Top San Francisco Area Local News Stories
Source: MedleyStory
Sticker shock was on the rise at Northern California service stations Tuesday as the price of a gallon of gasoline surge over $4 in many cities – up more than 15 cents since mid-January, according to the California State Automobile Association.
In its monthly survey of California pump prices, the CSAA found that the average for a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline was $3.85, up 15 cents since last month’s report. To put that in perspective, the agency reported that prices were 40 cents higher than California’s average price on this date last year.
Among all 50 states, California has the third highest state average price for regular, unleaded gasoline. Hawaii is first and Alaska is second.
“Gasoline prices continue to be largely influenced by investors’ activity,” said AAA Insurance spokesperson Matt Skryja. “They are looking for any influences, perceived or real, to both supply and demand. These influences impact their buying behavior. Positive economic news tends to inspire investors’ buying, as they anticipate increased demand. The reverse is true with poor economic news.”
The pump prices have jumped in every single metro area across Northern California, according to the report.
Northern California gas prices are now averaging $3.83, up 16 cents from last month. In the San Francisco Bay Area, motorists can expect to pay an average price of $3.90, which is a 16-cent increase. The national average price of $3.51 is up by 14 cents, which is 38 cents more than the national price on this date last year, when it was $3.13.
“I’m actually shocked,” Walnut Creek resident Don Sherwood told KTVU. “The last time (I filled up) it was $3.80. Now it’s $4.40. That was a week ago. It’s incredible.”
Debbie Waddell was filing up a rental van carrying her school’s debate team. The pump read $83.01 by the time she had filled up.
“I’m really surprised, we are from Houston and the price of gas here is much more expensive,” Waddell told KTVU. “We love the Bay Area, but this is not something we look forward to coming back to.”
The least expensive average price in Northern California can be found in Salinas where regular is $3.73 per gallon. Of all the metro areas in Northern California where gas prices are tracked by AAA, Eureka has the highest average price at $4.05. This is also the highest price in the lower 48 states. The least expensive gasoline in the country is found in Casper, Wyoming. The average price of gas in that metro area is $2.86. Wailuku, Hawaii, holds the dubious crown for the highest average price in the nation, at $4.41 per gallon.
Published: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:32:59 -0800
The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting an initial 2.2-magnitude earthquake that shook just a few miles offshore from San Francisco early Tuesday.
The quake was recorded at 12:46 a.m. about 4 miles west-northwest of the San Francisco Zoo in the Pacific Ocean, according to the USGS.
The temblor had a depth of about 5.5 miles, according to the USGS.
Published: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 07:04:20 -0800
Workers at a major Bay Area ambulance service on Monday said the company is threatening to layoff 170 workers and shut down operations. They said American Medical Response wants them to take 25 percent pay cuts as well as reductions in their benefits.
AMR workers also said the company will walk away from its contracts at several hospitals without concessions. Those hospitals reportedly include Valley Medical Center, Childrens Hospital in Oakland, and John Muir Medical Center, among others.
Workers said AMR told them it's lost its contract with Kaiser to Rural Metro Corporation. The deadline is said to be April 1st for workers to agree to the concessions.
KTVU contacted AMR Headquarters in Colorado and has not yet received a response to our inquiries.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:53:23 -0800
A scathing federal audit reveals Washington mistakenly sent $600 million dollars worth of government checks to people who are dead.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management admits sending retirement and disability checks to workers who passed away long ago.
That amounts to more than a half-billion dollars worth in the past five years. Some congressional leaders want to create a so-called "do-not-pay" registry.
David Williams of Taxpayers Protection Alliance said the solution could be much simpler.
"This is not rocket science. This is saying 'this person' is no longer alive," said Williams. "They shouldn't be getting a pension. This is not something that requires a committee hearing. Just stop what you're doing!"
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management said it is taking steps to correct the problem and that it has recovered about $100 million dollars of the $600 million that was improperly handed out.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:53:18 -0800
Victims of bullying and their families met on the steps in front of San Francisco City Hall Monday afternoon to rally people to join a youth-led fight against bullying.
Among those who attended the event was the family of Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, of New York, who committed suicide last September after being bullied for years. His suicide made national headlines and his family has fought ever since to prevent future suicides.
"One of the last things he said was 'Why doesn't anyone listen to how bullied I am?'" Jamey's mother, Tracy Rodemeyer, said. "Unfortunately, Jamey did not tell us or any other grown-ups that could have done something for him ... Bullying 20 years ago was an 8 to 3:30 event. You came home, got off the school bus, and that was it. But now it's 24/7. These kids are under attack."
The Monster March Against Bullying, organized by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and YouthVoice, will be held in October and organizers are inviting gay-rights supporter Lady Gaga to join the festivities.
Following Jamey's death, Lady Gaga tweeted "Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 yrs old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become be illegal. It is a hate crime."
A petition to help get Lady Gaga to attend can be found at this website.
The group is also inviting President Obama, who has also been a supporter in the fight against bullying and was featured in a video as part of the 'It Gets Better' campaign.
Jonah Mowry, 14, of Lake Forest, Calif., has also been a victim of bullying and his YouTube video, "What's Goin On...", went viral with more than 9 million views.
"After my video came out, I realized that schools downplayed bullying and suicide as it was some sort of joke," Mowry said. "I used to cut myself all the time here and on my legs. I did it in secret but deep down I wanted someone to realize it was like a silent scream for help but no one could hear."
Since Mowry's video came out, his father, Kevin, said many of the comments posted on YouTube have been positive, but not all.
"The bullying continues today on YouTube on Jonah's video. And although the majority of comments are positive, there continue to be ugly, hateful comments," Kevin Mowry said. "Last week, there was a comment telling him if I ever see you I'd kill you and slit your throat -- and that written by a young teenage girl."
Jonah's father said he continues to delete negative comments on the video, leaving only the positive.
"Kids need to know bullying is so, so serious and it is nowhere near OK," Jonah said.
More than 160,000 students miss school because of bullying every year, according to YouthVoice and Monster March founder Christi O'Connor.
O'Connor said the group is expecting some 10,000 people to participate in the march in October.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:06:00 -0800
The parents of Cyndi Vanderheiden have been waiting 13 years to bury their daughter, but now that partial remains have made her the first victim to be identified by authorities in the "Speed Freak Killers" excavation, the anguished couple said Monday that a burial is no longer enough.
In an exclusive interview with KTVU, Vanderheiden’s parents talked about their feelings after learning of the discovery made by authorities in Calaveras County.
1,000 bones and bone fragments have been unearthed from an abandoned well on and a second sight in the Central Valley since the digging began earlier in February.
In the small Central Valley town of Clements, the porch light is on – as it is every night – at the home of Cyndi Vanderheiden. The light has become a symbol of her family's wait for her to come home.
Though her partial remains were found in Calaveras County, her parents told KTVU Monday night the light will stay on for all the unidentified victims of Speed Freak Killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.
A lot of other families need closure, said Terri Vanderheiden. My porch light will stay on forever, because my home is always welcome and I want them to find the way.
The Vanderheidens said they never stopped looking for their daughter. They said she met Herzog at the bar the Vanderheiden's owned at the time in linden.
The family established a search headquarters next to their home. They will finally remove the sign which reads "Cyndi Search" when they receive her remains.
It's sad that we know we will never bring her home alive, said John Vanderheiden. But it's a relief that we did find her and that we can take proper care of her.
Vanderheiden said Shermantine once offered to tell the family where Cyndi's body was in exchange for $10,000.
I told him there was no way in hell that I would pay somebody who murdered my daughter, remembered the angry father. It's blood money and I would never to that.
But the Vanderheidens said they are grateful to bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who convinced Shermantine to reveal grave sites with the promise of money.
Herzog killed himself last month. The couple said they want Shermantine to be executed for his crimes.
"As far as I'm concerned, he can burn in hell like his friend should be doing," said John Vanderheiden.
The Vanderheidens plan to hold a public memorial for their daughter Cyndi and bury her at the Clements Cemetery less than a mile from her home.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:58:16 -0800
A third Marine is set to face a military trial Tuesday for the alleged hazing of fellow Marine and Santa Clara native Harry Lew.
Lew killed himself while serving in Afghanistan, and now his family is enduring a lengthy and disappointing search for justice.
Three fellow Marines are charged with hazing him until he killed himself in Afghanistan last year.
At the Veterans Memorial in Santa Clara, Lew was honored, but now his name is connected to a case where many say the honor of military justice is at stake.
When Lew was an aspiring performer at Santa Clara High School a few years ago, friends and family said they never could have pictured him in a military controversy.
"One of the reasons he wanted to join the military was he wanted to give back to the country he was born in," said Lew's uncle, Dean Chu.
The three Marines are accused of abusing Lew for reportedly falling asleep at a guard post.
Last month, one Marine was demoted; last week, a sergeant was found not guilty; and a third Marine's hearing begins Tuesday in Hawaii.
Lew's family is angry.
"We don't think justice has been served," Chu said. "What's hard is to see, what's the best outcome from this? And that is that the military changes its attitude towards hazing."
It's become a bigger issue. Danny Chen, a 19-year old Asian-American soldier, also died by suicide in Afghanistan in October after ongoing hazing. Eight soldiers may face charges.
"I think the fact that that case is progressing faster than in Harry's case is a reflection of the military paying closer attention because of Harry's," Chu said.
Congressman Mike Honda, D-Campbell, who helped start an investigation into the death of Pat Tillman, is involved in Lew's case.
"The whole sense of trust and confidence in our military and military justice is compromised," Honda said.
Lew's family said it can't testify until the sentencing phase of the hearing.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:42:31 -0800
San Jose police detained a 16-year-old male suspected of armed robbery Monday evening.
Police were searching a creek trail in the afternoon after the suspect ran away from officers when they contacted him in the 2000 block of Southwest Expressway at around 3:45 p.m.
The suspect was wanted in connection with at least one armed robbery in San Jose, police said.
When officers approached the teen, he ran toward a creek that runs parallel to the expressway, police said.
The creek trail was closed as officers search the area.
Police received information that the suspect was seen at a Valero gas station located near West Hedding Street and Coleman Avenue.
The suspect was detained there without incident at around 6:15 p.m., police said.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:59:49 -0800
Livermore police are searching for vandals who used rocks to cause thousands of dollars in damage to eight homes early Saturday morning.
The incidents occurred in Livermore's Valley East area between 1 and 2 a.m. Saturday and damaged windows, mailboxes and cars.
Police said the vandals used decorative yard rocks ranging from the size of a tennis ball to a softball.
The vandals could have done more than property damage Saturday, because a rock thrown through the window of Livermore home came dangerously close to a baby's crib.
When a Livermore mother returned home Saturday, she was shocked by what she found in her daughter's nursery.
"Pretty scary, her crib had glass all over it and she wasn't home -- thank God," said Lauren, a vandalism victim who declined to give her last name.
The rock flew into the nursery and punched a hole in the wall by the laundry room.
Had her daughter Daniella not been at her grandparents that night, Lauren said Saturday could have turned into a nightmare.
"Usually she gets up in the middle of the night," Lauren said. "If she would have been standing there, she would have died."
Police suspect the group of vandals are not simply throwing the rocks.
"They're using some sort of device to launch the rocks," said Livermore police officer Steve Gourd. "The speed and velocity they're going through so many barriers, they're going through double pane windows, going through blinds."
One possibility is that culprits could be using a type of three-person slingshot often used to launch water balloons, police said.
A neighbor who heard a noise Saturday captured video on his home surveillance system just before 2 a.m. The video shows a white car at one angle driving in the area of Charlotte Common and Charlotte Way and then leaving the area.
Police describe the car as something similar to a Toyota, Scion or Ford Flex.
Police said the incident isn't related to another recent incident where someone threw rocks at an officer.
The suspects could face felony charges and police said there is a plan to increase patrols in that area.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:27:54 -0800
The parents of a suspect arrested for allegedly killing a man in the Berkeley hills over the weekend on Monday said their son has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and argued the mental health system has failed him.
23-year-old Alameda resident Daniel Jordan Dewitt is in jail on suspicion of murder after police say he fatally attacked another man outside the man's home in the Berkeley hills.
Police said Dewitt trespassed onto the property of 67-year-old Peter Cukor's 6,500-square-foot home Saturday night. Berkeley police Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said a woman called police Saturday night and reported that she and her husband had arrived home to find a stranger near their garage.
When he asked Dewitt to leave, the suspect allegedly dragged Cukor into some bushes and hit him with a flower pot.
Kusmiss said an officer arrested Daniel Jordan Dewitt at a park about a block from the scene shortly after the attack.
Cukor died later in the hospital. The victim's friends and family said he worked as an engineer and owned a logistics consulting firm. He was remembered as a wonderful man.
"It's a pretty shocking event to say the least," said neighbor Gary Marcus.
The fatal incident has become a tragedy on both sides, for the victim and his family and for Dewitt's family.
"Our hearts go out to the family, the victim," said stepfather Al Dewitt. "It’s really sad. We pray everything's okay with them."
The suspect’s parents expressed their heartbreak Monday. Their son Daniel is now being held without bail in jail.
"If you could use three words to describe my son – you could ask his teachers or neighbors – it's gentle, sweet and kind," said his mother, Candy Dewitt.
Photos on the wall of his bedroom show a boy who loved to fish with his dad. The son of Alameda's first African-American city councilman, the late Al Dewitt, Daniel played football at Alameda High School and was headed for college when he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic at age 18.
"Our system is such that they go in, they shove them full of all kinds of antipsychotics and put them back out on the street again," said the suspect's mother.
Candy Dewitt said she saw her son the day before the attack and that there was no indication he was violent. However, she said he had been getting worse since July after trying to medicate himself not with drugs, which he hated, but with a healthy diet and exercise.
"What needs to change in our system is people need to be made to take meds before they get to this point," said Candy Dewitt.
The case is also the focus of some controversy over how police handled the situation and whether they were too busy with the Occupy protest on the U.C Berkeley campus to respond to the call in a timely fashion.
The Berkeley Police Department released a statement Monday evening that stated during the initial call, the "caller calmly reported an encounter with a strange person on his property, and asked for an officer to respond." The call was queued for dispatch, according to the statement.
The press release goes on to note that "available Patrol teams were being reconfigured in order to monitor a protest which was to come into Berkeley from Oakland." The reduction of officers available meant that "only criminal, in-progress emergency calls were to be dispatched," the statement said.
The department then received the call about the attack against Cukor and officers "were immediately dispatched to that call." Police said the investigation into the case was ongoing.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:05:00 -0800
The owner of a helicopter flight school whose student was involved in a midair collision said Monday the pilot narrowly escaped what could have been a deadly crash after the chopper was hit from behind by a small plane.
Instead, the pilots of both the Robinson R22 helicopter and Beechcraft Bonanza plane escaped with minor injuries after making rough emergency landings Sunday evening just north of Antioch, about halfway between Oakland and Sacramento.
The chopper pilot, a 29-year-old woman, is an experienced commercial airplane pilot who was logging night-flying hours alone toward a helicopter license, said Wayne Prodger, owner of Vertical CFI Helicopters in Hayward.
The woman told Prodger she briefly saw the plane behind her around 7 p.m. The next thing she knew, it struck the chopper's skids and she was falling to the ground, Prodger told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
"A few feet higher, it would've been catastrophic because the plane would've crashed right into the copter," he said.
Prodger declined to give his student's name, saying she's still shaken up from the incident.
The helicopter set down just off state Highway 160, while the single-engine plane made a rough landing in a field just short of a nearby airport, authorities said.
Prodger said the woman's flight experience helped keep damage and injury to a minimum.
"The copter flipped over and she got herself out and turned the fuel off. In the face of all adversity, she was calm and cool enough to turn the switches off," Prodger said.
"From all accounts, she did everything perfectly to get the copter down," he added.
Two people were aboard the plane, said Ian Gregor, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. The passenger was not injured.
Both pilots were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos said. The woman had cuts to her hands from barbed wire she encountered while climbing out of the chopper, according to Prodger.
The 1961 six-seat Beechcraft plane is registered to Ronald A. Gawer of Brentwood in Contra Costa County, records show.
Gawer did not immediately return a call for comment Monday.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the cause of the crash.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:00:08 -0800
Hundreds of people have gathered outside San Quentin State Prison Monday afternoon for a protest that organizers are calling historic because they say it merges the Occupy and prisoners' rights movements.
Between 600 and 700 demonstrators were protesting peacefully outside the prison's East Gate as of 2 p.m., according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.
The protest began at noon and was scheduled to continue until 3 p.m. A prison spokesman said San Quentin is on lockdown and that prisoners are being kept in their cells.
Organizer Barbara Becnel said the protesters are calling for a number of reforms, including the elimination of solitary confinement, the death penalty and California's "three strikes" law, and an end to the practice of trying some juveniles as adults.
The crowd included activists Sara Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, who served time in an Iranian prison after being arrested by Iranian authorities while hiking along the Iraq border in July 2009.
Shourd was freed in September 2010, and Bauer and Fattal were released about a year later.
Speaking at today's rally, Shourd said, "The prison officials say they need more time to end solitary confinement ... I say we need to keep the pressure on and we need to end solitary confinement now."
Bectel said the protesters have already achieved one of their goals: bringing the Occupy movement and the prisoners' rights movement together.
Occupy Oakland's website encourages its members to participate and lists carpool information for those who planned to attend.
She said the San Quentin rally is one of 15 taking place today at prisons throughout the country -- including in New York, Baltimore and Boston -- as part of National Occupy Day in Support of Prisoners.
The groups are seeking change at both the state and federal levels, and are planning an "Occupy the Justice Department" action in Washington, D.C., on April 24.
Authorities have shut down the Interstate Highway 580 on- and off-ramps at East Francisco Boulevard while the protest continues.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:26:59 -0800
The Bay Bridge is back open, providing relief to drivers who stayed in town over the Presidents Day weekend and were caught up in the gridlock during the closure.
The bridge's upper deck reopened Sunday evening, nearly a day and a half ahead of schedule. Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said unexpectedly good weather allowed work to progress quickly.
The closure allowed crews to construct a detour for westbound cars that will allow for the construction of part of the new eastern span.
Motorists passing through the toll plaza are asked to drive carefully on the new detour, since the merge is different. While 20 lanes still merge down to five, they curve slightly to the south, Ney said.
During the closure, which began at 8 p.m. Friday, motorists trying to get from the East Bay to San Francisco had to take alternate routes, and traffic slowed to a crawl on the Bay Area's other bridges.
On Saturday, more than 67,600 southbound vehicles crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, compared to 39,799 on the Saturday of Presidents Day weekend last year, bridge district officials said.
BART tallied 236,600 riders on Saturday -- the fifth-highest Saturday ridership in the agency's history. The highest Saturday ridership was 278,600 riders on Sept. 1, 2007, when the bridge was shut down and three major sporting events were scheduled.
Ney said Bay Area residents won't have to worry about another bridge closure for a while.
"The next time we plan to close the Bay Bridge will be to open the new Bay Bridge, Labor Day weekend 2013," Ney said.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:59:35 -0800
A family's return trip from Mexico came to a tragic end early Monday when their SUV overturned on a San Jose off-ramp, killing one person and sending two others to the hospital for treatement, according to the California Highway Patrol.
CHP Officer DJ Sarabia said none of the eight people in the SUV was wearing a seat belt when the accident happened around 4:45 a.m. on the off-ramp from northbound U.S. Highway 101 to eastbound Capitol Expressway.
"It appears that either unsafe speed or unsafe turning movement caused them to lose control," Sarabia said.
He said the SUV rolled and that two people were ejected from the car, including the man who was killed.
The second person who was ejected suffered major injuries and was taken to a hospital along with a third victim, who had minor injuries, Sarabia said.
The other five people in the car suffered minor injuries but didn't require hospitalization, he said.
There were no children in the car, he said.
Sarabia said it appears that the family, who lives locally, was just getting back from Mexico when the crash happened. He said the man who was killed was sitting in the right rear passenger seat.
Investigators do not believe alcohol was a factor in the crash. Sarabia said the driver might simply have been going too fast on the slick roadway.
"It wasn't raining, but the roadway was wet at the time," he said.
The crash shut down the off-ramp for about two hours.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:59:59 -0800
Family and friends gathered in downtown San Francisco Monday to mourn the passing and celebrate the life of Rose Cliver, one of the last remaining survivors of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
Cliver, 109, who passed away in Santa Rosa on Saturday, was celebrated at John's Grill on Ellis Street with a lunch, the sounding of a fire truck siren and the ringing of a bell outside the restaurant.
"I figured she's going to go beyond 110," Cliver's nephew Herman Wyrsch said. "There's no way she's going to stop but everything comes to an end and I guess the parts got old."
Wyrsch, 79, of Walnut Creek, recalled the earthquake stories he heard from Cliver and his father, who also was alive for the infamous quake.
He said his father and Cliver went to the top of Bernal Heights, where the family lived, and could see the flames burning the city.
" 1/8She 3/8 remembered sleeping outdoors like they all did for the first few nights, and they could go back into the house and sleep but all the cooking was outdoors," Wyrsch said. "She was three and a half. A little frightened that the fire was going to come in her direction."
Wyrsch also spoke about Cliver's sense of humor, which didn't waver, even in her later years.
"I remember her making a comment that the city was devastated in 1906 but the city went downhill after that," Wyrsch said. "She says a lot of changes but not for the good and her statement was 'It's gone with the wind.'"
Wyrsch's son, San Francisco Fire Department Battalion Chief Vic Wyrsch, was also in attendance.
With Cliver's passing, there are four remaining survivors of the 1906 earthquake.
Bill Del Monte and Winnie Hook are both 106-years-old, George Quilici was born in 1905, and the eldest member of the club is Ruth Newman, who was born in 1901.
Del Monte's niece, Janette Barroca, said she hopes to get him to the April 18 earthquake breakfast at John's Grill but it might be a bit hard to get him up at 5 a.m.
"Last year was a little bit rougher and at 106, he's slowing down," she said. "Other than that, he's doing all right."
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:09:39 -0800
A tattoo parlor in San Jose was heavily damaged in a fire Monday morning, firefighters said.
The fire was reported at 4:54 a.m. at 1050 Blossom Hill Road, fire Capt. Rob Brown said.
Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after 5 a.m. and found flames coming out of the windows of the second floor of the commercial building, Brown said.
The second floor of the two-story building is occupied by the tattoo parlor Lucky Star Tattoo, Brown said.
Firefighters called a second alarm right away, but canceled it after they were able to get the fire mostly knocked down by 5:25 a.m.
The fire was under control by 5:34 a.m., Brown said.
The tattoo parlor sustained heavy damage, though firefighters were able to contain most of the damage to the back half of the unit.
The most heavily damaged area was the studio portion of the tattoo parlor, while an office and filing area towards the front of the building was mostly saved, Brown said.
The first floor was undamaged by the fire and sustained some water damage, Brown said.
The building was unoccupied at the time of the fire and no one was injured. A fire investigator was on the scene this morning to determine the cause.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:05:13 -0800
An Oakland police officer shot a robbery suspect in an East Oakland neighborhood late Sunday night, police said.
The officer had pulled over a vehicle in the 2000 block of 62nd Avenue at 11:43 p.m.
There were at least two suspects in the vehicle believed to be connected to an armed robbery in the area shortly before the traffic stop, Officer Johnna Watson said.
After they were pulled over, one of the passengers ran from the vehicle, Watson said.
Watson said the officer ran after the fleeing suspect, and realized that he was in possession of a firearm.
The officer shot and wounded the man, who Watson said did not fire at the officer.
The other suspect fled in a vehicle and remains at large, Watson said.
The injured suspect, a man in his 20s, was treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital and is in stable condition, Watson said.
His injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said.
Watson said that police are investigating the incident and more details would be revealed as they become available.
The officer also has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday morning, a shooting death was reported about a block away, in the 2100 block of Seminary Avenue. Watson said that the injured suspect is not believed to be involved in that shooting.
Published: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 07:02:29 -0800
The Bay Bridge's westbound upper deck reopened Sunday night, more than 24 hours ahead of schedule following a planned holiday weekend closure for demolition and construction work.
With all planned demolition and maintenance work completed, California Department of Transportation Officials removed cones from the bridge and approaches around 7 p.m. and the first vehicles crossed the bridge around 8 p.m.
Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney said Mother Nature played a role in the early opening.
"We had some great sun," Ney told reporters. "It was nothing we could have forecasted, but it allowed us to finish the work quickly."
The bridge was not scheduled to reopen until Tuesday at 5 a.m.
Caltrans officials cautioned motorists passing through the toll plaza to drive carefully, since the merge will be different. While 20 lanes will still merge down to 5, they will curve slightly to the south.
The bridge's upper deck was closed at 8 p.m. Friday to accommodate demolition and maintenance projects related to the construction of a new eastern span. Crews demolished sections of the roadway to make way for an inclined section that will eventually carry eastbound traffic.
The closure pushed a surge of southbound traffic on to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unofficial numbers show that more than 67,600 vehicles drove south over the bridge on Saturday, up from 39,799 vehicles on the Saturday of Presidents Day in 2011, Golden Gate Transportation District spokeswoman Mary Currie said.
Published: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:26:52 -0800
A small plane and a helicopter clipped each other in a midair collision near Rio Vista Municipal Airport Sunday night, forcing both aircraft into emergency landings and leaving the two pilots with minor injuries, officials said.
The six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza made a rough landing in a field just short of an airport, while the two-seat Robinson R22 helicopter set down in a field just off state Highway 160, the officials said.
The accident occurred about 7 p.m. about eight miles south of the small Rio Vista Municipal Airport, halfway between Oakland and Sacramento along the Sacramento River, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
There was no immediate word on what may have caused the accident or any details on damage to the two aircraft.
The male pilot of the single-engine plane and the 29-year-old female helicopter pilot were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos said. The woman had cuts to her hands, he said.
The helicopter pilot was the only person aboard, and there were two aboard the plane, Gregor said. There were no reports of any injuries to the plane passenger.
The helicopter pilot came down about 50 feet from the highway, turned off her fuel tank and walked to the road to get help from drivers, Sacramento County and California Highway Patrol officials at the scene told Sacramento's KXTV-TV.
The plane had taken off and intended to land at an airport in the town of Byron, some 20 miles to the south, but went down shortly before reaching it.
Both aircraft had private owners, according to FAA records.
The 1961 Beechcraft plane is registered to Ronald A. Gawer of Brentwood, Calif. in Contra Costa County, the records show.
The 2005 Robinson helicopter is registered to a Hayward-based business owned by Matthew Spitzer and was leased to Vertical CFI, a pilot training school, Spitzer's wife, Rosemary, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. A Vertical CFI official didn't immediately respond to a phone message.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
Neither of the two small, two-runway airports involved have an air traffic control tower.
Published: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:11:58 -0800
Service on the California cable car line has been disrupted by an equipment failure, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
Shuttles have been put in place on the line following the breakdown, which occurred around 2:45 p.m.
Published: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:40:56 -0800
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