EAST COUNTY ROUNDUP: LOCAL AND STATEWIDE NEWS

June 18, 2020 (San Diego) -- East County Roundup highlights top stories of interest to East County and San Diego's inland regions, published in other media.  This week's round-up stories include: 

LOCAL

• El Cajon officer's encounter with vandals ends with unlikely painting session (10 News)
• City Attorney’s Office Says SDG&E Is Overcharging to Bury Power Lines (Voice of San Diego)
• Mountain lion found, killed after Blue Sky attack (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• ‘Hang on. I’m going:’ San Diego police officer recounts Sunset Cliffs rescue (San Diego Union Tribune)
• ‘La Mesa Civil Defense’ Group Including Councilwoman Sparks Concern (Times of San Diego)
• Man Arrested on Suspicion of Attacking Woman With Baseball Bat in La Mesa (NBC 7)
• Boomers! closing Kearny Mesa, El Cajon centers (10 News)
• Driver being pursued by deputies crashes into Lemon Grove swimming pool (San Diego Union-Tribune)

STATE

• Major California police unions call for reforms, removal of racist officers (San Jose Mercury News)
• Far-right ‘boogaloo boys’ linked to killing of California law officers and other violence (Los Angeles Times)
• Airline passengers brought COVID-19 into LAX in March, but nobody warned the public (Los Angeles Times)
• State AG to probe one of two high desert hangings of black men (Cal Matters)
• PG&E Pleads Guilty to 84 Counts of Manslaughter in Camp Fire Case (New York Times)
• California Was Set To Spend Over $1 Billion to Prevent Wildfires. Then Came COVID-19 (NPR)
• California spent $38.2 million on CHP officers at George Floyd protests (Los Angeles Times)
• Watch: Golden Gate Bridge Produces Eerie Sound Effect (Patch)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

LOCAL

El Cajon officer's encounter with vandals ends with unlikely painting session (10 News)

An El Cajon police officer's encounter with a group spray-painting graffiti ended in remarkable fashion early Wednesday morning.

City Attorney’s Office Says SDG&E Is Overcharging to Bury Power Lines (Voice of San Diego)

A deputy city attorney wrote in a memo to the City Council last week that SDG&E isn’t providing enough details about the rising cost of the work it’s doing to bury electricity lines underground.

Mountain lion found, killed after Blue Sky attack (San Diego Union-Tribune)

The mountain lion that attacked a 4-year-old boy at Blue Sky Ecological Reserve last week was located and killed several hours after the incident, according to a state wildlife official. The reserve in Poway was closed last Friday afternoon following the incident. It was reopened the next day.

‘Hang on. I’m going:’ San Diego police officer recounts Sunset Cliffs rescue (San Diego Union Tribune)

San Diego Police Officer Jonathan Wiese has been recognized for heroic actions in the past, most notably after he arrested the suspect in the shootings at the Chabad of Poway. Officer Wiese was almost at Sunset Cliffs early Saturday when a lieutenant radioed that the suicidal driver police had been looking for had just driven off the cliffs. The man’s wife had called the Sheriff’s Department around 4:30 a.m. reporting that her husband had taken off with their 2-year-old girls…

‘La Mesa Civil Defense’ Group Including Councilwoman Sparks Concern (Times of San Diego)

More than 160 people including a La Mesa councilwoman and former councilman have joined a new Facebook group that aims to stand up a force to deter looters and arsonists. But one member fears vigilantism. “La Mesa Civil Defense” was created Monday by local attorney Scott McMillan, older brother of Shawn McMillan, a former candidate for judge and San Diego mayor.

Man Arrested on Suspicion of Attacking Woman With Baseball Bat in La Mesa (NBC 7)

A 52-year-old La Mesa man was arrested on suspicion of attacking a woman with a baseball bat in La Mesa in the aftermath of a protest against police brutality over the weekend, police said on Thursday.

Boomers! closing Kearny Mesa, El Cajon centers (10 News)

Boomers! has announced it will close its Kearny Mesa and El Cajon locations, after being shuttered in March due to the coronavirus.  The local family entertainment centers announced online that they would close, though season passes, play cards, and "Boomers Bucks" will be honored at Apex Parks Group's eight other properties, including Irvine, Modesto, Santa Maria, Livermore, Calif.

Driver being pursued by deputies crashes into Lemon Grove swimming pool (San Diego Union-Tribune)

A driver who lost control of a vehicle while being chased by sheriff’s deputies plowed down a steep hill and landed in a Lemon Grove home’s swimming pool early Wednesday morning.

STATE

Major California police unions call for reforms, removal of racist officers (San Jose Mercury News)

In what could signal a major shift in law-enforcement attitudes toward longstanding complaints about its use of violence, California’s largest police unions called Sunday for a reform agenda aimed at lessening the use of force, increasing accountability and rooting out racist police officers.

Far-right ‘boogaloo boys’ linked to killing of California law officers and other violence (Los Angeles Times)

In the wake of the killing of two law enforcement officers in Northern California, more attention is being directed to the “boogaloo” movement, a far-right fringe group that has been tied to violence around the country… Brian Levin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, says boogaloo followers include ultra-libertarians and white supremacists, but they all share a belief that a second civil war is coming… Many followers discovered the movement on internet chat sites. It then migrated to more mainstream social media…where young adherents post videos of themselves dancing in their trademark Hawaiian shirts.

Airline passengers brought COVID-19 into LAX in March, but nobody warned the public (Los Angeles Times)

When American Airlines flight 341 to Los Angeles lifted off the tarmac at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport on a cloudy Thursday in mid-March, much of the country was already on coronavirus lockdown. The flight was far from full, but the 49 passengers and eight crew shared restrooms, cabin air and a narrow aisle for the six-hour trip.  Though no one knew it then, a man in first class, a retired Manhattan surgeon, was infected with the virus

State AG to probe one of two high desert hangings of black men (Cal Matters)

California’s Justice Department will send officers to Palmdale to investigate the hanging death of a black man — one of two similar incidents in the high desert over the last few weeks, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced this morning. Last Wednesday, the body of 24-year-old Robert Fuller was found hanging from a tree near city hall. That came just 10 days after Malcolm Harsch, a 38-year-old black man, was found hanging from a tree in nearby Victorville. 

PG&E Pleads Guilty to 84 Counts of Manslaughter in Camp Fire Case (New York Times)

The California utility agreed to pay a nearly $2 billion fine for causing the blaze, which killed dozens and destroyed the town of Paradise.

California Was Set To Spend Over $1 Billion to Prevent Wildfires. Then Came COVID-19 (NPR)

With the coronavirus pandemic eroding state budgets across the country, many communities risk having this disaster make them less prepared for looming climate-driven disasters. Still recovering from devastating wildfires, California was poised to spend billions of dollars to prepare for future fires and other extreme weather disasters. The infrastructure projects, designed to make communities and homes more resistant to wildfire, have long been overlooked, fire experts say. But with a $54 billion budget deficit, the programs are being put on hold.

California spent $38.2 million on CHP officers at George Floyd protests (Los Angeles Times)

The California Highway Patrol incurred $38.2 million in overtime costs policing the recent fiery protests in this state that were in response to the in-custody death of George Floyd in Minnesota, state officials said Tuesday.

Watch: Golden Gate Bridge Produces Eerie Sound Effect (Patch)

Wind blowing through the Golden Gate Bridge's handrails is producing a haunting "singing" sound on Saturday. Listen here.