"LAPD Refers City Council Aide(s) For Prosecution After Assaults" by Daniel Guss
City Hall drags feet on CPRA proving all nearby security cameras were broken, implying evidence tampering in latest retaliatory act against this column. I requested referral to District Attorney.
One or more aides to Los Angeles City Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson have been submitted by the LAPD for criminal prosecution after their January 15th physical attacks against this column immediately following a Council meeting in City Hall.
The LAPD detective handling the case confirmed that she submitted the matter to the LA City Attorney’s office along with my request for it to, instead, be handled by the District Attorney due to multiple conflicts of interest.
An LAPD spokesperson confirms that probable cause exists in matters that it refers to prosecuting agencies, emailing, “we are unaware of circumstances where LAPD would submit a criminal complaint without probable cause.”
Probable cause is a higher legal standard than reasonable suspicion.
In the days after the January 15th attacks, I provided additional evidence about the incident which took place along the City Hall atrium on the path I outlined in this photo.
But the LAPD has dragged its feet on my California Public Records Act request for all records substantiating its claim that each and every security camera in the corridors between the City Council meeting and City Hall’s main elevator bank had been non-operational for weeks.
If no such records are provided, it means that they are either being hidden or the LAPD would have you believe that the people responsible for those security cameras knew they were non-operational — for weeks — but didn’t mention it to anyone via email, in repair work orders or funding requests to replace them, et al.
Similarly, because the LAPD investigation has concluded, it has 10 days to respond to my CPRA request for a copy of its criminal referral, unless it can justify a 14-day extension.
Did I tell you about another recent City Hall incident during which an LAPD officer — who allegedly had been ordered to undergo behavioral re-training at least once — pointlessly stopped me while I was on a surgically necessary scooter, demanding to see my press credentials as I exited a City Council meeting? Then, when I asked, he refused to state whether I was being detained.
It went downhill from there.
This guy.
Enrico Luigi DiNapoli, whose identity was discovered only because of the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition.
You will be fascinated when I explain why LAPD Internal Affairs decided to not conduct a follow-up interview with me after I filed a complaint. Or, I should say, why IA canceled it, leading to a now-opened Inspector General complaint that, similarly, smells fishy.
We’ll get to that story soon, because there are several time-sensitive columns about City Hall waste and dishonesty in queue that I had intended to start publishing today.
Be good out there.
But document everything. Even if you don’t think you’ll need it.
Because you might.
(Daniel Guss, MBA, won the LA Press Club’s “Online Journalist of the Year” and “Best Activism Journalism” awards in June ‘23. In June ‘24, he won its “Best Commentary, Non-Political” award. He has contributed to the Daily Mail, CityWatchLA, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, KCRW 89.9 FM, KRLA 870 AM, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Downtown News and the Los Angeles Times in its sports, opinion, entertainment and Sunday Magazine sections among other publishers.)