Year In Pictures 2009

An interesting year, 2009. Photos by Ted Soqui ©

Dark Rain In LA

A winter storm darkened the city of Los Angeles today. More to fall all weekend long.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

LA Winter Wonderland

Just in time for Christmas, snow in our local mountains. This is the first snow of the season with more to come later this week.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

LA Auto Show Press Preview Day

Where the cars are the stars, the LA Auto Show. The show opens to the public this Friday, December 4 to Sunday December 18 at the LA Convention Center.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

Afternoon In The Bu

Late afternoon light in Mailbu.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

Pro Football Returns to Los Angeles

Pro football returns to L.A. with the Lingerie Football League (LFL), a woman's full contact tackle football league played in lingerie.

The Los Angeles Temptation defeated the Seattle Mist at the Sports Arena this evening with a final score of 26 to 20. The Temptation are still in contention for a spot in the Lingerie Bowl which will be held in Miami.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

Student Protest @ UCLA

Hundreds of students protested today at UCLA over the 32 percent increase in the annual tuition fee. The University of California Board of Regents voted to increase the tuition fee raising it over $10,000 per year for the very first time. Several angry students attempted to stop the UC Regents from leaving the UCLA campus by blocking the exits of the parking structures and laying down in front of the UC van pools.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

It's Beck

LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced his selection for the new LAPD Chief, Charlie Beck.

Beck is a 33 year veteran of the LAPD and Chief of Detectives. The announcement was made outside of the Mayor's residence, the Getty House. Chief Beck's family and members of the police commission were in attendance. Beck still needs to be confirmed by the LA City Council.

Photos by Ted Soqui © 2009

Dr. Thompson Guilty of Road Rage Against Mandeville Canyon Cyclist

Emergency room Dr. Christopher Thompson was found guilty today on all seven counts against him in a road rage case, including assault with a deadly weapon-his car, reckless driving, mayhem, and battery with serious bodily injury.

The incident took place on July fourth of last year during a group ride up Mandeville Canyon Road, a six mile country style road where Dr. Thompson lives.

Thompson was fed up with cyclist riding up and down the canyon road, he had previous negative encounters with cyclist where he used his car as a weapon against them. A report was filed with the LAPD against him for doing so.

On the fourth of July last year, Dr. Thompson encountered a group of 300 cyclist riding their bicycles down the canyon road, most of the riders were doing the speed limit of 30MPH. Thompson passed them on the opposite side of the road yelling obscenities at the group, then suddenly slammed on his brakes of his Infiniti sedan causing two cyclist to crash into him. One rider, Ron Peterson flew through the rear window of Thompson's car. Ron's nose was nearly ripped from his face and his front teeth were found inside the car, his face still is marred with scars from over 90 stitches. The other rider, Christina Stoer, suffered a broken shoulder and is still terrified to ride his bike. He used to ride two hours a day, everyday. Thompson's car was covered in blood.

Dr. Thompson is facing 10 years of prison time for his crimes and was remanded into custody by the court, because he was deemed a flight risk.

Outside the courthouse, the cyclist somberly spoke about the case briefly.

Photographs and footage by Ted Soqui @ 2009

Court pool photographs by Mel Melcon, LA Times.

Villaraigosa Mural Fail

The folks at Susy's Market just can't keep the mural of Mayor Villaraigosa up. Vandal attacks have kept the mural down ever since it went up earlier this year. Here is the latest incarnation of the mural along with the original version.

Photographs by Ted Soqui © 2009

LAPD Cruiser Prototype

A possible replacement cruiser for the aging LAPD cruiser fleet was put on display today for the media at the new Police Administration Building.. The Pontiac G8, Australian made, with a 6.0 litre engine. Some of the new features are special seats that are cooled to comfort patrolmen who wear heavy bulletproof vest and are more form fitting to accommodate police utility belts with holsters. The vehicle has an integrated in dash screen, and more built in safety features. Gone are the side spot lights due to hindering airbags, but the new cruiser features brighter LED and more outside lighting to compensate. The G8 is rated to run at speeds over 180 MPH.

Video footage by Ted Soqui © 2009

Final Three

The final three candidates for LAPD Chief appeared with outgoing Chief William Bratton today at the new Police Administration Building. The finalist are First Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell-Bratton's second in Command, Deputy Chief Charlie Beck-LAPD's Chief of Detectives, and Deputy Chief Michael Moore-Commander of LAPD's Valley Bureau.

The candidates are to meet and interview with mayor Villaraigosa today, the top candidate will be announced this Monday.

Today was also Chief Bratton's final press conference.

Photographs by Ted Soqui © 2009

Oops

A giant American flag was hung backwards from the new Police Administration Building during it's opening ceremony last Saturday. American flag etiquette calls for the field of stars to the left of anyone looking at the flag from the street. The flag was hung with the star field placed to the right.

Apparently the only people who knew this were the readers of the LA Times. Many complained to the editor of the Times, claiming possibly the paper printed it's Sundays front page photo in reverse.

During opening ceremonies, I spotted a senior LAPD color guard officer catching an almost worse mistake at the last minute. Someone mounted the American flag, that was to be hoisted in front of the Chief and other city officials, upside down. Oddly he didn't catch the breach of flag etiquette from the much larger flag, which was draped from the building by LAPD's swat team.

LAPD officials issued an apology and promised to be more careful next time.

Photographs by Ted Soqui © 2009

Los Angeles Police Administration Building Grand Opening

The new Police Administration Building in downtown LA held it's grand opening today. The 10 floor 500,00o square foot building will house the LAPD's administration personnel, including a new LAPD Chief, and also would replace Parker Center as headquarters. LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa along with his new girlfriend Lu Parker were on hand to dedicate the new structure. Other speakers included LA Police Commission President John Mack, Councilmemeber Eric Garcetti, Councilmember Jan Perry, and a tearful LAPD Chief William Bratton.

Photographs by Ted Soqui © 2009