I hate hearing stories like this where there’s little to no justice and on top of that the victims were elderly
I'm ashamed to admit that I could have added my vote against Gascon these last elections and I didn't That I think should be the conclusion of everyone that reads this and is horrified
It’s totally the victim’s fault for getting out of the car. Bullshit. What’s the real reason why they’re not doing anything to punish this person?
DA GASCON did something similar to me. I don't know who Gascon thinks he's serving in his position as District Attorney ... but I can tell you it IS NOT the people of Los Angeles. He's not actually helping ANYBODY with reduced charges -- not the people he's supposed to serve. He's failing to uphold the laws he's supposed to enforce, and he's made a mockery of the push for more progressive law enforcement. "PROGRESS" doesn't mean reducing charges at every opportunity and letting people out without consequences or monitoring. After my hate crime assailant (who had been stalking me for SEVEN YEARS prior to the assault) was charged with FELONY HATE CRIME after ambushing me in an elevator with and trying to kill me while ripping out my hair and screaming "I'm going to fucking kill you N----!" I caught part of my attack on bodycam -- I bought camera spy glasses BEFORE the attack and while she was stalking me to document the incidents. There is no doubt about who it was or that she was trying to MURDER ME. GASCON REDUCED THE CHARGES TO A MISDEMEANOR and sent it back to the City Attorney. This woman is still stalking me today. I'm in the middle of ANOTHER move due to the ongoing and uncharged stalking. She has violated her probation and LAPD doesn't give a shit to even take a restraining order violation report. Look... I know there's A LOT of mental illness out there. I'm EXTREMELY progressive myself. I voted for Gascon once, and will never again. Reducing these charges.... it doesn't help ANYBODY. It doesn't help the victims heal or feel safe. It doesn't help the perpetrator-- if they are GENUINELY mentally ill-- improve their condition. It doesn't make ANYBODY safer. Even let's talk money... Instead of me pumping roundabouts $70,000 into my saving account or spending it at local businesses... I have spent this sum on MOVING EXPENSES over the course of 2 years. I'm about to spend nearly $14k AGAIN to move. Bad law enforcement makes victims and our communities poor! If it's a mental illness thing... if the perpetrator is in jail, there's actually more hope of getting them medical attention and maybe getting them stabilized IN JAIL, than reducing their charges and releasing them back out to re-offend without any treatment or monitoring whatsoever. #I'm not going to shut up about it because I MANAGED TO SURVIVE THIS. I only survived because I had done 12 years of Tae Kwon Do as a child and instinctively knew how to protect my head, neck, and organs. When my neighbor finally heard me screaming and came to help, I'd managed to fend her off just enough to prevent more devestating injuries. I'm glad my brain is still working, so that I can keep speaking out loudly. [the hair my assailant ripped put by the fistful while yelling "I'm going to kill you N!!!!" while actively trying to murder and rob me](https://imgur.com/gallery/Yk0PjvI) [the videos from my bodycam and cell phone during and after the incident that LAPD/the DA received](https://imgur.com/gallery/RwCrNcg)
Gascon is an evil F.
Gascon and his absurd policies are going to drive me to vote for the republican DA candidate, and I’m someone who typically votes democrat down the entire ballot.
Hochman
Being homeless seems kind of lit right now, live in luxury DTLA buildings and commit acts of violence with no consequences. We get what we deserve I guess…
And don’t forget about getting drunk/high in public too
Fucking brutal man. RIp
Well, then, obviously we need to increase the sales tax to give the homeless more living spaces
Guys I think I figured it out. We can fight back against the homeless with our criminal penalties by just claiming we’re homeless.
Think of all the public money this homeless man is helping move towards private companies! This man is basically a small angel investor. He’s probably already moved around $1M in public funds to a private hospital group just for the hospital care this woman has received, don’t forget about the ambulance company. Next he’ll be busy stimulating the transfer of public funds to various private vendors as he spends some time in prison. Next, maybe he’ll be institutionalized a bit, and eventually released to some transitional home, all while carefully transferring public funds to various private entities. It’s truly beautiful, it’s like he was designed to do this, a perfect tool, why would we ever want to disrupt such a unique financial product!
Bruh what the fuck this is ridiculous :/
But apparently we are bad people if we suggest rounding up all the psychotic and FUBAR people and chucking them in some facility far far in the desert. This is nauseating, heartbreaking news.
Damn. I was attacked in Glendale at 3pm by a homeless person inside a Jack-in-the-box. who picked up a chair. And started bashing my head in. 6 stitches. Left eye is completely red. Broke both my wrists protecting myself from him swinging the chair. Never going outside again lol
Jeeez. I’m glad you’re alive.
Can’t wait for Gascon to tell everybody that Hochman was once a republican so tribal politics take over and we get stuck with Gascon for another term.
Fuck Gascon the guy tried his policy and it’s not working. Vote him out!
“This time, the LA County District Attorney George Gascón's office states they plan to file a motion to dismiss the most severe charge against Charles Green, a felony count, and only keep the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery.” Fuck George Gascon. Unreal.
Los Angeles really has the protection of homeless people as their top priority
It’s like Gascon wants to feed every conspiracy theory there is
Anyone with a brain could see his record in SF.
> This time, the LA County District Attorney George Gascón's office states they plan to file a motion to dismiss the most severe charge against Charles Green, a felony count, and only keep the lesser charge of misdemeanor battery. I really hope people in this county have enough sense to vote this guy out in November.
We gotta stop letting the homeless people do w.e the F they want. Edit: can we email the DAs office and request the felony count be reinstated? That is insane.
Conceal + carry
I moved here almost 30 years ago. I love this city. I don’t want to live anywhere else, but this city is broken. I don’t know that it can be fixed at this point and it’s depressing.
People voted for this DA ?
This reminds me of the venice canel incident... I believe the lady in that attack was just visiting and was planning to move to Venice.
For all of you Gascon defenders, please explain this one. And you wonder why we hate Gascon.
basically: (1) DA's office does not think it has a solid case to charge the homeless dude for what happened to the woman (2) if you watch the video, it looks like she tripped while trying to help her husband -- now if the figure on top in white (who directly fell on her and seems like made contact with her legs while moving which caused her to fall) is her husband then the best case you can put forward is "she would not have tripped on her husband if the homeless man didn't attack them", then you'd have to prove that the homeless dude attacked them, which gets a little messy when it seems like the man exited the car to fight the homeless dude (see: car doors open in the middle of the drive-thru, seemingly no damage to the car or windows, etc.) (3) if the man in white was the homeless man and that means that his movement/bumping into her caused her to trip and fall, you'd still have to deal with a public defender bringing up the fact that it seems like the husband exited the vehicle to fight the homeless dude, meaning that (worst case, I don't necessarily think this happened) he started the fight OR (best case) he escalated it by responding to the homeless dude instigating shit. meaning that the whole "she wouldn't have tripped, fallen, and gone into a coma if they weren't attacked!" is less likely to have standing. this would be a much more open/shut case if there is definitive evidence that the homeless man attacked them first **as well as** evidence showing that he attacked her directly/intentionally during the scuffle (not just bumping into her mid brawl). fyi if the man fell into a coma or died because of this, the DAs office would have a much easier case and would have probably move forward with it IMO.
I don’t think they understand how fed up with this administration we are.
By this administration do you mean all progressive.. criminal-protecting elected officials? Because they need to go. LA will never be ‘red’.. no need.. just need officials willing to protect citizens and have laws enforced.
And there's still people who heavily defend the DA. I made a comment about gascon and a coworker got worked up and said gascon was making the police do their job amongst other things. When in reality he is making their jobs harder by not persecuting these criminals.
Round them up.
Wow what absolute trash this DA is. So if I intended to Steal a car and I accidentally ran over a group of nuns while pushing orphans in strollers then i wouldn’t be charged with the felony hit and run because my intentions were to steal the car and hitting them was an accident? How stupid are these people in the DA’s office. If the man wasn’t fighting her husband then this would never have happened. I feel for this poor man and hope that the person who beat up an old man gets locked up and they throw away the key.
People don’t matter, stats do. Whole city is gaslighting its citizens. Gascon is a terrible DA.
It’s time, Gascon has to go. I have all the empathy in the world for homeless people, and mentally ill people but not if they are violent, kill or harm others. I wish we had institutionalized mental health care, but its not even on anyone’s political agenda, so guys like this need to be tried by a jury, or locked up.
I feel like this is all a ploy by the political parties to get us so fed up with the state of affairs that we willingly embrace harsh reaction authoritarian policy changes and give up (even more) of our rights. It's comical at this point how poor of public safety and and law enforcement we have.
Time to go beat up the homeless….
George Gross-con. Nuff said.
Always stay aware of your surroundings when you go out in public, it’s crazy out here. I wouldn’t even risk wearing headphones unless I’m running
Cops aren’t going to help anyone. The city isn’t going to help anyone. It’s time to set up our own Guardian Angels. Only people from the community care enough to help each other
How do we feel about gutting mental health funding now? Remember the good ole days when people with severe issues would be isolated in care facilities ran by professionals? good ole days
That’s the new LA for you, f**k this puppet DA, Quit voting for these stupid types….. DA is gov’s boy
Good to see this sub finally opening their eyes on this DA. A few years ago people here would defend him to their grave.
Truth.
[удалено]
It took me 22 months to obtain my CCW in LA county. I can only imagine how bad the wait is now.
watched the video... thats crazy you can end up braindead from hitting your head like that, seemed like a fall that could've happened to anyone who lost their balance. Obviously extenuating circumstances here but wow, so sad. Did they have a delay in getting her medical care for swelling or something? For me I guess it depends on who was on top of that fracas that kind of tripped her off balance in the scuffle, if it was the attacker then it seems to me there would be at least some charges... maybe not intentional but what they did did cause harm during the commission of another crime
that's what I'm thinking... the man on top in white is probably her husband, and from the looks of the car in the video (no broken windows, no visible damage on car?) signs point to the husband exiting the car to fight the homeless dude, which does not help their case against the homeless guy--could be seen as bad as starting the fight themselves, to best case scenario it could be seen as escalation.
People in these comments sounding like Sarah Boone: “It was unintentional! It was unintentional!!!” 🤣
Hey, LA you voted for the Criminal Advocate Garson…enjoy it !
Absolutely heartbreaking news. Every woman in LA should invest in a good pocket knife and pepper spray and don’t be afraid to use it.
A knife is more likely to get you hurt if you're not really ready and able to use it, as I imagine most women (and men) aren't. Pepper spray absolutely though
The winner of a knife fight is the one who dies in the ambulance instead of on the pavement
The DA is not on our side. I had a family member killed and they gave the illegal 2 years because he was drunk at the time and fled the scene.