Christine Pelisek

They See Dead People

Christine Pelisek
Commander Patrick Gannon’s office is filled with dozens of mementos of his 29 years as a Los Angeles Police Department officer. There’s the glass globe he received for his community service, his police association coffee cups, his cop father’s oak billy club, and, to protect him, a guardian angel —......
Asian-American firefighter Kelly Niles: One of the eyewitnesses Pierce alleged were ''white''

What Really Happened at Fire Station 5?

Christine Pelisek
Los Angeles Fire Department engineer Clinton Arrigoni was getting ready for bed at the old Fire Station 5 in Westchester when he was cornered by four of his fellow crew members, including 49-year-old veteran African-American firefighter Tennie Pierce. Arrigoni wasn’t surprised. He was soon being promoted to captain, and per......

Death of the Snow-Cone Man

Christine Pelisek
ON A TYPICAL DAY, Norberto Castro pushed his snow-cone cart the six blocks from Melrose Avenue to Beverly Boulevard, a familiar face to the throngs of children in this dense Hollywood neighborhood. On a hot day, the 43-year-old Mexican immigrant could pull in upward of $300. It was a job......
(Illustration by Patrick Martinez)

Flying High With the Vicious Ladies

Christine Pelisek
The backyard of the white, stucco house has been transformed into a packed dance floor. Teenage girls wearing snug jeans and tank tops are freaking with teenage boys who grind away to the rhythm of the reggaeton beat. The smell of marijuana is thick, and a small line to fill......

Dog Food Caper

Christine Pelisek
WHEN MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA vetoed a $2.7 million settlement to a black firefighter tricked into eating dog food, he took aim at key power players who were strangely eager to bury the racially potent dog-food tale — the Los Angeles City Council, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and snoozing local journalists......

The Scourge of Skid Row

Christine Pelisek
Detective Tricia Hauck finished a burglary investigation at Pete’s Café and returned to the Central Division station near Skid Row. Her left foot started to feel uncomfortably warm. She wondered if it had anything to do with an ankle fracture she suffered on vacation in Mexico a few months earlier......
(function(r, d, u) { var s = d.createElement(r); s.async = true; s.setAttribute('data-cfasync', false); u += '&cb=' + Date.now() + Math.random(); s.src = u; var n = d.getElementsByTagName(r)[0]; n.parentNode.insertBefore(s, n); })('script', document, '//engine.laweekly.com/?221982862');
(Illustration by Ronald Kurniawan)

Hey, OJ!

Christine Pelisek
SICK OF CORPORATE AMERICA BLENDING your fruit and vegetable drinks? Yes, I mean Robeks and Jamba Juice! If so, then check out the handful of mom-and-pop juicers in Los Angeles that mix up healthy and delectable libations without the annoying pressure of adding a boost of some new vitamin that......

Emmery’s Mysterious End

Christine Pelisek
A WORKER MADE THE GRUESOME DISCOVERY January 25 behind a Boyle Heights warehouse. There, lying near the loading dock, were the decomposed remains of a 14-year-old girl named Emmery Munoz. She’d been missing for six days and was expected to attend a flier party that Friday night. The 10th-grader at......

The Quiet Mexican

Christine Pelisek
HIS PALS AT WORK CALLED HIM “POLI,” because he was built like a cop and tolerated little nonsense. Jose Antonio Meza never complained about his terrible hours — the 4:30 p.m.-to-1 a.m. shift, with Sundays and Tuesdays off — at MCL Distributing Inc., a specialty-foods distributor on North Mission Road,......

Race Divide

Christine Pelisek
A MEMBER OF A GANG notorious for terrorizing African Americans has been charged with pointing a gun at a 17-year-old black student after summer-school classes at Blair High School in Pasadena. The confrontation was the second assault on a black youth in the last month by Avenues gang members from......