TV producer for #ComedyCentral, John Winkler, Accidentally Killed by Police

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

An aspiring TV producer, who had worked for Comedy Central’s viral video-based series “Tosh.0,” was accidentally killed on Monday night when Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies mistook him for a mad slasher, FOX411 has learned.

A panicky 911 caller told dispatchers a man with a 10-inch butcher knife was threatening people. So when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies saw a wounded, bloody man rush out of a West Hollywood apartment with someone on his heels, they opened fire.

But the man they gunned down Monday night wasn't the slasher; he was a fleeing hostage.

John Winkler, 30, had served as a temporary production assistant for the Daniel Tosh-hosted series. He died at a hospital in California.

Tosh has yet to address Winkler’s death on his Twitter account and Comedy Central declined FOX411’s request for comment.

"Taking the life of an innocent person is a police officer's greatest nightmare," Interim Los Angeles County Sheriff John Scott said Thursday at a news conference.

The entire department mourned Winkler's death, he added.

Winkler was "hanging out" with some friends who lived in the apartment below him on Palm Avenue when a man who also lived in that apartment, Alexander McDonald, climbed over the balcony with the knife, sheriff's homicide Lt. David Coleman said.

McDonald was "in an incoherent state of mind, seemed very paranoid, which was uncharacteristic," Coleman said.

McDonald took his roommate, Winkler and another man hostage, then flew into a rage and began stabbing and fighting with them, authorities said.

"We don't know what caused his rage or what caused his outburst," and it was unclear whether drugs were involved, Coleman said.

Someone called 911 and arriving deputies were told the hostage-taker was a thin man in a black shirt.

Deputies announced themselves and pounded on the door and at that moment one of the stabbing victims took the opportunity to escape, Coleman said.

"The door suddenly opened and a man with blood spurting form his neck entered the doorway" with Winkler — a thin man wearing a black shirt — running after him only inches away, Scott said.

The fleeing man appeared to be under "continuous attack," the sheriff said.

Three deputies fired four shots, and a bullet mortally wounded Winkler. The other man was hit in the leg and was hospitalized in stable condition, according to a Sheriff's Department statement.

Winkler had moved to West Hollywood from Washington state six months ago to work in the entertainment industry, his friend, Devin Richardson, told the Los Angeles Times.

Winkler's Facebook page said he studied directing at the Seattle Film Institute and was in the class of 2010.

The deputies, all department veterans, were removed from patrol after the shooting but were expected to return to full duty next week, sheriff's officials said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source....fox

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Los Angeles Police Give Stern Warning "Don’t Drive While “buzzed,” or You Will get Busted or Worse"

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

That was the stern warning Friday from law enforcement officials, who plan to be out in force keeping streets safe as 2013 turns into 2014.

“We want to make sure everybody gets the message loud and clear,” Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Cmdr. Andrew Smith said. “There will be a zero-tolerance policy for people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”

Citing analysis by the Automobile Club of Southern California, City Attorney Mike Feuer said alcohol-related deaths and injuries are 86 percent higher during the holiday season compared with the rest of the year. During the two-week holiday season last year, his office filed almost 600 DUI cases.

Drug-related vehicular accidents also spike, with tragic consequences, he noted. “It’s impossible to quantify the effects on a family whose loved one isn’t coming home because someone has made the irresponsible decision to drink or use drugs and then drive,” Feuer said. “That decision will have irreversible consequences for many other people — and for the perpetrator.”

Mothers Against Drunk Driving executive director Patricia Rillera said the advocacy group talks to those families every day, helping them cope with their grief.

“We understand that alcohol is a part of a lot of festivities, especially during this particular time of the year, but please drink responsibly,” she added.

Driving under the influence has already caused 2,087 traffic collisions and claimed 16 lives within city limits, according to the LAPD.

“Don’t be one of those statistics that ends up in the morgue or ends up in jail because we’ll have plenty of officers looking for drunk drivers,” the police spokesman said.

Anticipating many New Year’s Eve revelers will be high or drunk while behind the wheel, LAPD and the California Highway Patrol will set up sobriety checkpoints and have “maximum deployment” of traffic officers, motorcycle officers and jailers to lock up those considered a risk to themselves and others.

Thanks to a $500,000 federal grant, some of those sobriety checkpoints will be equipped with new technology capable of checking a driver’s saliva — instead of blood, which is the usual method — for alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, methamphetamines, opiates, methodone, narcotic analgesics and benzodiazepine. It’s more convenient, less invasive and less expensive and also provides immediate results that are just as reliable.

Even legally prescribed medication such as medical marijuana, Vicodan and Xanax can cause impairment and should not be taken before driving.

Deputy City Attorney Michelle de Casas warned that even a first DUI comes with steep penalties. “We’re talking in the range of about $5,000 to $8,000 just in terms of fines and fees that you have to pay for ... and this is assuming that you’re not already paying for a lawyer,” she said.

A conviction may also result in the revocation of a driver’s license. Those who will be drinking are advised to have a designated driver, use public transportation or sleep over at their party.

Source... http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20131227/thinking-of-drinking-on-new-years-eve-then-dont-drive-warn-local-cops

Stay Safe Out There - If You Need Help just Give Me a Call!

To schedule a free consultation and learn how we can help you, contact Beverly Hills DUI Attorney Jonathan Franklin today.

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Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
Open Evenings and Weekends this Summer
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James Terry Watson, DEA Agent, Killed In Colombia Robbery Attempt

                                                        Columbia - FARC Peace Talks

 A DEA agent has died in an apparent robbery attempt in Colombia, U.S. Ambassador Michael McKinley said Friday. Colombian authorities said the American agent was stabbed four times.

McKinley told local Radio Caracol that the robbery attempt occurred after the anti-drug agent left a meeting with friends at a Bogota restaurant and got into a taxi.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in a statement from Washington that Special Agent James "Terry" Watson was assigned to the DEA office in Cartagena, Colombia, but was on temporary assignment in Bogota.

Gen. Jose Roberto Leon, director of Colombia's National Police, said Watson was 43. He had worked in the country for about a year and a half.

Colombian authorities did not say where Watson was from in the United States.

Col. Camilo Cabana of the National Police said that the taxi Watson was riding in was intercepted by another cab about three blocks from the restaurant. Two men got out and tried to pull the American out of the vehicle, stabbing him three times in the chest and once in the leg, Cabana said.

The assailants abandoned the agent in the street, where he was found shortly afterward by a police patrol. Watson was taken to a clinic several blocks away, but had already died.

 The police department has offered a reward of 50 million pesos ($25,800) for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/21/james-terry-watson-killed-colombia-dea-agent_n_3479280.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

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Discovery Sued Fatal Pyrotechnic Disaster of a Woman Killed by a Rocket for Reality TV #Lawsuit

During the taping of a military-themed show, a woman was hit and killed by a rocket.

Last June, a film production crew was taping a pilot for a show that was to be called Brother in Arms. According to a lawsuit filed in Colorado federal court on Thursday, producers were filming the opening sequence of the show where five individuals were going to walk through a cloud of smoke with weapons.

To pull this off, two pyrotechnic devices are said to have been used. The devices malfunctioned, shooting rockets toward the individuals -- hitting one, a woman named Terry Flanell, and killing her. Her family is now suing over the tragedy.

According to one Colorado paper, the show focused on military vehicles from World War I and was being filmed at a shooting range called Dragonman's owned by Flanell and her husband, Melvin Bernstein. A local ABC affiliate reported then that the smoke bombs turned rockets were traveling at 150 mph and after the accident occurred, Colorado police and federal investigators including the ATF showed up to investigate.

Bernstein, who has told the press previously that he was missed by the rockets by inches, is now suing and blaming Discovery and Anthropic Productions for not using a licensed manufacturer of pyrotechnic devices, not obtaining permits from government authorities and not having qualified professionals to administer the stunt.

The lawsuit states, "At the time Terry Flanell was killed, Discovery violated § 12-28-102(5), C.R.S (2012), which provides in pertinent part that it shall be unlawful for any person to possess or discharge any fireworks, except permissible fireworks, anywhere in the State of Colorado."
Bernstein says he suffered grief, the impairment of the quality of his life, emotional distress and financial loss. He's suing for actual damages.

Two weeks ago, the network was brought to court by the mother of a cameraman who was killed in a helicopter crash.

Read More... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/discovery-sued-fatal-pyrotechnic-disaster-569169

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Boston Bombers Friend Killed near Universal Studio's in Florida

The FBI has been tracking a Chechen martial arts practitioner in FL, Ibragim Todashev, since the Boston Marathon attack. The guy knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev from Boston and reportedly had a phone conversation with him “more than a month ago” (which still would put it shortly before the attack). Todashev — who got in a serious fight in a parking lot earlier this month — had recently booked a flight to NY, with plans to travel on to Chechnya.

So, after having interviewed him yesterday, the FBI decided to interview him again around midnight last night.

It didn’t end well.

              The FBI said Ibragim Todashev was shot and killed just after midnight at 6022 Peregrine Avenue in the Windhover Apartments near Universal Orlando.

              “The agent encountered the suspect while conducting official duties. The suspect is deceased,” FBI Special Agent Dave Couvertier told Local 6.

               John Miller, the former FBI assistant director who now works for CBS News, said the FBI was trying to re-question Todashev at his apartment when “something went wrong.”  Miller said the FBI agent fired shots, but details of the incident have not yet been released and it’s not known if Todashev had a gun.

This will bear watching.

Here’s the FBI’s complete statement on the killing.

                  The FBI is currently reviewing a shooting incident involving an FBI special agent. Based on preliminary information, the incident occurred in Orlando, Florida during the early morning hours of May 22, 2013. The agent, two Massachusetts State Police troopers, and other law enforcement personnel were interviewing an individual in connection with the Boston     Marathon bombing investigation when a violent confrontation was initiated by the individual.  
 During the confrontation, the individual was killed and the agent sustained non-life threatening injuries. As this incident is under review, we have no further details at this time. [my emphasis]

You’d think a crack investigative agency like the FBI would know how many and what kind of other law enforcement personnel were present.

Oh, what’s that? You mean they’re not telling us on purpose?

Update: Apparently Todashev confessed to playing a role in the triple murder in Waltham in 2011 authorities suspect Tamerlan was involved in.

                      Todashev, they say, had spent some time in the Boston area, where he was a mixed martial arts fighter, and knew Tsarnaev there.  Investigators say he confessed to the agent in Florida that he played a role in a triple murder in 2011 in which three men were discovered slain in an apartment in Waltham, Mass.

                Their throats had been cut, and their bodies were covered with marijuana. No suspects had been arrested in that case.

                 Officials say FBI agents were questioning Todashev on Tuesday. He was cooperative at first, they say, but later that night, he attacked the agent with a knife, who shot and killed him. Officials say Todashev became violent as he was about to sign a written statement based on his confession.

Chances are great that the FBI didn’t tape this claimed confession.

Update: As I suspected, at the time of the assault earlier this month, Todashev was being actively followed, presumably by the FBI.

                       According to discovery in that case, deputies knew immediately that Todashev was either a cage or jui juitsu fighter and knew “how dangerous these men can be,” a report said.

                      “I told this subject if he tried to fight us I would shoot him,” one deputy wrote in a report.

                     The report said that Todashev told deputies he believed he was being followed by federal agents.

                   He told deputies that three vehicles with tinted windows that were behind him when he was stopped were FBI vehicles. All three cars left the scene before deputies could confirm that they the drivers were federal agents, according to the report.

                    “I noticed one vehicle was driven by a male, had a computer stand and appeared to be talking on a radio,” the deputy said in the report."

http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/05/22/a-not-a-drone-strike-near-disney-world/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-not-a-drone-strike-near-disney-world

Just one State's DUI problems, but times 50, Have you been there?

In just a 2 day weekend in one state
2 people were killed
160 others were injured
455 crashes investigated

March 29, through Sunday, March 31, 2013 . During those three days, state police issued:
 5,563 speeding citations
charged 321 people with DUI's
550 individuals citied for not wearing seat belts
63 motorists ticketed for not securing children in safety seats.


April 6-8, 2013, a 3 day span
3 persons were killed
196 others were injured
470 crashes investigated by troopers.



SOURCE State Police Department

If you find yourself in a situation like this the best person to call is Jonathan Franklin at
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