Rialto's Quest
BS Ranch Perspective:
So the Cocoa's Restaurant plan has failed, and now the second phase of their development of Rialto's Area around Pepper Ave. where Pepper Ave would have been extended to the new Highland Ave (Frontage Road), with on ramps and off ramps to the I-210 Freeway is now not going to happen, all because the city council, Ed Scott, Joe Sampson, Debra Robertson couldn't get these things done fast enough, since they played around with the wise idea of separating with the City's Tradition having their Own Police Department! They were so hard pressed to Contract with the Sheriff's Department, it is so very hard to not believe that in some how that the Sheriff was not part of this whole Deal at the Restaurant to begin with!! They pushed so hard that they had almost spent all the Utility Tax that they had before they were forced to Re-Contract with the Rialto Police Benefit Association.
Also, now that the Balloon of the Real Estate Event has passed the City by, they are moving or Attempting to move your hope that the city is going to grow or get bigger and better in the area. The thing is that gets me is that when all else fails they always mention Lytle Creek and their established "County" Community, how does the Property Owners in Lytle Creek feel about the City of Rialto Laying "Claim to Their Property" when the city of Rialto is in Crisis!!!
BS Ranch
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Rialto's quest
By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Rialto's quest to upgrade its image and its economy ran into a little trouble this year as the housing market slowed down.
But the region's growth and four new miles of freeway frontage along the 210 Freeway make it a crucial time for the city.
"I do think that we have a great potential for being just a great city to live in," Councilwoman Winnie Hanson said of the city's future.
Plans for Renaissance Rialto, a 1,500-acre master-planned development that would replace Rialto's airport along the 210 Freeway, changed to replace some of the housing with industrial.
By the end of September, the developer, a partnership between the Lewis Group and Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood, were floating a plan that included a shopping center anchored by Target, 2,000 homes, a school, parks and industrial facilities.
Another project that was supposed to be a mix of commercial and housing at Pepper Avenue and the 210 fell apart, partly because of the housing market, partly because the developers had trouble putting together a workable plan. Now the city will have to extend Pepper Avenue to the 210 itself.
The largest Rialto housing project, however, is planned for the Lytle Creek area. The market may have slowed it down and affected some specifics, but it's still moving forward, said Mike Story, Rialto's development services director.
The Lytle project should have 5,000 to 7,000 homes, schools and a small commercial center.
"We`re probably actually going to see some type of a land use plan by the end of the year," Story said.
Land on the city's south end that was supposed to be the site of more than 720 homes could become a 3-million-square foot distribution and manufacturing area, Story said.
The Oakmont Industrial Group bought the land from Young Homes even after Young had the City Council's approval for the project.
The Redevelopment Agency will continue to invest money in renovating blighted neighborhoods and expand the roughly 150-unit redevelopment project at Willow Avenue and Winchester Drive, which was one of the city's most dangerous neighborhoods.
The agency is also developing plans to bring new life to the city's downtown by bringing in more housing and business and by expanding the Metrolink parking lot.
The city also is in the early stages of developing plans to improve its own Route 66 corridor - Foothill Boulevard - by improving the street, adding landscaping, and deciding what mix of residential and commercial establishments would work well there, Story said.
In the next 20 years, Rialto will fill its open land and start moving toward denser, more urban projects, Story said. He also hopes the city can attract some of the corporate and office jobs moving to the region.
Hanson said Rialto will probably always be a bedroom community at heart.
"I don't see us becoming a great, big retail force in the area. I do see us becoming a lot more stable."
jason.pesick@sbsun.com
(909) 386-3861
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Salute to an Officer Who Fell in Battle for a Safe Society (Daily Bulletin 10/30/07)
Salute to an officer who fell in battle for a safe society
On Friday, I had the honor of celebrating the life of a fellow officer who was killed in the line of duty.
Officer Sergio Carrera, of the Rialto Police Department, was gunned down during a drug raid by an alleged suspect with a criminal past.
Nothing cuts closer to your heart than to lose one of your own. Officer Carrera was a dedicated and professional officer who helped to better the world around him.
Shortly after joining the police force, he became a member of the California Narcotics Officers Association. One of his passions was taking drug dealers off the streets to help protect our communities.
Officer Carrera leaves behind a wife and two small children. During the funeral his small son, maybe just 2 years of age, reached out to his father's flag-draped coffin, while his little sister was held in the arms of his mother.
The overwhelming feelings for this family and what they have been going through are beyond description. The sacrifice this officer made for each one of us was made even more evident after witnessing such sorrow.
As we drove from the church to the cemetery in a long procession of police cars with emergency lights on, I witnessed the continued strength and brotherhood of all the men and women who serve our communities.
The California Highway Patrol shut down the freeways from Chino Hills to Colton. At every overpass and every on-ramp stood police officers, and at times civilians, standing at
attention, saluting the long procession line. The freeway overpasses were at a standstill as city and county firefighters stood atop their rigs - they, too, standing at attention and saluting.The procession line was so long it took nearly 30 minutes until all had arrived at the cemetery. Standing side by side, fellow brothers and sisters who wear the uniform solidified the dedication that cops have for one another, especially when one has fallen.
I spoke with officers from around the state and nation who traveled here to celebrate the life of an officer, but also to console the officer's family and the family of police officers who worked with him.
This was not my first funeral for a fellow officer, and sadly won't be my last. From each one I gain continued strength to stand side by side with my brothers and sisters who are continuously in the streets fighting against a criminal element in our society that has become more ruthless, more evil and more dangerous.
As violent crime rises in many cities around our nation, let's never forget those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect us.
Police officers are like the firefighters pushing back against the flames that can bring harm to all of us if not stopped.
Sadly, 2007 has been a very violent year for police officers with a near record being killed. In a few short months, Officer Carrera's name will be forever etched into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., as well as our state's memorial in Sacramento.
Our community must continue to place our full support behind the men and women in uniform. They are the sole defenders of a very thin blue line that separates society from anarchy.
Having stood next to America's finest at the funeral, I'm confident that line will hold so long as we continue to have the full support of our communities alongside us.
As I walked through the cemetery back to my car, a deputy sheriff from Contra Costa approached me. We spoke briefly, exchanged a hug and his parting words were, "It was nice to meet you brother. I hope we never meet again like this."
If only that could be true.
Paul Chabot is a reserve deputy for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
He lives in Rancho Cucamonga.
Rialto Police, Slain Officer's Family bid Farewell to a Hero (Press Enterprise Oct 27, 2007)
BS Ranch Perspective
I don't have many words here, my heart is heavy, Carrera was a real nice guy. I only got to know him slightly as my time at Rialto had passed slightly, I almost died at Rialto, in 1997, and I survived my on duty crash, I sometimes wonder if I was the lucky one that had survived that crash that day. It has not been such a picnic. I wanted to go to the graveside, but I was not able to, because of two people at Chino Hills that forced me to leave the motorcade. by the time that I got back to the Inland Empire It was to late to join them at the Grave side. I would have loved to have gone.
BS Ranch
I don't have many words here, my heart is heavy, Carrera was a real nice guy. I only got to know him slightly as my time at Rialto had passed slightly, I almost died at Rialto, in 1997, and I survived my on duty crash, I sometimes wonder if I was the lucky one that had survived that crash that day. It has not been such a picnic. I wanted to go to the graveside, but I was not able to, because of two people at Chino Hills that forced me to leave the motorcade. by the time that I got back to the Inland Empire It was to late to join them at the Grave side. I would have loved to have gone.
BS Ranch
Rialto police, slain officer's family bid farewell to a hero
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08:44 AM PDT on Saturday, October 27, 2007
Video: Scenes from the funeral
CHINO HILLS - Just four years and 10 days after Officer Sergio Carrera Jr. first pinned on his Rialto police badge, a bullet felled the SWAT team member.
On Friday, an estimated 2,500 family, friends and fellow police officers paid an emotional tribute to Carrera, killed Oct. 18 while serving a narcotics search warrant.
Officer Lamont Quarker painted a vivid picture of Carrera, his patrol and SWAT partner, during a funeral Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Chino Hills.
Story continues below
Stan Lim / The Press-Enterprise
Sergio Carrera III kisses the casket of his father, Rialto police Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., with the help of his aunt Shirley Magaña at Montecito Memorial Park.
Carrera, a Beaumont resident, was a prankster who needled Quarker with police nicknames from the moment they met -- pretending to be a much senior officer, even though both were fresh out of separate police academies.
"Congratulations, boot. I might be your FTO (field training officer)," Carrera said to the guy who would become his best police friend. He was to be best man at Quarker's wedding next month.
"I didn't know that Sergio had only graduated two days before me, so I said: 'Thank you, sir,' " Quarker recalled.
The ruse continued their first day on the job in Rialto, Oct. 8, 2003. "What's up, rookie?" Carrera said. Quarker caught on when he was sworn in -- and there was Carrera, doing the same.
But he also had a serious side devoted to police work. Quarker told the gathering about a patrol response to a house he had visited many times, with an incorrigible teenager and parents at their wits' end. Carrera spent 45 minutes counseling the boy.
A year later, Quarker saw the 17-year-old working at a Fontana bank. The boy told him Carrera's words that night turned him around.
Fatal Encounter
Carrera was shot at a Rialto apartment shared by Kris Antonio Wiggins; his girlfriend, Nashalla Bell; and the couple's three children. Carrera died shortly thereafter at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
The San Bernardino County district attorney's office charged Wiggins, 32, with one count of murder with special allegations. Also known by the alias Jaranard Thomas, Wiggins is wanted in Mississippi on a $100,000 warrant charging him with selling rock cocaine, San Bernardino County sheriff's officials have said.
The only reference to Wiggins came from Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling, who said Carrera had been murdered.
Attendees, many wearing police dress uniforms, lined every available row of the church, the largest in the Diocese of San Bernardino, and the church's overflow rooms. The hush in the sanctuary belied the huge turnout, with the squeak of leather holsters and the trickle of the church's baptismal font audible in quiet moments.
Those attending the ceremony included state Attorney General Jerry Brown; Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto; his son Rialto City Councilman Joe Baca Jr.; and Fontana City Councilman Frank Scialdone, who served as Rialto's interim police chief in 2005 and 2006.
Story continues below
Father, Quipster
Kling said his eulogy would be the hardest speech he's given in his 27-year police career. "Today I have the honor of talking about a hero," Kling said, describing Carrera as a "modern-day warrior."
He told the officer's family -- including widow Louise and their toddlers Sergio III and Izabella -- that he had "no words" to describe the pain of Carrera's death.
"I have officially retired Officer Sergio Carrera's badge. It will never be used or issued again," Kling said, promising to give it to Louise and to honor Carrera and Rialto police Sgt. Gary Wolfley, slain in 1986, on a future police station memorial.
Quarker said the No. 1 goal that he and "Serg" had was to join the SWAT team. "It was all we talked about," Quarker said. "When we got into that SWAT school, we were so proud."
Quarker choked up as he recalled their training in Santa Barbara. The duo had "a beautiful friendship that lasted four years," Quarker said, breaking down when he revealed he had been with Carrera the day he died.
At the foot of the altar, the casket, flanked by two honor guard officers, sat next to a portrait of a beaming Carrera behind the wheel of his Rialto police cruiser, one elbow cocked jauntily out the window.
The picture also appeared on the funeral program, and the ironic smile on Carrera's face seemed to capture the man his colleagues described as one part doting father, one part quipster.
Kling said Carrera could "turn a conversation on you without you even knowing."
"Sergio was a gifted man who left you asking, 'Did I just get cracked?' " Kling said.
Miles-Long Motorcade
Story continues below
As the funeral drew to a close in the early afternoon, the priest wafted incense toward Carrera's casket, which was wheeled from the church as a soloist sang "Amazing Grace."
Mourners then formed a miles-long motorcade of patrol cars, red and blue rooftop lights swirling, that snaked along city streets and three freeways between the Chino Hills church and the Colton cemetery.
A pair of Chino Valley Fire District crews, alongside their yellow rigs, saluted as the procession rolled past their Peyton Drive fire station and again as it turned from Riverside Drive onto Reservoir Street.
In Chino, a cluster of women and children standing on the side of Riverside Drive, and several people on the Pipeline Avenue bridge over Highway 60, waved to and watched the passing motorcade. Drivers, stuck on Interstate 15 and numerous onramps blocked by California Highway Patrol officers, got out of their cars to watch the procession or snap photos.
Fontana police and CHP officers, who patrolled Rialto on Friday so the city' entire force could attend Carrera's funeral, stood at attention on the Riverside Avenue bridge along Interstate 10.
A crew from the Colton Fire Department stood atop their ladder truck in tribute as the motorcade passed under the Mount Vernon Avenue bridge.
American flags placed by cemetery staff in honor of Carrera lined the long entrance to Montecito Memorial Park, where smoke from Southern California's weeklong brush fires obscured the panoramic view at Carrera's hilltop grave site.
Missing Man
Monsignor Thomas Wallace presented crucifixes to the officer's widow and his mother, Aurora. Blue ribbons, tied into small bows, adorned the lapels of Carrera's relatives.
The traditional elements of police funerals reduced Carrera's law enforcement colleagues and loved ones to tears and quiet sobs: a bagpiper's rendition of "Amazing Grace," a firearm salute, the mournful strains of taps by a bugler on a nearby hillside, and the flyover of five helicopters, one of them peeling off to the side in the missing man formation.
A white-gloved Rialto police honor guard, which included Quarker, folded the American flag that covered his casket. Kling and Rep. Baca presented flags to Louise and Aurora Carrera, as the officer's father held his toddler grandson.
As a sign of respect and solidarity, several officers removed black bands fastened to their shoulder epaulets and placed them atop Carrera's dark wooden casket. An aunt lifted up young Izabella to tap on her father's casket.
The 45-minute gathering culminated with the officer's widow, parents, sisters and nieces dropping flowers onto the burial chamber after cemetery workers lowered it to grass level. A relative draped Sergio III across the casket, while his mother urged the boy to kiss it and say goodbye to Daddy.
Reach Adam C. Hartmann at 909-806-3055 or ahartmann@PE.com
Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com
Rialto Utility Tax Extented (SB Sun Nov. 12, 2007)
Rialto utility tax extended
A measure to extend Rialto's utility tax for a five-year period appeared headed for approval early Wednesday.
With 31 of 38 precincts reporting, Measure A had the support of 63.6 percent of voters.
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BS Ranch Perspective
With 31 of the 38 Precincts reporting, and the Measure U showing Support by 63.6% meaning that the Utility Tax has been passed for another Five years, I really HOPE That the Rialto City Council Will do Right this time, and not Waist the Utility Tax Money on things that are not Related to the Business of the of the City. I feel that they used a great deal of that money to fight the Police Department when they wanted the Sheriff's Department to take over the Law Enforcement!! Now with the Water Department looking at this huge money that is going out for this Perchlorate Suit, when they should have gone to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the first place then they wouldn't have this law suit that is lining the pockets of Owens.
Owens is the one that wanted this whole Suit to begin with, and the City Council followed him pen and pencil in hand, now they are looking at a $28Million deficit, and most of that Money has gone into Owens' Pocket!!
Now The Promises that they made to the Police Department, and Fire Department a long time ago, should have been filled, which was that if the first Utility Tax was passed they would sign off on the 3% @ 50 Years of Age Retirement Program like the more then 97% of all Law Enforcement Agencies have gone to. The reason that Rialto cannot attract Experienced Law Enforcement Officers to Rialto is because they don't have the 3% @ 50 years of Age Retirement. If they had the 3% @ 50 it would bring a great deal more people of interest to the Department and they would be able to fill the open spots with Experience and not with people that are fresh boots out of the academy!! Without the 3%@50 the Boots that are coming from the academy are sure to leave after a short training time at Rialto, and then they will move on to another Department!!
BS Ranch
A measure to extend Rialto's utility tax for a five-year period appeared headed for approval early Wednesday.
With 31 of 38 precincts reporting, Measure A had the support of 63.6 percent of voters.
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BS Ranch Perspective
With 31 of the 38 Precincts reporting, and the Measure U showing Support by 63.6% meaning that the Utility Tax has been passed for another Five years, I really HOPE That the Rialto City Council Will do Right this time, and not Waist the Utility Tax Money on things that are not Related to the Business of the of the City. I feel that they used a great deal of that money to fight the Police Department when they wanted the Sheriff's Department to take over the Law Enforcement!! Now with the Water Department looking at this huge money that is going out for this Perchlorate Suit, when they should have gone to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the first place then they wouldn't have this law suit that is lining the pockets of Owens.
Owens is the one that wanted this whole Suit to begin with, and the City Council followed him pen and pencil in hand, now they are looking at a $28Million deficit, and most of that Money has gone into Owens' Pocket!!
Now The Promises that they made to the Police Department, and Fire Department a long time ago, should have been filled, which was that if the first Utility Tax was passed they would sign off on the 3% @ 50 Years of Age Retirement Program like the more then 97% of all Law Enforcement Agencies have gone to. The reason that Rialto cannot attract Experienced Law Enforcement Officers to Rialto is because they don't have the 3% @ 50 years of Age Retirement. If they had the 3% @ 50 it would bring a great deal more people of interest to the Department and they would be able to fill the open spots with Experience and not with people that are fresh boots out of the academy!! Without the 3%@50 the Boots that are coming from the academy are sure to leave after a short training time at Rialto, and then they will move on to another Department!!
BS Ranch
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Rialto's Utility Tax is UP for RENEWAL (Press Enterprise Nov. 7, 2007) The Utility Tax Established in 2003, It's Considered to be a VITAL Part of Rial
BS Ranch Perspective
During the first passing of the So Called J&K Utility Tax Bill had passed, the City Council, City Administrator, at the total Advice of their Council. Owens (City of Rialto's Council). Let's see the city council took the money from the J&K Utility Tax Money, then they purchased a new T-201 Ladder Truck, E-201 Fire Engine, E-202 Fire Engine, E-203 Fire Engine, MA-201 Ambulance, MA-201A Ambulance, MA-202 Ambulance, BC-201 Battalion Chief's Command Unit, T-201 UT-201 1 Ton Truck w/utility bed, & Utility Trailer w/SCUBA Compressor for Scott Air Pack Bottle Fill, T-203&T204 1 ton trucks for Fire Station Three & Four, The City Council also purchased maintenance Equipment for the Code Enforcement, and the Water Department!
The City Council also gave the Rialto Fire Department, Maintenance Department, Water Department (Everyone but the Police Department) a new contract including a raise) The Police Department was still being held out for a Contract with the County of San Bernardino Sheriff's Department for Law Enforcement Duties. In the mean time The Lawyer's Representing the Citizen's of Rialto, and the RPBA (Rialto Police Benefit Association) had opened a law suit against the City Council and their decision to go to the County of San Bernardino Sheriff's Department for Law Enforcement Duties. The Judge in the case had placed and injunction against the case freezing the City Council from Any Contract with the Sheriff's Department Pending, an outcome of a signature gathering by the people of the city of Rialto and the possible change in laws that might effect the same.
Well, in the mean time the Rialto City Council wanted to force as many people to leave Rialto as they possibly could so they laid off all the new hired people that were still on Probation, almost 12 or 13 people total, was laid off. Not just that they were moving all these people all over the place and it was terrible. Placing a more then 27 person shortage to the Police Department ALONE!!
So all the J&K Utility Tax money that was taken in was spent on mostly all the Rialto Fire Department, and then Maintenance Department. There had to be an equal amount that was spent on chasing the people in the Police Department away, In just Literature, Commercials that ran on the local channel, and late night channels on the lower priced channels regarding Closing the aw enforcement and opening up the Police Department as the Sheriff Department, also they had to pay for Advertisement with local Radio, Not to mention the literature that was passed out with the fire Department, and the two to three times that they did a mailer program that cost the city some $40,000 only covers the cost to mail the envelopes not the cost of printing paper envelops etc etc... that might be another $5000 or so!! they did this mailing program three times so that was at least $120, 000.00 to mail the envelopes alone, that doesn't count for the cost of printing the flier, each flier was different for each mailer. Each of the mailers were Multi colored and were equally expensive in cost, so they had to cost at least $5000-$9000 a batch for a total of $15,000-$27,000 thousand when mailed the cost was a grand total of $135, 000.00 to $147,000.00 These figures are astronomical when you figure that they are using money that should be used to run the city instead they are using these funds to tear down the city!!
The Voters should think long and hard before they vote for this again!! Unless the city council has a change of heart such as a NEW CITY COUNCIL, ALONG WITH A NEW CITY ADMINISTRATION AND CITY LAWYER TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS NEWNESS!!!
BS RANCH
During the first passing of the So Called J&K Utility Tax Bill had passed, the City Council, City Administrator, at the total Advice of their Council. Owens (City of Rialto's Council). Let's see the city council took the money from the J&K Utility Tax Money, then they purchased a new T-201 Ladder Truck, E-201 Fire Engine, E-202 Fire Engine, E-203 Fire Engine, MA-201 Ambulance, MA-201A Ambulance, MA-202 Ambulance, BC-201 Battalion Chief's Command Unit, T-201 UT-201 1 Ton Truck w/utility bed, & Utility Trailer w/SCUBA Compressor for Scott Air Pack Bottle Fill, T-203&T204 1 ton trucks for Fire Station Three & Four, The City Council also purchased maintenance Equipment for the Code Enforcement, and the Water Department!
The City Council also gave the Rialto Fire Department, Maintenance Department, Water Department (Everyone but the Police Department) a new contract including a raise) The Police Department was still being held out for a Contract with the County of San Bernardino Sheriff's Department for Law Enforcement Duties. In the mean time The Lawyer's Representing the Citizen's of Rialto, and the RPBA (Rialto Police Benefit Association) had opened a law suit against the City Council and their decision to go to the County of San Bernardino Sheriff's Department for Law Enforcement Duties. The Judge in the case had placed and injunction against the case freezing the City Council from Any Contract with the Sheriff's Department Pending, an outcome of a signature gathering by the people of the city of Rialto and the possible change in laws that might effect the same.
Well, in the mean time the Rialto City Council wanted to force as many people to leave Rialto as they possibly could so they laid off all the new hired people that were still on Probation, almost 12 or 13 people total, was laid off. Not just that they were moving all these people all over the place and it was terrible. Placing a more then 27 person shortage to the Police Department ALONE!!
So all the J&K Utility Tax money that was taken in was spent on mostly all the Rialto Fire Department, and then Maintenance Department. There had to be an equal amount that was spent on chasing the people in the Police Department away, In just Literature, Commercials that ran on the local channel, and late night channels on the lower priced channels regarding Closing the aw enforcement and opening up the Police Department as the Sheriff Department, also they had to pay for Advertisement with local Radio, Not to mention the literature that was passed out with the fire Department, and the two to three times that they did a mailer program that cost the city some $40,000 only covers the cost to mail the envelopes not the cost of printing paper envelops etc etc... that might be another $5000 or so!! they did this mailing program three times so that was at least $120, 000.00 to mail the envelopes alone, that doesn't count for the cost of printing the flier, each flier was different for each mailer. Each of the mailers were Multi colored and were equally expensive in cost, so they had to cost at least $5000-$9000 a batch for a total of $15,000-$27,000 thousand when mailed the cost was a grand total of $135, 000.00 to $147,000.00 These figures are astronomical when you figure that they are using money that should be used to run the city instead they are using these funds to tear down the city!!
The Voters should think long and hard before they vote for this again!! Unless the city council has a change of heart such as a NEW CITY COUNCIL, ALONG WITH A NEW CITY ADMINISTRATION AND CITY LAWYER TO GO ALONG WITH ALL THIS NEWNESS!!!
BS RANCH
Rialto's utility tax up for renewal
| | Download story podcast | |
09:37 AM PST on Wednesday, November 7, 2007
A city utility tax established four years ago, and now regarded as a vital part of Rialto's public safety budget, had a healthy lead early today in the special election to decide whether to extend the tax until 2013.
At 1 a.m. Wednesday, five hours after the polls closed, ballots from 31 of Rialto's 38 precincts had been tabulated, said Kathy Jackson, executive secretary for the San Bernardino County Registrar's office. Measure D was ahead by a wide margin -- almost two-thirds of the votes at that point favored extending the tax.
Turnout for Tuesday's special election was low, with the utility tax the only matter before Rialto voters.
The 8 percent levy is added to Rialto customers' cable television, water, sewer, telephone, cellular, electricity and natural gas bills.
If voters don't approve a five-year extension, the tax would expire at the end of June. Measure D needs a simple majority to pass, said City Clerk Barbara McGee.
Each year, Rialto collects about $12 million from the utility tax, accounting for 24 percent of the city's General Fund budget. That money helps pay for services including police, fire, parks, public works and code enforcement.
The issue first went before voters in June 2003. The outcome was so close -- 1,649 yes votes to 1,644 no votes -- that the San Bernardino County registrar's office conducted a recount.
On Tuesday, Rialto's 31, 580 registered voters could cast ballots at polling places including seven churches, three public schools, two city fire stations, a country club, the senior center and an American Legion hall.
Since the Utility Users Tax was adopted, the Rialto Fire Department has used money to purchase a fire truck with a 105-foot aerial ladder that can reach the top of a 10-story building and can pump a long spray of water from its attached water cannon.
The department also was able to add nine firefighters/paramedics and reopen Station 204, which had been closed because of Rialto's budget struggles.
People 65 and older are exempt from paying the utility tax, as are families that meet state and federal criteria as very low income. Residents seeking that waiver must complete a form at Rialto City Hall. Currently, 2,015 senior citizens and 67 low-income households receive the tax exemption.
The city was to post election results on its Web site, www.ci.rialto.ca.us, and on KRTO Channel 3, its government access cable channel, throughout the night.
One group monitoring the returns was firefighters at Station 201, the firehouse next to City Hall, and Rialto's busiest.
"We've been watching the local cable channel, but there aren't any results yet," Rialto Fire Capt. Bob Romo said 90 minutes after the polls closed.
Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com
Results
Friday, November 09, 2007
Suspect Denies Killing Rialto Officer (Press Enterprise Oct. 21, 2007) Apartment Manager Held in Connection with death of Officer S. Carrara
BS Ranch Perspective
Any times that there is a SWAT ENTRY there is what is known as an ENTRY TEAM. The entry team makes the announcement that they are the Police, with a loud yell, and the instruction is for everyone to get down on the floor or get shot. The "Apartment Manager" is lucky that the Entry team started to Wrestle with him instead of shoot him to have him lay down on the ground.
But if this is the same kid that was around when I was Patrolling the fine streets of Rialto, his specialty back then was this Passive Aggressive Approach to the Police when it came to following Directions. Now if this was the same person he used to live in some Apartments in the 200 Block of N. Glenwood Ave. before they were purchased by the City and Redeveloped, Well if you would check out a couch to see if there was any weapons in it and ask him to sit down for HIS safety and the safety of the Officers that were in the House. This Suspect would just start to argue as to why he had to sit down. Why do I have to sit down and not the other party, if she as gathering things up to leave we would be keeping the peace, well rather then him sit down and wait for her to leave he would start to address would could and could not be taken, what was his and what was hers. etc etc...
It was all part of that Passive Aggressive Behavior that I was talking about, when the SWAT Officers made Entry into the APARTMENT they most likely ORDERED S-Thomas to the floor, on his stomach, with his hands out to his side. It is in this position where everybody is then Physically SEARCHED for WEAPONS, and HANDCUFFED for their SAFETY, and the SAFETY OF THE OFFICERS ON SCENE!! Once Everyone has been DETAINED in this Fashioned they are then IDENTIFIED by positive Identification, if there is a question of their Identity they are taken for fingerprinting to make sure that they are who they say that they are.
In this case I can see what happened right away. The Suspect (Thomas) was confronted by the SWAT Officers when they entered the door and told to get down on the floor on their stomach, but Suspect (Thomas) Refused, and Rather he get shot, to go down to the ground the SWAT Entrance Team showed a great deal of Restraint, and started to force Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor. However the more that the First SWAT Officer struggled to get SUSPECT (THOMAS) onto the floor, on his stomach, and be handcuffed, the more that he fought with the SWAT Officer (Carrera). It was this time that a Second Officer from the SWAT ENTRY Grabbed a hold of Suspect (Thomas), only after he had slung the AR-15 on his Back. However the more that the two SWAT Officers tried to get Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor the more he fought with his Passive Aggressive behavior, all so that Suspect Thomas didn't have to do what the SWAT Officers were telling him what to do.
It was at this time that one of the two SWAT Officers tripped up Suspect (Thomas) and got him partially down on the Floor, Suspect (Thomas) continued to fight and struggle, the SWAT Officers were rolling on the ground as much as Suspect (Thomas) was at this point, But Suspect (Thomas) Felt or saw an opportunity to get this whole fight to stop, and that IDEA WAS ABOUT TO BE TRIGGERED!! SUSPECT (THOMAS) LAID HIS FINGER IN THE TRIGGER GUARD OF THAT AR-15 and a BURST of TWO ROUNDS went out of the AR-15 ENDING THE FIGHT!! Not just in the Officers But in SUSPECT (THOMAS) BECAUSE HE KNEW WHAT HE HAD DONE!!
SUSPECT (THOMAS) WAS THEN EASILY HANDCUFFED AS SERGIO CARRERA JR. WAS BEING KEPT ALIVE!!!!
Passive Aggressive is something in the Academy that is taught that should be brought under control quickly, and it looks like it was being done so very quickly, but when there is EVIL IN ONE MANS HEART, THEN HE WILL SEEK OUT TO EXPLOIT JUST THAT, EVIL!! In this ALTERCATION that came about because of the PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE EVIL that The SUSPECT (THOMAS) Possessed, boiled to the top that day, and OFFICER SERGIO CARRERA JR. BECAME HIS VICTIM, WHETHER HE WANTED HIM TO BE HIS VICTIM OR NOT THAT IS WHAT HE BECAME. This is what happens when one is Passive Aggressive, It Makes VICTIMS OF PEOPLE or in this case a POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS SIMPLY DOING HIS JOB!!
I GUESS IN THIS WORLD MR. JARANARD THOMAS IT GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT IT IS EASY TO BE A POLICE OFFICER KILLER!! OR A KILLER IN GENERAL!! I personally hope that Chemicals BURN!! when when injected!!
BS Ranch
_________________________________________________________________________
DA calls Rialto shooting murder
02:47 PM PDT on Monday, October 22, 2007
By JOHN F. BERRYThe Press-Enterprise
Video: Rialto officer shooting press conference
SAN BERNARDINO - Kris Antonio Wiggins faces life in prison if convicted in the Thursday killing of a Rialto police officer Sergio Carrera Jr., the San Bernardino County District Attorney announced at a news conference this morning.
"We allege the defendant murdered a victim who was a police officer," District Attorney Michael Ramos said. "We will prosecute that individual to the fullest extent of the law."
Wiggins, 32, was charged with one count of murder and a special allegation of firing a rifle that killed Carrera, according to court records filed this morning. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Hours after Ramos' announcement, Wiggins pleaded not guilty at San Bernardino County Superior Court in Fontana. Wiggins, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit and in court for the first time since his arrest, is scheduled to return to court for an Oct. 30 hearing.
About 11 a.m., Ramos spoke at a brief news conference at his office in downtown San Bernardino. Nearly 100 people -- including 40 of Rialto's 120 uniformed officers -- packed the room in a show of support.
Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling told the crowd that the killing won't slow his department, which has struggled with a number of crises recently, including a threat by the city to disband it and contract for police services with the county sheriff's department.
"This is not going to be a setback for this police department," Kling said. "It will continue to protect the citizens of Rialto."
Carrera, a 29-year-old Beaumont resident, was killed Thursday morning while serving a search warrant for narcotics at an apartment on West Cascade Drive in Rialto. Police said Carrera was shot while other officers struggled with a suspect.
Wiggins said in a jailhouse interview Saturday that he was too busy defending himself from police Tasers to have shot anyone.
Carrera, a four-year veteran of the Rialto Police Department, leaves a 25-year-old widow and two children: 2-year-old Sergio III and 1-year-old Izabelle.
Wiggins had been initially identified as Jaranard Thomas until Saturday, when San Bernardino County sheriff's officials announced his real name after learning it through fingerprints.
Sheriff's officials said Wiggins also was wanted in Mississippi on a $100,000 warrant for selling rock cocaine.
Reach John F. Berry at 909-806-3058 or jberry@PE.com
Suspect denies killing Rialto officer
| Download story podcast | |
07:43 AM PDT on Sunday, October 21, 2007
By ADAM C. HARTMANNThe Press-Enterprise
Slideshow: More images of shooting aftermath
Video: Video snippet of Sergio Carrera Jr.'s 1996 high school graduation
Video: Flyover of the Rialto neighborhood
Video: Rialto Police release name of officer killed
Video: Rialto officials react to the death of police officer Sergio Carrera Jr.
Video: Capt. Raul Martinez briefs the press
Video: Scenes from the fatal shooting in Rialto
Slideshow: Mourning for officer begins following fatal shooting
Slideshow: Photos from the scene of the officer-involved shooting in Rialto
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - An apartment manager held in connection with the killing of a Rialto SWAT officer during a drug raid last week said in a jailhouse interview Saturday he was too busy defending himself from police Tasers to have shot anyone.
Jaranard Thomas, 32, is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga following the death of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, of Beaumont. Carrera was shot about 7 a.m. Thursday at the Rialto apartment of Thomas' girlfriend, Nashalla Bell. Carrera, a four-year veteran of the Rialto police force, died later that morning at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
Police would not comment on what Thomas said, saying only that the investigation indicated that he was responsible for Carerra's death. They also released new information that Thomas is wanted on a $100,000 warrant out of Mississippi.
Story continues below
Thomas looked on Saturday like he hadn't slept in days. His hair was unkempt, his eyes red. He turned his head to reveal a nickel-sized area of stitches behind his left ear.
Thomas said the fact that he's alive is proof he didn't shoot Carrera. If he had shot a police officer, he would immediately have been killed himself, Thomas said.
"Don't you think they're gonna kill that person?" Thomas asked, eyes widening. "Don't you know I would have been dead? Not right here, dead. At the mortuary. Pancake and eggs, cooked."
He denied having guns or drugs in the apartment, and flatly declared he isn't a gang member, as police have indicated.
Rialto police Capt. Tony Farrar declined to comment on Thomas' statements, referring all questions to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting.
Arden Wiltshire, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman, said Thomas' real name is Chris Wiggins, and he is wanted on a $100,000 warrant out of Mississippi for the sale of rock cocaine. Identified through fingerprints, his nicknames include "B-Duke" and "Short Dog," Wiltshire said.
"Our investigators have determined he is responsible for Officer Carrera's death," Wiltshire said, declining to respond to Thomas' remarks.
Thomas' mother gave him the nickname "B-Duke" as a young boy, Bell said. He has never gone by the moniker "Short Dog," Bell said.
Bell said she was in the kitchen of the small West Cascade Drive apartment early Thursday morning, preparing food for her 5- and 14-year-old boys, and the couple's 3-year-old son. Thomas became an immediate father figure to the two older children although they weren't his, Bell said Friday. The 5-year-old called him "Daddy" right away.
As Bell hustled to get the children off to school, SWAT teams were on the apartment complex grounds. The search warrant they carried indicated that rock cocaine, drug paraphernalia and weapons might be inside Apartment A. Thomas said he was lying on the couch in a light sleep when he heard a loud noise at the front door. He said he wasn't sure whether Bell was in the house, but all three boys were home. It was Devante's 14th birthday.
"I felt the cool breeze coming away from the door," Thomas said. "All of a sudden I hear, like, gunshots or something, 'pow, pow, pow'," Thomas said.
He did what he said anyone would do -- he ran, into his oldest son Devante's bedroom at the end of the hall on the right.
"If I'd have known it was the police, I would have laid there," Thomas said. "I'm not no violent person."
In Devante's bedroom, Thomas began to get Tasered, he said.
'I Couldn't Hear Nobody'
During Saturday's interview he rose from his stool and pulled up his orange jumpsuit to show what he said were Taser scars on his belly. Thomas then flailed his arms repeatedly to demonstrate how he was trying to fend off the shocks.
"When I got to the room, I couldn't see," Thomas said. Smoke bombs had been set off at the complex, but Thomas said he didn't know whether one had been set off in his apartment.
Bell said in an interview Friday in the couple's home that their 5-year-old son was crying and shouting for officers not to shoot, but Thomas said he couldn't hear that, or much of anything.
"I'm the one doing the shouting," Thomas said. "I'm like, 'ahhh!' I couldn't hear nobody. I'm the one in the room, on the floor, huddling."
While getting Tasered, Thomas said he heard two gunshots, but denied grabbing anyone's gun. It was inaccurate to characterize the scene as a scuffle, since all he was doing was trying to defend himself, he said.
Wiltshire said she didn't know whether Thomas had been Tasered. The San Bernardino County district attorney's office has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference Monday to talk about the investigation, she said.
Thomas said he was taken from the apartment within five to 10 minutes, and hasn't talked to his children or Bell since. He asked how they were doing, and started to cry.
Reach Adam C. Hartmann at 909-806-3055 or ahartmann@PE.com
Suspect Denies Killing Rialto Officer (Press Enterprise Oct. 21, 2007) Apartment Manager Held in Connection with death of Officer S. Carrara
BS Ranch Perspective
Any times that there is a SWAT ENTRY there is what is known as an ENTRY TEAM. The entry team makes the announcement that they are the Police, with a loud yell, and the instruction is for everyone to get down on the floor or get shot. The "Apartment Manager" is lucky that the Entry team started to Wrestle with him instead of shoot him to have him lay down on the ground.
But if this is the same kid that was around when I was Patrolling the fine streets of Rialto, his specialty back then was this Passive Aggressive Approach to the Police when it came to following Directions. Now if this was the same person he used to live in some Apartments in the 200 Block of N. Glenwood Ave. before they were purchased by the City and Redeveloped, Well if you would check out a couch to see if there was any weapons in it and ask him to sit down for HIS safety and the safety of the Officers that were in the House. This Suspect would just start to argue as to why he had to sit down. Why do I have to sit down and not the other party, if she as gathering things up to leave we would be keeping the peace, well rather then him sit down and wait for her to leave he would start to address would could and could not be taken, what was his and what was hers. etc etc...
It was all part of that Passive Aggressive Behavior that I was talking about, when the SWAT Officers made Entry into the APARTMENT they most likely ORDERED S-Thomas to the floor, on his stomach, with his hands out to his side. It is in this position where everybody is then Physically SEARCHED for WEAPONS, and HANDCUFFED for their SAFETY, and the SAFETY OF THE OFFICERS ON SCENE!! Once Everyone has been DETAINED in this Fashioned they are then IDENTIFIED by positive Identification, if there is a question of their Identity they are taken for fingerprinting to make sure that they are who they say that they are.
In this case I can see what happened right away. The Suspect (Thomas) was confronted by the SWAT Officers when they entered the door and told to get down on the floor on their stomach, but Suspect (Thomas) Refused, and Rather he get shot, to go down to the ground the SWAT Entrance Team showed a great deal of Restraint, and started to force Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor. However the more that the First SWAT Officer struggled to get SUSPECT (THOMAS) onto the floor, on his stomach, and be handcuffed, the more that he fought with the SWAT Officer (Carrera). It was this time that a Second Officer from the SWAT ENTRY Grabbed a hold of Suspect (Thomas), only after he had slung the AR-15 on his Back. However the more that the two SWAT Officers tried to get Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor the more he fought with his Passive Aggressive behavior, all so that Suspect Thomas didn't have to do what the SWAT Officers were telling him what to do.
It was at this time that one of the two SWAT Officers tripped up Suspect (Thomas) and got him partially down on the Floor, Suspect (Thomas) continued to fight and struggle, the SWAT Officers were rolling on the ground as much as Suspect (Thomas) was at this point, But Suspect (Thomas) Felt or saw an opportunity to get this whole fight to stop, and that IDEA WAS ABOUT TO BE TRIGGERED!! SUSPECT (THOMAS) LAID HIS FINGER IN THE TRIGGER GUARD OF THAT AR-15 and a BURST of TWO ROUNDS went out of the AR-15 ENDING THE FIGHT!! Not just in the Officers But in SUSPECT (THOMAS) BECAUSE HE KNEW WHAT HE HAD DONE!!
SUSPECT (THOMAS) WAS THEN EASILY HANDCUFFED AS SERGIO CARRERA JR. WAS BEING KEPT ALIVE!!!!
Passive Aggressive is something in the Academy that is taught that should be brought under control quickly, and it looks like it was being done so very quickly, but when there is EVIL IN ONE MANS HEART, THEN HE WILL SEEK OUT TO EXPLOIT JUST THAT, EVIL!! In this ALTERCATION that came about because of the PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE EVIL that The SUSPECT (THOMAS) Possessed, boiled to the top that day, and OFFICER SERGIO CARRERA JR. BECAME HIS VICTIM, WHETHER HE WANTED HIM TO BE HIS VICTIM OR NOT THAT IS WHAT HE BECAME. This is what happens when one is Passive Aggressive, It Makes VICTIMS OF PEOPLE or in this case a POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS SIMPLY DOING HIS JOB!!
I GUESS IN THIS WORLD MR. JARANARD THOMAS IT GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT IT IS EASY TO BE A POLICE OFFICER KILLER!! OR A KILLER IN GENERAL!! I personally hope that Chemicals BURN!! when when injected!!
BS Ranch
Any times that there is a SWAT ENTRY there is what is known as an ENTRY TEAM. The entry team makes the announcement that they are the Police, with a loud yell, and the instruction is for everyone to get down on the floor or get shot. The "Apartment Manager" is lucky that the Entry team started to Wrestle with him instead of shoot him to have him lay down on the ground.
But if this is the same kid that was around when I was Patrolling the fine streets of Rialto, his specialty back then was this Passive Aggressive Approach to the Police when it came to following Directions. Now if this was the same person he used to live in some Apartments in the 200 Block of N. Glenwood Ave. before they were purchased by the City and Redeveloped, Well if you would check out a couch to see if there was any weapons in it and ask him to sit down for HIS safety and the safety of the Officers that were in the House. This Suspect would just start to argue as to why he had to sit down. Why do I have to sit down and not the other party, if she as gathering things up to leave we would be keeping the peace, well rather then him sit down and wait for her to leave he would start to address would could and could not be taken, what was his and what was hers. etc etc...
It was all part of that Passive Aggressive Behavior that I was talking about, when the SWAT Officers made Entry into the APARTMENT they most likely ORDERED S-Thomas to the floor, on his stomach, with his hands out to his side. It is in this position where everybody is then Physically SEARCHED for WEAPONS, and HANDCUFFED for their SAFETY, and the SAFETY OF THE OFFICERS ON SCENE!! Once Everyone has been DETAINED in this Fashioned they are then IDENTIFIED by positive Identification, if there is a question of their Identity they are taken for fingerprinting to make sure that they are who they say that they are.
In this case I can see what happened right away. The Suspect (Thomas) was confronted by the SWAT Officers when they entered the door and told to get down on the floor on their stomach, but Suspect (Thomas) Refused, and Rather he get shot, to go down to the ground the SWAT Entrance Team showed a great deal of Restraint, and started to force Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor. However the more that the First SWAT Officer struggled to get SUSPECT (THOMAS) onto the floor, on his stomach, and be handcuffed, the more that he fought with the SWAT Officer (Carrera). It was this time that a Second Officer from the SWAT ENTRY Grabbed a hold of Suspect (Thomas), only after he had slung the AR-15 on his Back. However the more that the two SWAT Officers tried to get Suspect (Thomas) onto the floor the more he fought with his Passive Aggressive behavior, all so that Suspect Thomas didn't have to do what the SWAT Officers were telling him what to do.
It was at this time that one of the two SWAT Officers tripped up Suspect (Thomas) and got him partially down on the Floor, Suspect (Thomas) continued to fight and struggle, the SWAT Officers were rolling on the ground as much as Suspect (Thomas) was at this point, But Suspect (Thomas) Felt or saw an opportunity to get this whole fight to stop, and that IDEA WAS ABOUT TO BE TRIGGERED!! SUSPECT (THOMAS) LAID HIS FINGER IN THE TRIGGER GUARD OF THAT AR-15 and a BURST of TWO ROUNDS went out of the AR-15 ENDING THE FIGHT!! Not just in the Officers But in SUSPECT (THOMAS) BECAUSE HE KNEW WHAT HE HAD DONE!!
SUSPECT (THOMAS) WAS THEN EASILY HANDCUFFED AS SERGIO CARRERA JR. WAS BEING KEPT ALIVE!!!!
Passive Aggressive is something in the Academy that is taught that should be brought under control quickly, and it looks like it was being done so very quickly, but when there is EVIL IN ONE MANS HEART, THEN HE WILL SEEK OUT TO EXPLOIT JUST THAT, EVIL!! In this ALTERCATION that came about because of the PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE EVIL that The SUSPECT (THOMAS) Possessed, boiled to the top that day, and OFFICER SERGIO CARRERA JR. BECAME HIS VICTIM, WHETHER HE WANTED HIM TO BE HIS VICTIM OR NOT THAT IS WHAT HE BECAME. This is what happens when one is Passive Aggressive, It Makes VICTIMS OF PEOPLE or in this case a POLICE OFFICER WHO WAS SIMPLY DOING HIS JOB!!
I GUESS IN THIS WORLD MR. JARANARD THOMAS IT GOES TO SHOW YOU THAT IT IS EASY TO BE A POLICE OFFICER KILLER!! OR A KILLER IN GENERAL!! I personally hope that Chemicals BURN!! when when injected!!
BS Ranch
Suspect denies killing Rialto officer
| | Download story podcast | |
07:43 AM PDT on Sunday, October 21, 2007
Video: Video snippet of Sergio Carrera Jr.'s 1996 high school graduation
Video: Flyover of the Rialto neighborhood
Video: Rialto Police release name of officer killed
Video: Rialto officials react to the death of police officer Sergio Carrera Jr.
Video: Capt. Raul Martinez briefs the press
Video: Scenes from the fatal shooting in Rialto
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - An apartment manager held in connection with the killing of a Rialto SWAT officer during a drug raid last week said in a jailhouse interview Saturday he was too busy defending himself from police Tasers to have shot anyone.
Jaranard Thomas, 32, is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga following the death of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, of Beaumont. Carrera was shot about 7 a.m. Thursday at the Rialto apartment of Thomas' girlfriend, Nashalla Bell. Carrera, a four-year veteran of the Rialto police force, died later that morning at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
Police would not comment on what Thomas said, saying only that the investigation indicated that he was responsible for Carerra's death. They also released new information that Thomas is wanted on a $100,000 warrant out of Mississippi.
Story continues below
Thomas looked on Saturday like he hadn't slept in days. His hair was unkempt, his eyes red. He turned his head to reveal a nickel-sized area of stitches behind his left ear.
Thomas said the fact that he's alive is proof he didn't shoot Carrera. If he had shot a police officer, he would immediately have been killed himself, Thomas said.
"Don't you think they're gonna kill that person?" Thomas asked, eyes widening. "Don't you know I would have been dead? Not right here, dead. At the mortuary. Pancake and eggs, cooked."
He denied having guns or drugs in the apartment, and flatly declared he isn't a gang member, as police have indicated.
Rialto police Capt. Tony Farrar declined to comment on Thomas' statements, referring all questions to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, which is investigating the shooting.
Arden Wiltshire, a Sheriff's Department spokeswoman, said Thomas' real name is Chris Wiggins, and he is wanted on a $100,000 warrant out of Mississippi for the sale of rock cocaine. Identified through fingerprints, his nicknames include "B-Duke" and "Short Dog," Wiltshire said.
"Our investigators have determined he is responsible for Officer Carrera's death," Wiltshire said, declining to respond to Thomas' remarks.
Thomas' mother gave him the nickname "B-Duke" as a young boy, Bell said. He has never gone by the moniker "Short Dog," Bell said.
Bell said she was in the kitchen of the small West Cascade Drive apartment early Thursday morning, preparing food for her 5- and 14-year-old boys, and the couple's 3-year-old son. Thomas became an immediate father figure to the two older children although they weren't his, Bell said Friday. The 5-year-old called him "Daddy" right away.
As Bell hustled to get the children off to school, SWAT teams were on the apartment complex grounds. The search warrant they carried indicated that rock cocaine, drug paraphernalia and weapons might be inside Apartment A. Thomas said he was lying on the couch in a light sleep when he heard a loud noise at the front door. He said he wasn't sure whether Bell was in the house, but all three boys were home. It was Devante's 14th birthday.
"I felt the cool breeze coming away from the door," Thomas said. "All of a sudden I hear, like, gunshots or something, 'pow, pow, pow'," Thomas said.
He did what he said anyone would do -- he ran, into his oldest son Devante's bedroom at the end of the hall on the right.
"If I'd have known it was the police, I would have laid there," Thomas said. "I'm not no violent person."
In Devante's bedroom, Thomas began to get Tasered, he said.
'I Couldn't Hear Nobody'
During Saturday's interview he rose from his stool and pulled up his orange jumpsuit to show what he said were Taser scars on his belly. Thomas then flailed his arms repeatedly to demonstrate how he was trying to fend off the shocks.
"When I got to the room, I couldn't see," Thomas said. Smoke bombs had been set off at the complex, but Thomas said he didn't know whether one had been set off in his apartment.
Bell said in an interview Friday in the couple's home that their 5-year-old son was crying and shouting for officers not to shoot, but Thomas said he couldn't hear that, or much of anything.
"I'm the one doing the shouting," Thomas said. "I'm like, 'ahhh!' I couldn't hear nobody. I'm the one in the room, on the floor, huddling."
While getting Tasered, Thomas said he heard two gunshots, but denied grabbing anyone's gun. It was inaccurate to characterize the scene as a scuffle, since all he was doing was trying to defend himself, he said.
Wiltshire said she didn't know whether Thomas had been Tasered. The San Bernardino County district attorney's office has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference Monday to talk about the investigation, she said.
Thomas said he was taken from the apartment within five to 10 minutes, and hasn't talked to his children or Bell since. He asked how they were doing, and started to cry.
Reach Adam C. Hartmann at 909-806-3055 or ahartmann@PE.com
Monday, October 29, 2007
Slaying is a Blow to a Rebounding Force (LA Times 102007) Police Arrest Man Suspected of Killing SWAT Officer (SF GATE 102007)
BS Ranch Perspective
The healing for the Rialto Police Department is a hard one, Since Serg's Murder, it has been hard for people to come to work, I cannot say that I blame them, It is just to much for one to bear, especially for someone that was so much to so many people on the Department!! If you were to stand each of the Officer's for Rialto in the place where the most fit, Serg, would have been clost to were the Heart connects to the Soul! So, what I am saying is that for now the Police Department has lost its communication between its Heart and Soul!!
I had the Opportunity to meet Sergio many times through his working career at Rialto Police Department. I met him when he was pretty new and still on training at the P.A.L. Center. (Baseline Ave @ Sycamore Ave.), then again later when he was off of training during the time that the Rialto Police Department was going to be closed Forever, after being a Department since 1911. Sergio, Corporal Black, his wife, Sergent Shawn O'Connel, were talking in front of the Rialto Civic Center, and I got the opportunity to hear his great personality at that time, It is such a devastation to the Department!!
I volunteered on the last Baker to Veges Marathon Run, and Sergio was in the third or fourth leg, which was one of the most difficult legs of that run. All or most of it was uphill with a headwind. He was did great and made great time, as did his Graveyard Partner Whom Sergio called "Kobe" also Ran a Very Difficult leg of the race. (Both of their Legs were most if not all uphill legs). You could tell that Sergio and his partner were very close and shared a great deal of their lives together not just their time at work! They were so close that the Officer who I cannot remember his Name, but I remember his 'nick name' of "Kobe" Spoke on behalf of Sergio Carrera Jr., they were very close from the time that they were sworn in to the time that Sergio had past. The Stories told of Sergio's personality was was great, I was only privileged to only a very small part of his personality, My only regret is that I didn't get to know Sergio Carrera Jr better!!
My prayers are going out to Sergio's Family, His Mother, Father, & Siblings. I am also praying for his Wife, Son, and Daughter. I am also praying for the one thing that I always pray for, and that is the Men & Woman of the Rialto Police Department! The prayer that I had prior had failed earlier, as Sergio was called to Heaven! But I know that It isn't my place to say that or to look at this situation like this, The better way to look at this, the more healing way is to look at it this way. Even though I prayed a great prayer for the Rialto Police Department, God in all his wisdom had a much greater job for Sergio, he Must have been needed in Heaven for the SWAT entries against the Devil, in Heaven, and that is why he was called away!!
BS Ranch
So while the community and fellow officers mourned the death of the 29-year-old SWAT officer Friday, there were vows to keep moving forward and not return to the days when a fed-up City Council voted to liquidate the department.
"Things have improved 100% since the new chief came in," said Mayor Grace Vargas. "They are doing what they are trained to do, getting gang members off the street. We wish things like yesterday didn't happen, but our department is now in better hands."
In 2005, Vargas was the only member of the City Council who didn't vote to disband the police and bring in the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department to patrol the streets.
"I really didn't know what was going to happen. All I knew is, I wanted my Police Department based in the community," she said. The council's decision, eventually overturned by a court order, was an expression of public exasperation with a police force in turmoil for more than a decade.
Its own officers filed more than 100 lawsuits against the department, many alleging racism and sexual harassment.
In two federal lawsuits, officers accused former Chief Michael Meyers and former Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess, both black, of discrimination against non-black officers.
The police were also accused of slow response times and letting a drug and gang culture flourish in the city of 100,000.
While crime rates fell elsewhere in San Bernardino County, they jumped 71% in Rialto between 1998 and 2004, according to FBI statistics. Mayor Vargas said 27 police officers quit during this time of turmoil.
"I didn't think so much we wanted to disband the police but I thought we needed a change," said City Councilman Ed Scott, who voted to dissolve the force.
The first thing they did was hire Mark Kling as chief. Kling had been chief in Baldwin Park.
"I think we had a lot of management problems before and the leadership was bad," Scott said. "Now morale is really good, and we are almost fully staffed."
Kling did not return calls seeking an interview.
The crime rate has dropped over the last few years, although there have been several recent shootings, including the deaths of a 16-year-old boy and Carrera.
Late Thursday, police arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto and booked him on suspicion of murder of a police officer. He is being held without bail and is expected to be arraigned early next week. Carrera was killed during a struggle with Thomas while serving a warrant at Thomas' house.
Yet not everyone likes new police tactics, which have included several major sweeps in the last year aimed at suspected drug dealers, similar to the one Carrera was involved in.
Around West Cascade Drive, where the officer was shot, the police came in for harsh criticism from residents Friday.
At the Whipp Appeal barbershop, several customers were concerned that the officer's death would bring more of what they described as harassment of Rialto's black residents.
Barber Ricky Davis, who counted Thomas among his weekly customers, said that during his 20 years in Rialto he had often seen officers hassle residents just because they lived in neighborhoods with drug and gang problems. "I don't think [the police] have gotten better; they've gotten worse," he said.
Customer Jay Scott said police had stopped him three times in the past two weeks while walking home. "They don't have permission to search me, but they do it anyway," said Scott, as he left the barbershop after his 4-year-old son Jermele's haircut. "They've been to my house so many times, and I'm not even doing anything for them to come to my house."
Longtime Rialto resident Mark Robinson Sr., an associate minister at Greater Faith Bible Church, supports the police but said the department needs to involve the community more.
"I still see crime as very bad," he said. "You have high functioning gang members and drug dealers who came and set up shop here and the police weren't ready for it." In response to the gang problem, Robinson is sponsoring a town hall meeting at 3 p.m. today at his church.
"I think the shooting of the police officer is going to spark even more people to come," he said. "And whatever officials don't come, they need to step out of office."
Elsewhere in Rialto on Friday, police officers tried to deal with Carrera's death. He is survived by his wife, a 2-year-old son, a year-old daughter, two sisters and his parents
Several of Carrera's former partners struggled with their emotions as they returned to work. "He was a really good street cop, soft-spoken, in control and very low key, very observant," Sgt. James Gibbons said. "He was well on his way to being an outstanding gang officer. He had a flair and a knack for identifying gang members."
Officer Robert Morales, who worked the graveyard shift with Carrera, remembered him as a diligent but funny colleague.
"He was a confident jokester who liked to stir a lot of stuff up," he said. "When he was around, everyone was smiling and laughing. He made sure everybody was laughing."
david.kelly@latimes.com
maeve.reston@latimes.com
____________________________________________________________________________________
The healing for the Rialto Police Department is a hard one, Since Serg's Murder, it has been hard for people to come to work, I cannot say that I blame them, It is just to much for one to bear, especially for someone that was so much to so many people on the Department!! If you were to stand each of the Officer's for Rialto in the place where the most fit, Serg, would have been clost to were the Heart connects to the Soul! So, what I am saying is that for now the Police Department has lost its communication between its Heart and Soul!!
I had the Opportunity to meet Sergio many times through his working career at Rialto Police Department. I met him when he was pretty new and still on training at the P.A.L. Center. (Baseline Ave @ Sycamore Ave.), then again later when he was off of training during the time that the Rialto Police Department was going to be closed Forever, after being a Department since 1911. Sergio, Corporal Black, his wife, Sergent Shawn O'Connel, were talking in front of the Rialto Civic Center, and I got the opportunity to hear his great personality at that time, It is such a devastation to the Department!!
I volunteered on the last Baker to Veges Marathon Run, and Sergio was in the third or fourth leg, which was one of the most difficult legs of that run. All or most of it was uphill with a headwind. He was did great and made great time, as did his Graveyard Partner Whom Sergio called "Kobe" also Ran a Very Difficult leg of the race. (Both of their Legs were most if not all uphill legs). You could tell that Sergio and his partner were very close and shared a great deal of their lives together not just their time at work! They were so close that the Officer who I cannot remember his Name, but I remember his 'nick name' of "Kobe" Spoke on behalf of Sergio Carrera Jr., they were very close from the time that they were sworn in to the time that Sergio had past. The Stories told of Sergio's personality was was great, I was only privileged to only a very small part of his personality, My only regret is that I didn't get to know Sergio Carrera Jr better!!
My prayers are going out to Sergio's Family, His Mother, Father, & Siblings. I am also praying for his Wife, Son, and Daughter. I am also praying for the one thing that I always pray for, and that is the Men & Woman of the Rialto Police Department! The prayer that I had prior had failed earlier, as Sergio was called to Heaven! But I know that It isn't my place to say that or to look at this situation like this, The better way to look at this, the more healing way is to look at it this way. Even though I prayed a great prayer for the Rialto Police Department, God in all his wisdom had a much greater job for Sergio, he Must have been needed in Heaven for the SWAT entries against the Devil, in Heaven, and that is why he was called away!!
BS Ranch
Slaying is a blow to a rebounding force
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A new police chief is turning around a department that Rialto City Council members once voted to disband.
When Officer Sergio Carrera Jr. was shot and killed while serving a search warrant Thursday, he was part of a revamped Rialto Police Department, an aggressive force under new leadership looking to put a controversial past behind it.So while the community and fellow officers mourned the death of the 29-year-old SWAT officer Friday, there were vows to keep moving forward and not return to the days when a fed-up City Council voted to liquidate the department.
"Things have improved 100% since the new chief came in," said Mayor Grace Vargas. "They are doing what they are trained to do, getting gang members off the street. We wish things like yesterday didn't happen, but our department is now in better hands."
In 2005, Vargas was the only member of the City Council who didn't vote to disband the police and bring in the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department to patrol the streets.
"I really didn't know what was going to happen. All I knew is, I wanted my Police Department based in the community," she said. The council's decision, eventually overturned by a court order, was an expression of public exasperation with a police force in turmoil for more than a decade.
Its own officers filed more than 100 lawsuits against the department, many alleging racism and sexual harassment.
In two federal lawsuits, officers accused former Chief Michael Meyers and former Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess, both black, of discrimination against non-black officers.
The police were also accused of slow response times and letting a drug and gang culture flourish in the city of 100,000.
While crime rates fell elsewhere in San Bernardino County, they jumped 71% in Rialto between 1998 and 2004, according to FBI statistics. Mayor Vargas said 27 police officers quit during this time of turmoil.
"I didn't think so much we wanted to disband the police but I thought we needed a change," said City Councilman Ed Scott, who voted to dissolve the force.
The first thing they did was hire Mark Kling as chief. Kling had been chief in Baldwin Park.
"I think we had a lot of management problems before and the leadership was bad," Scott said. "Now morale is really good, and we are almost fully staffed."
Kling did not return calls seeking an interview.
The crime rate has dropped over the last few years, although there have been several recent shootings, including the deaths of a 16-year-old boy and Carrera.
Late Thursday, police arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto and booked him on suspicion of murder of a police officer. He is being held without bail and is expected to be arraigned early next week. Carrera was killed during a struggle with Thomas while serving a warrant at Thomas' house.
Yet not everyone likes new police tactics, which have included several major sweeps in the last year aimed at suspected drug dealers, similar to the one Carrera was involved in.
Around West Cascade Drive, where the officer was shot, the police came in for harsh criticism from residents Friday.
At the Whipp Appeal barbershop, several customers were concerned that the officer's death would bring more of what they described as harassment of Rialto's black residents.
Barber Ricky Davis, who counted Thomas among his weekly customers, said that during his 20 years in Rialto he had often seen officers hassle residents just because they lived in neighborhoods with drug and gang problems. "I don't think [the police] have gotten better; they've gotten worse," he said.
Customer Jay Scott said police had stopped him three times in the past two weeks while walking home. "They don't have permission to search me, but they do it anyway," said Scott, as he left the barbershop after his 4-year-old son Jermele's haircut. "They've been to my house so many times, and I'm not even doing anything for them to come to my house."
Longtime Rialto resident Mark Robinson Sr., an associate minister at Greater Faith Bible Church, supports the police but said the department needs to involve the community more.
"I still see crime as very bad," he said. "You have high functioning gang members and drug dealers who came and set up shop here and the police weren't ready for it." In response to the gang problem, Robinson is sponsoring a town hall meeting at 3 p.m. today at his church.
"I think the shooting of the police officer is going to spark even more people to come," he said. "And whatever officials don't come, they need to step out of office."
Elsewhere in Rialto on Friday, police officers tried to deal with Carrera's death. He is survived by his wife, a 2-year-old son, a year-old daughter, two sisters and his parents
Several of Carrera's former partners struggled with their emotions as they returned to work. "He was a really good street cop, soft-spoken, in control and very low key, very observant," Sgt. James Gibbons said. "He was well on his way to being an outstanding gang officer. He had a flair and a knack for identifying gang members."
Officer Robert Morales, who worked the graveyard shift with Carrera, remembered him as a diligent but funny colleague.
"He was a confident jokester who liked to stir a lot of stuff up," he said. "When he was around, everyone was smiling and laughing. He made sure everybody was laughing."
david.kelly@latimes.com
maeve.reston@latimes.com
____________________________________________________________________________________
Police arrest man suspected of killing SWAT officer
Thursday, October 18, 2007
(10-18) 23:23 PDT Rialto, Calif. (AP) --
Police have arrested a man suspected in the fatal shooting of a SWAT officer during a narcotics raid at an apartment building Thursday, authorities said.
Officers arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, a Rialto man and booked him on suspicion of murder of a police officer, said Police Chief Mark Kling. It was immediately clear if Thomas yet had an attorney.
Sergio Carrera, 29, died after being shot in the upper body while serving a search warrant during the Thursday morning raid.
Carrera was rushed to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center after the 7 a.m. shooting, but did not survive surgery, Rialto police Capt. Raul Martinez said.
"We've suffered a great loss today," Martinez said.
Carrera had been with the department four years.
The shooting happened 45 miles east of Los Angeles. No further details were released about the search warrant.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/18/state/n092553D10.DTL
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Rialto Police Officer is Shot During Raid, dies (LA Times Oct, 19, 2007)
BS Ranch Perspective
I Sergio Carrera Jr about four years ago when he was still on training, I didn't get to talk to him that much, but when the City Council in their FAILED ATTEMPT to CONTRACT with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, I got to Talk to Sergio for longer periods of time in front of the Police station, and hew as a very nice guy, He was one that truly didn't want to see Rialto (Back at that time) go to the County of San Bernardino for Law Enforcement Duties the jobs for many that were at Rialto didn't know what or where they would be assigned by the Sheriff's Department if they were taken over or Contracted with by them.
Sergio, the little that I got to know him was a man that you could obviously tell loved his family, and he just wanted what ever was best for him and his family!!
I am Truly broken up over the fact that there was such a young family that has been torn apart now, it is going to be hard for the family to adjust to the loss of the main man of the family. My prayers have been flowing for them, the children and his wife. My Gracious Lord God, it is going to be a hard for them to pick up the pieces and try to go on without Sergio!!
BS Ranch
I Sergio Carrera Jr about four years ago when he was still on training, I didn't get to talk to him that much, but when the City Council in their FAILED ATTEMPT to CONTRACT with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, I got to Talk to Sergio for longer periods of time in front of the Police station, and hew as a very nice guy, He was one that truly didn't want to see Rialto (Back at that time) go to the County of San Bernardino for Law Enforcement Duties the jobs for many that were at Rialto didn't know what or where they would be assigned by the Sheriff's Department if they were taken over or Contracted with by them.
Sergio, the little that I got to know him was a man that you could obviously tell loved his family, and he just wanted what ever was best for him and his family!!
I am Truly broken up over the fact that there was such a young family that has been torn apart now, it is going to be hard for the family to adjust to the loss of the main man of the family. My prayers have been flowing for them, the children and his wife. My Gracious Lord God, it is going to be a hard for them to pick up the pieces and try to go on without Sergio!!
BS Ranch
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
Jessica DeMoet, a San Bernardino County sheriff's crime scene investigator, inspects Rialto Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.'s gun Thursday on West Cascade Drive in Rialto .
Rialto police officer is shot during raid, dies
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
Jessica DeMoet, a San Bernardino County sheriff's crime scene investigator, inspects Rialto Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.'s gun Thursday on West Cascade Drive in Rialto .
A resident of a home being raided is arrested on suspicion of murder in 4-year veteran's death.
A Rialto police officer was shot and killed Thursday as authorities from local and federal agencies swarmed over a troubled stretch of the city serving search warrants for illegal drugs.
Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes.
Late Thursday night, Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling announced that they had arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto on suspicion of murder of a police officer.
He said speculation earlier in the day that another SWAT team officer had shot the fallen officer was incorrect. Kling took no questions and said the investigation was ongoing.
Police Capt. Raul Martinez did not offer details on how the shooting occurred. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was investigating.
Carrera was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he died. He was married with a 2-year-old son and a year-old daughter.
The incident began about 7 a.m. when neighbors reported smoke, explosions and shouting. SWAT teams from the Colton and Rialto police departments, along with a few agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, raided four homes on West Cascade Drive simultaneously.
Nashalla Bell was in the house with Thomas when the shooting occurred. She said she heard the front door jiggling and was worried it was the same people who did a drive-by shooting of the house Sunday morning.
Bell woke Thomas moments before police burst through the door, she said. Her 3- and 5-year-old sons ran from the kitchen where they were getting ready to eat breakfast. She said the police ordered everyone to the floor at gunpoint.
"I couldn't see anything after that, but apparently my boyfriend got up and ran to the back and another officer went after him," she said. "I heard the shot, and I heard them say, 'Officer down.' "
Neighbors reported seeing a police officer kneeling beside Carrera, crying and embracing him.
Bell said she couldn't believe Thomas shot the officer but said he had been on guard since the drive-by shooting. "I think he probably thought the same thing I thought -- that the people who shot on Sunday was coming back," she said. "I don't think he realized it was the police."
Bell said she could not see who fired the gun or whether her boyfriend had a gun. She said police told her later they recovered firearms from the house. Martinez would not say whether Thomas was armed.
Neighbors described Thomas as nonviolent and a neighborhood chef who cooked soul food in his kitchen and sold it for $10 a plate on weekends.
Myrtle Bush said Thomas held neighborhood cookouts and was planning a surprise birthday party for one of his children later Thursday. "He's more into his kids and wife than anything," said Bush, 58.
Akeyauna Brown, 18, said that when she was at Thomas' home Wednesday braiding his cornrows, he was worried about his family's safety because of the drive-by shooting.
Carrera is the second Rialto policeman to die in the line of duty. An officer was shot and killed at a gas station in 1986.
Police gathered outside department headquarters to comfort one another Thursday. Flags were lowered to half-staff. A number of squad cars, lights flashing, escorted Carrera's body from the hospital to the coroner's office.
"He was a great officer, very well liked, very well respected. It will be extremely difficult for all of us to get over this," Martinez said. "Members of our department are in shock."
City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson met with Carrera's family at the hospital.
"It really hurts that he was a young man who was really outgoing and energetic," she said. "He was fun and everyone loved him."
Robertson said childhood friends of Carrera, who grew up in the Moreno Valley area, rushed to the hospital.
The California Highway Patrol flew his wife to the hospital in a helicopter. "She's in a daze right now," Robertson said. "She is trying to care for her kids as well as support her family."
His death shocked a city struggling to get its police force back on track and trying to rein in a crime problem that has included a recent shooting death of a 16-year-old boy at a mall.
Over the last decade, its own officers have sued the department, accusing it of widespread racism and sexism. It has been criticized for slow response times and failing to curb violent crime. The City Council voted to disband the department last year and let the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department patrol the city of 100,000. A court order overturned that decision.
Robertson said the department had been trying to rebuild. "The morale and camaraderie at the department is great," he said.
Those living on West Cascade Drive tell different stories about the neighborhood. Some say it's under siege by overzealous police; others describe it as a place of drug sales and escalating crime.
Bush said police had made it so uncomfortable to be outside over the last year that she was moving out of the neighborhood.
"They come over here and make this street seem like the worst street in Rialto, which it's not," she said. She said officers believe there is gang activity in the neighborhood because young men gather on the street. But others, including Maria Herrera, said violence in Rialto had become progressively worse since she moved into her home 12 years ago.
There are still bullet holes in the side of her house from a drive-by shooting less than a year ago. "It used to be more relaxed, more calm," Herrera said. "But lately it's been getting a lot of violence."
maeve.reston@latimes.com
david.kelly@latimes.com
Sergio Carrera Jr., 29, a four-year veteran of the force and a member of the SWAT team, was shot in the chest while he and other officers struggled with a man inside one of the targeted homes.
Late Thursday night, Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling announced that they had arrested Jaranard Thomas, 32, of Rialto on suspicion of murder of a police officer.
click to enlarge
He said speculation earlier in the day that another SWAT team officer had shot the fallen officer was incorrect. Kling took no questions and said the investigation was ongoing.
Police Capt. Raul Martinez did not offer details on how the shooting occurred. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department was investigating.
Carrera was airlifted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, where he died. He was married with a 2-year-old son and a year-old daughter.
The incident began about 7 a.m. when neighbors reported smoke, explosions and shouting. SWAT teams from the Colton and Rialto police departments, along with a few agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, raided four homes on West Cascade Drive simultaneously.
Nashalla Bell was in the house with Thomas when the shooting occurred. She said she heard the front door jiggling and was worried it was the same people who did a drive-by shooting of the house Sunday morning.
Bell woke Thomas moments before police burst through the door, she said. Her 3- and 5-year-old sons ran from the kitchen where they were getting ready to eat breakfast. She said the police ordered everyone to the floor at gunpoint.
"I couldn't see anything after that, but apparently my boyfriend got up and ran to the back and another officer went after him," she said. "I heard the shot, and I heard them say, 'Officer down.' "
Neighbors reported seeing a police officer kneeling beside Carrera, crying and embracing him.
Bell said she couldn't believe Thomas shot the officer but said he had been on guard since the drive-by shooting. "I think he probably thought the same thing I thought -- that the people who shot on Sunday was coming back," she said. "I don't think he realized it was the police."
Bell said she could not see who fired the gun or whether her boyfriend had a gun. She said police told her later they recovered firearms from the house. Martinez would not say whether Thomas was armed.
Neighbors described Thomas as nonviolent and a neighborhood chef who cooked soul food in his kitchen and sold it for $10 a plate on weekends.
Myrtle Bush said Thomas held neighborhood cookouts and was planning a surprise birthday party for one of his children later Thursday. "He's more into his kids and wife than anything," said Bush, 58.
Akeyauna Brown, 18, said that when she was at Thomas' home Wednesday braiding his cornrows, he was worried about his family's safety because of the drive-by shooting.
Carrera is the second Rialto policeman to die in the line of duty. An officer was shot and killed at a gas station in 1986.
Police gathered outside department headquarters to comfort one another Thursday. Flags were lowered to half-staff. A number of squad cars, lights flashing, escorted Carrera's body from the hospital to the coroner's office.
"He was a great officer, very well liked, very well respected. It will be extremely difficult for all of us to get over this," Martinez said. "Members of our department are in shock."
City Councilwoman Deborah Robertson met with Carrera's family at the hospital.
"It really hurts that he was a young man who was really outgoing and energetic," she said. "He was fun and everyone loved him."
Robertson said childhood friends of Carrera, who grew up in the Moreno Valley area, rushed to the hospital.
The California Highway Patrol flew his wife to the hospital in a helicopter. "She's in a daze right now," Robertson said. "She is trying to care for her kids as well as support her family."
His death shocked a city struggling to get its police force back on track and trying to rein in a crime problem that has included a recent shooting death of a 16-year-old boy at a mall.
Over the last decade, its own officers have sued the department, accusing it of widespread racism and sexism. It has been criticized for slow response times and failing to curb violent crime. The City Council voted to disband the department last year and let the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department patrol the city of 100,000. A court order overturned that decision.
Robertson said the department had been trying to rebuild. "The morale and camaraderie at the department is great," he said.
Those living on West Cascade Drive tell different stories about the neighborhood. Some say it's under siege by overzealous police; others describe it as a place of drug sales and escalating crime.
Bush said police had made it so uncomfortable to be outside over the last year that she was moving out of the neighborhood.
"They come over here and make this street seem like the worst street in Rialto, which it's not," she said. She said officers believe there is gang activity in the neighborhood because young men gather on the street. But others, including Maria Herrera, said violence in Rialto had become progressively worse since she moved into her home 12 years ago.
There are still bullet holes in the side of her house from a drive-by shooting less than a year ago. "It used to be more relaxed, more calm," Herrera said. "But lately it's been getting a lot of violence."
maeve.reston@latimes.com
david.kelly@latimes.com
Rialto Police Department No Stranger to Turmoil (Press Enterprise, Oct. 19, 2007)
BS Ranch Perspective
You know that I have been with Rialto Police Department since the beginning of 1988, and back then the Police Department was in minor Turmoil compared to what happened shortly after Edward Scott was Elected into Office. between the antics that he stirred up with his pen, and his voice at the meetings, and you know as long as I can remember he would aways say that it was never anything that he did, it was aways something that he was "forced to do" because of something that somebody on the Police Department with whom Ed Scott always pointed out, at the City Council Meetings. There for a while it was Then Raymond Farmer's Fault, & Ed Scott's plan was that Chief Farmer had to loose his job!! It was then that, we the people at Rialto Police Department were educated on what kind of a person Ed Scott was back then!! Raymond Farmer Sued "Wrongful Termination" & asked for his job back!!
It was only a short Two weeks or maybe it was three that the outcome of the Investigation on the City Council's Investigation was done. Chief Raymond Farmer, Won his case, and earned the right to be called Chief of Police for Rialto PD again, but to save FACE, The Rialto City Council got together and, asked and begged Chief Farmer to Take the following Deal and save them the heart of having to confuse the Idea of the People at Rialto Police Department, Learning to call him, Their Direct Boss again.
Chief Farmer was asked to take a "Golden Handshake Retirement" He would be paid to be a consultant to the City Administrator for the remainder of his Contract as Police Chief, and he Would also be allowed to Drive a City Automobile with a City Mobile phone (Which was very expensive back then). Chief Farmer would take a Settlement also for the golden Handshake in the amount of one years Salary, with no taxes removed, and well it was just to much not to pass up. I mean it isn't often that you are offered a Car to drive for a year, all gas & Auto mechanics paid for, and you get a sum of cash that is estimated to equal almost 1/4 of a million dollars or $250, 000.00. I would have taken the cash too, No responsibilities, Oh, and they would pay full medical, and give a full retirement as well, even though you were a few years out from your retirement age!!! Chief Raymond took the deal I don't blame him, and in the end, Rialto was considered to the be losers, and well they viewed it as they were the winners, I cannot figure out the way that they work. But I am just a young adult....
Ever since then, when Ed Scott has been in office there has been turmoil in the City Police Department! There is a reliable Roomer that has been coming down these days that the Fire Department is now under the same weird Scrutiny, and there isn't any end in sight!! I guess there has to be an unwritten rule with the Police Department with problems or the Fire Department has problems, but either way, it is one or the other, Now that the Police Department is in order the Rialto Fire Department is Taking it in the Back side!!!
BS Ranch
You know that I have been with Rialto Police Department since the beginning of 1988, and back then the Police Department was in minor Turmoil compared to what happened shortly after Edward Scott was Elected into Office. between the antics that he stirred up with his pen, and his voice at the meetings, and you know as long as I can remember he would aways say that it was never anything that he did, it was aways something that he was "forced to do" because of something that somebody on the Police Department with whom Ed Scott always pointed out, at the City Council Meetings. There for a while it was Then Raymond Farmer's Fault, & Ed Scott's plan was that Chief Farmer had to loose his job!! It was then that, we the people at Rialto Police Department were educated on what kind of a person Ed Scott was back then!! Raymond Farmer Sued "Wrongful Termination" & asked for his job back!!
It was only a short Two weeks or maybe it was three that the outcome of the Investigation on the City Council's Investigation was done. Chief Raymond Farmer, Won his case, and earned the right to be called Chief of Police for Rialto PD again, but to save FACE, The Rialto City Council got together and, asked and begged Chief Farmer to Take the following Deal and save them the heart of having to confuse the Idea of the People at Rialto Police Department, Learning to call him, Their Direct Boss again.
Chief Farmer was asked to take a "Golden Handshake Retirement" He would be paid to be a consultant to the City Administrator for the remainder of his Contract as Police Chief, and he Would also be allowed to Drive a City Automobile with a City Mobile phone (Which was very expensive back then). Chief Farmer would take a Settlement also for the golden Handshake in the amount of one years Salary, with no taxes removed, and well it was just to much not to pass up. I mean it isn't often that you are offered a Car to drive for a year, all gas & Auto mechanics paid for, and you get a sum of cash that is estimated to equal almost 1/4 of a million dollars or $250, 000.00. I would have taken the cash too, No responsibilities, Oh, and they would pay full medical, and give a full retirement as well, even though you were a few years out from your retirement age!!! Chief Raymond took the deal I don't blame him, and in the end, Rialto was considered to the be losers, and well they viewed it as they were the winners, I cannot figure out the way that they work. But I am just a young adult....
Ever since then, when Ed Scott has been in office there has been turmoil in the City Police Department! There is a reliable Roomer that has been coming down these days that the Fire Department is now under the same weird Scrutiny, and there isn't any end in sight!! I guess there has to be an unwritten rule with the Police Department with problems or the Fire Department has problems, but either way, it is one or the other, Now that the Police Department is in order the Rialto Fire Department is Taking it in the Back side!!!
BS Ranch
Rialto Police Department no stranger to turmoil
| | Download story podcast | |
07:40 AM PDT on Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday's shooting death of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr., a four-year veteran assigned to the SWAT team, was a tragic loss to the 112-officer department, which had been enjoying a rebirth since city leaders decided not to disband it.
After dropping to as few as 87 members, the department is now just three officers away from returning to full strength, Chief Mark Kling told the City Council this month in introducing the latest two recruits.
"The department has really blossomed," said Fontana City Councilman Frank Scialdone, who served as Rialto's interim police chief for nine months, until Kling took office in August 2006. "Chief Kling came in and he's doing a fabulous job."
The City Council hired Scialdone, who retired as Fontana's police chief in 2004 after a 31-year career there, in December 2005 with the intention that he would guide the Rialto department's transition to being run by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Two years earlier, San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod had told the council that the city could save $3.2 million if it contracted with his department.
The council's vote to disband the Police Department came in September 2005, less than a month after the police union gave Chief Michael Meyers and Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess a vote of no confidence. Officers complained that they had to fight to get updated equipment, and union officials described the pair as disengaged and intolerant of people who disagreed with them.
Scialdone remembered the tumultuous days after the decision to dissolve a police force that had been established in 1911, the same year Rialto became a city.
Story continues below
Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise
Serafin Dimas delivers flowers to the Rialto Police Department as Liz Rocha opens the door to help. Flags outside the building are flying at half-staff in honor of Officer Sergio Carrera Jr.
"The first week we were there, we had six officers leave to go to Riverside P.D.," Scialdone recalled Thursday. The Rialto Police Department had "tons of great employees who felt stymied," he said.
But in March 2006, city leaders did an about-face, deciding to keep the Police Department.
"Then we had to go in a 180-degree direction," Scialdone said. His task became one of rebuilding the police force.
"The department has made a transformation from when I got there in December 2005 to today," he said.
"When we got there, there was no gang unit. This was at the time that San Bernardino had just started their big gang push," he said. "Where are (gang members) going to go if you push them out of one place? They'll go someplace else."
And that gang migration came straight to Rialto, Scialdone said.
Scialdone gave credit for the improvements to a more harmonious relationship between the police union and police management, and a better working relationship between the police department and the rest of the city government.
"There was a huge amount of animosity between the union and the former (police) administration," Scialdone said. "When we went to Rialto, the police department was an island. It didn't get along with anybody."
Reach Mary Bender at 909-806-3056 or mbender@PE.com
DEPARTMENT HISTORY
SEPTEMBER 2005: Rialto City Council votes to disband the Rialto Police Department and contract with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
OCTOBER 2005: Residents and police employees start a petition asking that residents be allowed to vote on the issue.
NOVEMBER 2005: Residents launch a recall effort against two City Council members who had advocated contracting with the Sheriff's Department.
DECEMBER 2005: The city appoints Councilman Frank Scialdone as interim police chief; Chief Michael Meyers and Deputy Chief Arthur Burgess retire.
March 2006: City Council ends its efforts to disband the police department.
MAY 2006: Council approves contract with police union.
AUGUST 2006: Mark Kling is sworn in as Rialto police chief.
INLAND OFFICERS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY
According to the Web page of California Peace Officers' Memorial in Sacramento, these are the Inland-area officers who have been killed, both on duty and off. For more information, visit www.camemorial.org, The latest death was added from news reports.
Officer John Baird, Riverside Police Department, Jan. 1, 1912
Officer Del MacIntyre, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1912
Marshal Grant C. Alexander, Corona Police Department, Dec. 22, 1913
Officer Ralph Maple, Colton Police Department, Sept. 16, 1916
Deputy Henry F. Nelson, Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Sept. 22, 1921
Deputy Theodore Crossley, Riverside County sheriff, Sept. 22, 1921
Officer George E. Estes, Colton police, April 13, 1923
CHP Officer Jack E. Marks, San Bernardino, April 11, 1933
CHP Officer Oscar D. McMurry, San Bernardino, March 5, 1934
Officer Henry F. "Dinty" Moore, San Bernardino Police Department, Jan. 1, 1937
Officer Clinton Burtner, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1938
Officer Edward Bertino, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1940
Officer Edwin A. Blakely, San Bernardino police, Jan. 3, 1942
Officer Arthur Simpson, Riverside police, Jan. 1, 1944
Officer Frank A. Rogers, San Bernardino police, Sept. 27, 1947
Officer Harris R. McCullough, San Bernardino police, Sept. 29, 1947
Officer Bernard Green, Ontario Police Deptarment, June 14, 1951
CHP Officer John W. Armatoski, Barstow, May 1, 1953
Reserve Officer Louis Dulisse, Ontario police, March 17, 1954
Deputy Howard R. Scheffler, Riverside County sheriff, Feb. 29, 1956
CHP Officer Raymond A. Geiger, Riverside, Aug. 10, 1956
Detective Russell G. Grower, Ontario police, Feb. 2, 1958
Deputy Billy R. Heckle, San Bernardino County sheriff, Jan. 1, 1960
CHP Officer Richard D. Duvall, Victorville, Feb. 23, 1960
Officer Gale G. Eldridge, Palm Springs Police Department, Jan. 18, 1961
Deputy Roger A. Strong, Riverside County sheriff, Aug. 7, 1961
Officer Lyle W. Larrabee, Palm Springs police, Jan. 1, 1962
CHP Officer Ronald E. Davis, Barstow, Aug. 18, 1962
CHP Officer William C. Isaacs, San Bernardino, Aug. 25, 1966
Sgt. William J. Rutledge, Riverside County sheriff, May 14, 1969
Investigator William F. Carter, Riverside County sheriff, May 20, 1969
CHP Officer Ambers O. Shewmaker, Banning, Nov. 24, 1969
Sgt. Darrell Keith Lee, Rialto police, July 24, 1970
Officer Paul C. Teel, Riverside police, April 2, 1971
Officer Leonard A. Christiansen, Riverside police, April 2, 1971
Lt. Alfred E. Stewart, San Bernardino County sheriff, March 9, 1973
CHP Officer Larry L. Wetterling, San Bernardino, March 9, 1973
Officer William C. Prettyman, Riverside police, Dec. 12, 1973
Deputy Edward M. Schrader, Riverside County sheriff, July 1, 1974
Officer Larry E. Walters, Riverside police, Nov. 13, 1974
Deputy Frank M. Pribble, San Bernardino County sheriff, July 6, 1975
Officer Richard M. Hyche, Ontario police, Oct. 15, 1975
CHP Officer Edward Parker III, Riverside, May 2, 1977
Deputy James B. Evans, Riverside County sheriff, May 9, 1980
Deputy Dirk A. Leonardson, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 4, 1980
CHP Officer George R. Carey, Barstow, Feb. 24, 1982
CHP Officer Kenneth L. Archer, Barstow Feb. 24, 1982
Officer Dennis C. Doty, Riverside police, May 13, 1982
Officer Philip N. Trust, Riverside police, May 13, 1982
Investigator Michael O. Lewis, San Bernardino County district attorney's office, March 30, 1985
Deputy Clifford E. Sanchez, San Bernardino County sheriff, April 6, 1985
Sgt. Gary W. Wolfley, Rialto police, March 3, 1986
Deputy Donald James De Meulle, San Bernardino County sheriff, July 31, 1986
Sgt. Timothy Littlefield, San Bernardino police, Sept. 14, 1986
Deputy Keith B. Farley, San Bernardino County sheriff, April 12, 1987
CHP Officer Michael A. Brandt, Indio, May 6, 1987
Investigator Michael D. Davis, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 24, 1988
David Vasquez, Cathedral City police, Oct. 28, 1988
Deputy Randy R. Lutz, Riverside County sheriff, June 22, 1989
Deputy Kent A. Hintergardt, Riverside County sheriff, May 9, 1993
CHP Officer Larry J. Jaramillo, San Bernardino, June 22, 1993
Deputy Russell Roberts, San Bernardino County sheriff, Sept. 16, 1995
CHP Officer Reuben F. Rios Sr., San Bernardino, Oct. 27, 1996
Deputy Michael P. Haugen, Riverside County sheriff, Jan. 5, 1997
Deputy James W. Lehmann Jr., Riverside County sheriff, Jan. 5, 1997
CHP Officer Saul Martinez, Indio, May 16, 1997
CHP Officer Daniel J. Muehlhausen, Indio, June 1, 1997
Officer Claire N. Connelly, Riverside police, July 12, 1998
Deputy Eric A. Thach, Riverside County sheriff, Oct. 8, 1999
Officer Russell M. Miller Sr., Chino police, Feb. 1, 2000
Officer Gerald Silvestri, San Bernardino police, Oct. 15, 2000
Detective Charles D. Jacobs III, Riverside police, Jan. 13, 2001
Deputy Brent C. Jenkins, Riverside County sheriff, March 18, 2003
Deputy Bruce K. Lee, Riverside County sheriff, May 13, 2003
CHP Officer Shannon L. Distel, Riverside, Aug. 27, 2003
CHP Officer James M. Goodman, San Bernardino, June 3, 2004
Deputy Ronald W. Ives, San Bernardino County sheriff, Sept. 1, 2004
Officer Manuel A. Gonzalez, California Department of Corrections, Chino, Jan. 10, 2005
Deputy Greg Gariepy, San Bernardino County sheriff, June 22, 2005
Deputy Daniel Lobo Jr., San Bernardino County sheriff, Oct. 11, 2005
CHP Officer G. John Bailey, Rancho Cucamonga, Feb. 25, 2006
Deputy Manuel Villegas, Riverside County sheriff, March 19, 2007
Officer Sergio Carrera, Jr., Rialto police, Oct. 18, 2007
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