Babak Azadfilani

Five hours after police released the identity of a suspect in a sexual assault in April, the 26-year-old man turned himself in to the Laguna Beach Police Department.

Earlier in the week, police obtained a warrant for the arrest of Babak Azadgilani, also known as “Bobby”, of Laguna Niguel, but he had evaded custody at his home and job, Capt. Jason Kravetz said in a statement.

On Friday at midday, Kravetz released the suspect’s name, photo and license plate number of his motorcycle. He was booked on a $100,000 warrant by 5:30 p.m., Kravetz said.

Police asked for the public’s help in taking Azadgilani into custody and hope circulating his information may prompt victims to come forward, the statement says.

Police allege Azadgilani fled the scene of the assault in a Laguna home on a BMW motorcycle.  A woman reported refusing the advances of a man she recently met at the beach; he allegedly choked, hit and sexually assaulted her, the Indy reported on April 26.

Earlier this week, police obtained a warrant for the arrest of Babak Azadgilani, also known as “Bobby”, of Laguna Niguel, said Capt. Jason Kravetz in a statement. “Attempts to arrest him at his home and place of business have occurred, but he appears to be hiding from authorities,” Kravetz said.

Not only do police want to take him into custody for the April 21 assault, but want to circulate his information in case there are additional victims, the statement says.

Police allege Azadgilani fled the scene of the assault in a Laguna home on a BMW motorcycle with the California license plate 2OM4237.  A woman reported refusing the advances of a man she recently met at the beach; he allegedly choked, hit and sexually assaulted her, the Indy reported on April 26.

“Should you see this man, contact your local law enforcement agency and report it.  He has an active $100,000 warrant for rape,” Kravetz said.

A final flourish of graffiti marks a deteriorating house that neighbors have complained about for years.

A throng of people with quarts of paint doused a boarded-up, ocean-front Laguna Beach structure with balloon-like messages, wall-length streaks and artistic giant-sized lettering last Saturday.

The “graffitiers last hurrah,” was the description of Morris Skenderian, the property’s architectural advisor hired by owner Gary Groves to demolish the deteriorating former boathouse at the south end of 1000 Steps Beach. The architect said the structure would be obliterated by Monday.

Police, responding to a report of about a dozen people swarming over the structure, did not intercede after confirming with the property owner that the visitors had the owner’s permission to enter and film on the property, Sgt. Louise Callus said.

Neither the city nor the county require permits for filming on private property, thus no record of the production could be found. Film directors sometimes request the addition of graffiti at a location, as they would dress a set, but the premises are typically returned to the original state, said the county’s film commissioner, Janice Arrington.

And Chapman University film students often trek to 1000 Steps Beach for location shooting, said a resident whose home overlooks the north end of the cove and declined to be identified.

Even so, the latest graffiti bloom surprised Chimo Arnold, who estimates over 13 years he’s made 30 complaints about fires, trash and drinking around the structure. He and other residents of bluff top Point Place met with the owner’s son, Jordan, last year. “For the first time he learned how aghast we were at what’s being painted on that wall,” said Arnold, who came away feeling confident something would be done.

“You have no idea what pleasure we feel seeing equipment starting to destroy that wall,” said Arnold, a retired executive counselor and author.

He believes complaints by residents brought pressure on city code enforcement officers to push for demolition of the 1940s-era house as a public nuisance, but Arnold thinks another factor played a role, too. At the same time, South Coast Water District was negotiating settlement with property owners, including the Groves, to buy five feet of property beneath 183 residences to make repairs to a sewer running through the bluff top, said Linda Homscheid, a water district spokeswoman.

The soon-to-vanish sand-level structure is but one of at least three homes on the large Groves’ compound entered from Coast Highway. The property slopes away from the street and is bordered to the south by Three Arch Bay.

To clear a path to haul off debris from the expected house demolition, workers last month first tore down a bluff top garage to allow a truck to pass, said City Manager John Pietig.

“We didn’t approve or condone,” the final proliferation of graffiti, he said. Even so, citing the owner for violating the city’s municipal code forbidding graffiti on public or private property is not under consideration, he said. “The goal of code enforcement is to achieve compliance. The structure will be removed more quickly than it can be cleaned up,” Pietig said. “We’re pleased the structure will be removed and the problem solved permanently, something the neighborhood has asked for.”

Miki Vuckovitch, executive director of the Tony Hawk Foundation, explains that skaters must be involved to create a successful park they’ll care for.

Fearing more traffic congestion and heart-stopping driving encounters with downhill skateboarders, Arch Beach Heights residents voiced overwhelming opposition to the addition of a skateboard park atop one of Laguna Beach’s steepest inclines despite testimonials from one of the best-known park builders, the Tony Hawk Foundation.

After 90 minutes of comment from about 150 people, City Council member Steve Dicterow raised a white flag, expressing disappointment but saying he would drop consideration of Moulton Meadows Park. “We’ve got to find where it makes sense,” he told the crowd milling on the basketball court last Thursday. Easels held enlarged aerial photos of the existing soccer field with two potential sites circled, ranging in size from 9,000 to 12,000 square feet.

Dicterow, along with Mayor Kelly Boyd, who comprise a council subcommittee that began investigating a skatepark last year, sent an invitation to about 500 residents by letter earlier this month to attend an informal meeting. “Nothing’s been decided,” Dicterow said at the outset. “This is one site we’ve come up with. It may or may not be a solvable dilemma; your input will influence it,” he promised

And while the majority of Arch Beach residents expressed hostility to the possibility of adding a park outside the goal boxes of the hilltop soccer field, Dicterow vowed to continue the search. “I’ll never give up,” he said, noting that a skateboard park was second only to view preservation among the top priorities of constituents he spoke to during last November’s council campaign.

As a measure of the issue’s contentiousness, Laguna, which already restricts skateboarders from downtown streets and parks, extended a ban in recent years to nine curving public streets favored by downhill speedboarders. And champions for a skateboard park have come and gone. One of the first to pick up the torch was Wayne Peterson, campaigning for office in 1992, recalled Norm Grossman, a planning commissioner who lives opposite Moulton Meadows and attended the outdoor meeting.

Resident Bill Bedsworth suggested a skatepark would exacerbate encounters and accidents with downhill daredevils, tempted by the steep streets descending from the park. “If you put a bunch of adolescent boys in a park and say ‘stay here,’ you’ll be paying a seven-figure settlement or a 10-figure jury verdict,” he predicted.

Karl Schuler, a retired police lieutenant, described a significant rise in calls for police service after a Costa Mesa skatepark opened. “I’m speaking from experience; this is not the venue for it,” he said.

Lori Mitsuka asked “what makes this the right place? How many others were considered?”

And Lee Kucera voiced a still-smoldering resentment harbored by some longtime residents over Moulton’s evolution from a “passive” park with only curbside parking into a well-used venue for team sports. Not only must residents contend with an influx of parents’ cars, which jam narrow streets, but “we hear every basketball and tennis ball,” Kucera said. Because many Arch Beach homes fill narrow 25-foot wide lots, most lack gardens, she pointed out. “This is our backyard.”

Kimberly O’Brien Young was in the minority in voicing support for a skatepark, pointing out that the Moulton adjacent neighborhood holds the city’s largest population of children. “Give us someplace where we are safe,” argued her son, 14-year-old Sam Dameshak. Her husband Ben suggested putting the issue to a citywide vote, an idea that elicited boos from those present.

The well-used recreation area has adequate un-utilized space, the top criteria for a prospective site, explained Miki Vuckovich, executive director of the Vista-based Tony Hawk Foundation, which has helped fund 500 public skate parks in low-income areas.

“We were trying to cut to the chase based on our experience,” Pat Hawk, a board member of the foundation her brother established, said afterwards. Hawk said she instigated the discussion with subcommittee members.

Two other sites were briefly considered, said foundation development director Kim Novick, a local resident. Alta Laguna Park in the Top of the World neighborhood lacks unused space; some area would have to be repurposed to make room for a skatepark park, she said. Land in Laguna Canyon near Anneliese’s school was rejected due to the proximity to school congestion, she said.

Police ultimately arrested Laguna Beach resident Sergio Gabriel Borgognone, 51, for allegedly resisting arrest and his son Cory, 25, of Norco, also for resisting arrest as well as suspicion of felony assault, Sgt. Louise Callus said. Both were both taken to the hospital for evaluation; the father refused treatment, she said.

The father’s roommate, who suffered a laceration to his head during an alleged assault by Cory Borgognone, called police and told them the son had also assaulted his father, Callus said. The father and son, who were both inebriated, failed to comply with orders by the investigating officers, who first cuffed the father. The son, placed on the ground, hit one officer in the face and was tased twice before he was handcuffed, she said.

Spending Spree Ends in Arrest

Police arrested one Pennsylvania visitor and questioned her companion last week after a Laguna Beach hotel manager called authorities when a credit card for a guest with a $10,000 tab was declined on Wednesday, May 8, police said.

Stephanie Paige Sims, 35, of Reading, Pa., was arrested the following day, Thursday, May 9, for allegedly defrauding an innkeeper, burglary, grand theft and possession of stolen property, police Sgt. Louise Callus said. Bail was set at $20,000.

Sims allegedly deposited a phony $344,000 check into an account of a friend and used a debit card against the funds for a spending spree en route to Laguna, Callus said. The friend was duped by the scheme and was not charged, Callus said.

Monday, May 6

Grand theft. 200 block of Ocean Ave. 12:55 p.m. A former business partner was accused of taking $12,000 in unauthorized funds from a company bank account.

Tuesday, May 7

Burglary. 900 block of Glenneyre St. 4:37 a.m. Thieves smashed a front door and made off with an $800 cash register, which was later found abandoned on Bluebird Canyon Drive missing $100 in cash.

Suspicious circs. 1200 block of N. Coast Hwy. 8:47 a.m. A large metal package left outside was determined to be a metal toolbox with wheels.

Wednesday, May 8

Vandalism. 31800 block of Coast Hwy. 8:18 a.m. Someone used a rock to smash a car window and dent a vehicle parked in the lower floor parking garage.

Fraud. 3100 block of Tyrol Dr. 12:59 p.m. A resident reported an unauthorized $1,171 charge to a credit card.

Thursday, May 9

Traffic stop. 800 block of N Coast Hwy. 10:53 p.m. Rigoberto Rodriguez Xicohtencatl, 28, of Santa Ana, was arrested for two outstanding warrants, driving on a suspended license and failing to appear to pay fine.

Friday, May 10

Burglary. 1200 block of S. Coast hwy. 7:50 a.m. A business lost $12,500 in inventory due to a break-in involving a shattered window.

DUI. Temple Hills. 8:18 a.m. A 47-year-old mother was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of prescription drugs and for misdemeanor child endangerment due to a non-injury collision. Bail was set at $2,500.

Fraud report. 1000 block of Dyer Pl. 3:21 p.m. A resident reported learning about unauthorized charges on his credit card.

Fight. Capistrano Ave. 5:26 p.m. A dispute over a parking place came to blows when one man threw a punch. Both declined prosecution.

Vehicle burglary. 100 block of Moss St. 7:57 p.m. A woman reported a $2,900 loss after someone smashed a car window and stole her purse.

DUI. 1200 block of S. Coast Hwy. 9 p.m. A 57-year-old Laguna Niguel man was cited for DUI and held for $2500 bail.

Saturday, May 11

Traffic stop. 300 block of Broadway St. 1 a.m. A 32-year-old Anaheim man was cited for DUI and held for $2500 bail.

Traffic stop. 1700 block of Laguna Canyon Rd. 1:50 a.m. A 24-year-old Aliso Veijo man was cited for DUI and held for $2500 bail.

Occupied vehicle. 31400 block of S. Coast Hwy. 6:41 p.m. Sergey Aleksandrovi Neborak, 25, of Mather, Calif., was arrested for an outstanding assault warrant and held for $15,000 bail.

Sunday, May 12

Unknown trouble. Cress St. 12:01 a.m. Araceli Meza, 35, of Costa Mesa was arrested for suspicion of DUI and held for $10,000 bail due to a prior offense. Her boyfriend reported she was attempting to run him over.

Traffic stop. 1400 block of N. Coast Hwy. 2 a.m. A 55-year-old Georgia man was arrested for DUI and held for $2,500 bail.

Burglary. 4:17 p.m. 800 block of Katella St. A woman reported a $15,000 necklace was stolen from her vehicle, which was impounded after her arrest.

Grand theft. 500 block of Forest Ave. 4:35 p.m. A Bakersfield visitor reported that his mother had withdrawn $6,500 from his bank account without his authorization.

Michael Tomson in an interview last year with Launch LA.

Former professional surfer and groundbreaking beachwear designer  Michael Elliot Tomson was arrested for suspicion of felony drug charges after causing a two-car traffic collision in Laguna Beach on Monday, April 29, police said.

A 65-year-old woman suffered injuries as a result of the 9:17 a.m. rear-end collision, which led to the temporary closure of Glenneyre and Calliope streets due to a traffic investigation, Capt. Jason Kravetz said.

Court records show Tomson pled guilty last year to a previous driving while under the influence charge stemming from arrests in Laguna twice in 2011. Some charges against Tomson were dismissed on the same day he entered a plea, court records show.

Investigators determined Tomson, 58, of Laguna Beach, collided with a vehicle stopped at a stop sign, Kravetz said. He was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs and possession of cocaine. Tomson posted $100,000 bail and was released the same day, Kravetz said.

Tomson had just returned from an overnight flight from Hawaii, according to Laguna Beach defense attorney Barry Simons.

The injured driver, of Santa Ana, who complained of upper body pain, was transported to the hospital for treatment, Kravetz said. Airbags did not deploy in either of the cars involved, both 2008 vehicles, he said.

South Africa-born Tomson founded Gotcha in 1978 with Joel Cooper, selling swimming trunks from a Laguna Beach garage. He is credited with creating a brand whose visionary marketing and edgy design transformed a cottage industry and became a gateway to the action sports industry, according to author Kevin O’Sullivan in his 2008 book, “Goin Big: Gotcha and the Evolution of Modern Surf Style.”

Gotcha’s founders sold the company in ’97; the brand is now distributed in Sears and Kmart.

“Gotcha was a risk taking idea factory, a creative foundry that took gambles and broke rules. It created a blueprint that action sports brands still follow and its designs, widely considered to be a creative benchmark, are still referenced throughout the industry today,” says Amazon.com’s summary about the book.

“He’s brilliant,” said a surfwear industry colleague, who declined to be named to avoid association with Tomson. “It’s an American tragedy,” he added about Monday’s events.

Though Tomson has continued to work as a surfwear consultant, his substance abuse problems have hurt his career, said the colleague. “Maybe enough cold water thrown in his face will do something.”

In the ‘80s, Tomson established MCD, the More Core Division, a unit of Gotcha. “The MCD brand was built around the very best surfers, those who pushed the limits of sport, attitude, style and behavior,” says the website of the defunct Irvine division.

“That’s what he was selling, an alternative lifestyle,” said the colleague. “Apparently he took it too much too heart.”

Nurse manager Nadine Dietrich in one of Laguna’s underused ICU rooms.

Mission Hospital will seek permission of state Public Health Department regulators to allow admitted patients to recover in under-used private rooms of the intensive care unit in the Laguna Beach campus.

City officials who last week learned of the initiative initially feared that hospital administrators intended to close the unit altogether, which would also trigger the closure of the emergency room, a service city officials have staunchly demanded remain intact.

No such cutbacks are envisioned in Laguna’s 207-bed facility, administrators say, though hospital leaders next month plan to retool a 10-year master plan for the campus, which may change future areas of emphasis.

“We know the ER is first and foremost,” Kenn McFarland, Mission’s chief executive, said in an interview Monday. “The ER room and support services, behavioral health and chemical dependency and outpatient services; that’s the bedrock of everything,” he said.

About 30 patients a day are treated in Laguna’s emergency room and most go home, said Linda Johnson, chief clinical officer of Mission, whose license covers both campuses in Mission Viejo and Laguna. Mission is part of St. Joseph Health, based in Orange.

Rarely do more than two patients at a time require intensive critical-care monitoring, though 10 private rooms in the Laguna hospital are designated for that purpose, she said.

Hospital administrators want the flexibility to place admitted patients in the preferred, single-occupancy rooms in the ICU unit if they are unoccupied, since all but one of the 15 third-floor rooms where patients typically recover from surgery or illness are semi-private. Ocean views are visible from almost every room, including the behavioral health floor and chemical dependency unit run privately by Mission Pacific Coast Recovery.

When Laguna’s acute-care rooms fill up, new patients can’t be admitted and must transfer to the larger 552-bed sister campus in Mission Viejo, said spokeswoman Tamara Sharp.

“We have beds in ICU we are desperate to use,” said Nadine Dietrich, nurse manager of cardiac monitoring in Laguna’s ICU and med-surg floor, which often reaches capacity. Earlier this month, she described having to refuse a request for a private room from the family of an end-of-life patient in her 80s. “It would have been optimal to move them in,” she said.

While top hotels and restaurants take pains to satisfy guest whims, hospitals, under pressure to contain costs, monitor patient experiences for reasons other than loyalty. Private rooms are more therapeutic and less stressful because there are fewer interruptions, family can camp out, roommates don’t overhear sensitive conversations and sleep cycles are less disturbed, Dietrich said. “They optimize their care,” she said, which ultimately can result in shorter hospital stays.

“Our goal is to enhance the patient experience,” said Johnson, adding that regulators have approved similar measures at other facilities. “We know patients want private rooms.”

Laguna’s ICU receives fewer patients in part because Mission Viejo is the region’s designated trauma center, which also receives emergency stroke and cardiac cases.

Hospital administrators say they have informally appealed to regulators. Public Health Department spokesman Corey Egel said the department has not yet received any requests on the issue. “We’re just having the dialog,” Johnson explained.

Since acquiring the former South Coast Medical Center in 2010 for $35 million, Mission administrators have invested $21 million in renovations, including replacing a noisy heating and cooling system and expanding the behavioral health unit from one floor to two. The hospital’s fifth floor, which housed a long-term care facility, remains empty, Sharp said.

An earlier plan to establish an orthopedic specialty within the Laguna hospital was rendered obsolete as a result of St. Joseph’s recently announced affiliation with Hoag Hospitals and the acquisition of a medical group with 11 specialists, McFarland said. The alliance reflects pressure on health care providers to contain costs and locally is intended to allow residents ubiquitous and seamless access to Hoag and St. Joseph practitioners throughout the county. “We didn’t feel we’d be acting responsibly,” he said, by replicating in Laguna an existing orthopedic specialty at Irvine’s Hoag Hospital, which patients of Mission doctors can now use.

McFarland expects to finalize a re-vamped plan and announce later this year what’s envisioned on the Laguna campus by 2020.

Tyrone Lamont Beasley, 21, was arrested at a South Los Angeles home, while Jyvontaye Demetric Harris, 20, was arrested at Compton court where he was attending a pre-trial hearing on a separate case for possessing a loaded firearm in public, according to police Capt. Jason Kravetz.

When the incident occurred, police said two residents of Laguna Terrace mobile home park were pistol-whipped during a home invasion robbery when armed men entered through an unlocked door. After terrorizing the group, the suspects stole a significant amount of jewelry and were last seen running towards a nearby shopping center, Kravetz said.

Victim Rafael Valladares told the Indy he was watching a movie on television on with friends on a Saturday night when four men, two of them with guns, barged in the unlocked front door not far from Coast Highway.

Police are still trying to identify the other two suspects, Kravetz said, adding, “We do believe we have the two main suspects in custody.”

In November, Laguna detectives developed a lead involving the violent Bounty Hunter Bloods and met with LAPD gang officers and conducted surveillances on gang members, Kravetz said.

During the service of an LAPD narcotics search warrant, one Bloods gang member was found to be in possession of a cell phone stolen during the Laguna robbery, Kravetz said. This break led to the identification of the two primary suspects, he said.

The case culminated with the issuance of two arrest warrants last Friday, April 19, each $500,000 and allege robbery, residential burglary, false imprisonment, use of a firearm during a robbery, and gang enhancements, Kravetz said.

Since this case involves a Los Angeles street gang, with an active gang injunction, LAPD investigators will be involved in the prosecution to offer expert testimony, he said.

An autopsy was performed on the body of Mark Gibbs, of Tustin, but no ruling was made on the cause of death pending the outcome of toxicology results and a check of equipment, said supervising Deputy Coroner Mitchell Sigal.

Gibbs was among a group of four people in a dive class organized by Irvine’s Dive & Photo, marine safety Lt. Kai Bond said on Monday. Though divers usually submerge in pairs, when the group resurfaced in the popular dive spot last Friday, April 19, after a 35-minute dive, “unfortunately they lost one,” Bond said.

The group consisted of two instructors, Gibbs and his wife, police Capt. Jason Kravetz said.

The surfacing divers shouted from the water and citizens onshore called authorities about a missing diver at 11:21 a.m., police said.

Lifeguards entered the water by 11:40 a.m., according to the police log. The three-man Laguna lifeguard dive team located Gibbs by 12:40 p.m. on the ocean floor at the north end of Shaw’s Cove and stripped him of 20 pounds of diving weights to bring him to the surface, said Bond, who described water conditions as fairly calm. The water temperature was 58 degrees with a south current, noted the police log. The diver’s air tank, which generally holds 35 to 40 minutes of air, was empty, he said.

Emergency personnel performed CPR on Gibbs, who was in cardiac arrest and was pulled aboard a Newport Beach lifeguard boat, Bond said. He was transported to Newport Harbor and from there was transferred to an awaiting ambulance and Hoag hospital, a police statement said.

City officials who learned of the initiative initially feared that hospital administrators intended to close the unit altogether, which would also trigger the closure of the emergency room, a service city officials have staunchly demanded remain intact.

“We are committed to keeping the ER department; we know it’s important to the community,” hospital spokeswoman Tamara Sharp said.

The hospital’s third-floor med-surg unit consistently runs over capacity, forcing the transfer of patients to Mission Viejo even though there is room in the nearby ICU, Sharp said.

The letter of inquiry seeks flexibility by hospital administrators to place admitted patients in what are preferred, single-occupancy rooms in the ICU unit if they are unoccupied, since all but one of the third-floor rooms where patients typically recover from surgery or illness are semi-private, Sharp said. Ocean views are visible from almost every room in the 207-bed facility, including the behavioral health floor and chemical dependency and provided by Mission Pacific Coast Recovery.

“Patient experience,” Sharp said said, is an important consideration.

“We have many patients requiring a lower level of care as they heal from surgery or other treatments who could benefit greatly from the soothing ocean views and comfort of the private rooms,” said a statement from Kenneth McFarland, president and chief executive of Mission Hospital, whose license covers both campuses in Mission Viejo and Laguna. Mission is part of St. Joseph Health, based in Orange.

Since acquiring the former South Coast Medical Center in 2010 for $35 million, Mission has invested $21 million in renovations, including expanding the behavioral health unit from one floor to two. The hospital’s fifth floor, which housed a long-term care facility, remains empty, Sharp said.

“Greater flexibility in how we use the valuable space we have there will help us continue to meet the evolving – and highly individual – needs of the community with the same advanced care the people of Laguna Beach and our coastal communities have come to expect from Mission Hospital,” McFarland said in a statement.

A search warrant will be required to extract information from the event data recorder known as a black box from the Tesla, which has not been released to the owner, Laguna Beach police Capt. Jason Kravetz said this week. Representatives of the auto maker will assist in the retrieval, he said.

Black boxes, like those used to reconstruct events that precede aircraft collisions, are installed on many vehicles by manufacturers as a way of shielding themselves from liability, according to Byron Block, an auto safety expert in Potomac, Md.

Crash data retrieval systems made by Santa Barbara’s Bosch Diagnostics are installed in most of the major domestic and foreign makes, but Tesla isn’t among them.

“Only the manufacturer can interrogate the black box,” explained Block.

Manufacturers access the data with proprietary tools, writes William Rosenbluth, a collision investigator in Reston, Va., in Forensic Magazine.

Black boxes lack uniformity because automakers want to extract data for their own use; it isn’t available to the car owner or the public, Block said.

Police, though, can obtain the forensic evidence with a search warrant, Kravetz said.

Boxes made by Bosch, which provides sample recovery reports on its website, capture a range of data points for five seconds prior to the impact of two collisions. Among the variables recorded are the vehicle’s speed, acceleration, engine RPM, the impact pulse, seat belt use, air bag deployment, throttle position, rollovers, brakes, ignition cycles and passengers.

Tesla’s are equipped with crash sensors, according to specifications listed on the automaker’s website. But no further  detail about what its black box records during the driving experience was noted. Tesla officials did not return phone calls.

Police say the driver of the Tesla, believed to be Laguna Beach physician Robert Pettis, crossed into oncoming traffic in the early morning hours of April 2, plowing head-on into a 1990 Honda headed inbound near El Toro Road. Driver Alberto Casique-Salinas and passenger Armando Garcia Gonzales died at the scene. Both men worked for Laguna Beach’s Stewart’s Landscaping.

“When you have such an impact, there has to be enormous speed,” said Los Angeles attorney Tigran Martinian, hired by Salinas’ family. The Tesla’s weight, twice that of the Honda, isn’t enough to account for the damage, he said.

Mechanical engineers and accident reconstruction specialists will determine the speed of the vehicles, said Martinian, who also sent experts to the scene.

Police say they have questioned the driver of the Tesla as well as the driver of a white Mercedes, who has not been identified. The Tesla’s driver told police dispatchers he had been cut off by a Mercedes. No one has yet been charged and the investigation is not expected to conclude for several weeks, Kravetz said.

Residents continue to debate whether racing played a role in the collision. Tesla’s Model S, for instance, can dash from zero to 60 m.p.h. in 4.4 seconds, according to a September review in the New York Times.

Meanwhile, more than $9,100 has so far been contributed to a fund on behalf of the victims’ families. Salinas is survived by his wife, three teenage children and an adult son, his mother, a brother and a sister, Martinian said. “They were all dependent on him,” he said. Services for both men were held last week in Santa Ana.

Police Employee Association President Larry Bammer intends to finalize the collection by April 30.

Detectives following up on a lead in a check forgery investigation involving a Laguna Beach business found themselves observing a drug deal in Santa Ana last Thursday, police Sgt. Louise Callus said.

Before they could contact Jonathan Parker, the subject of the inquiry, he walked out of a house in the 4900 block of W. Acapulco Avenue and made an exchange with the occupants of a vehicle.

Detectives arrested the occupants, Tan Loc Bui, 22, and Chieu Bach Nguyen, 26, both of Santa Ana, as well as Jeffrey Perez, 37, of Garden Grove, for suspicion of felony drug possession, Callus said.

Parker, 33, also of Santa Ana, was arrested for suspicion of multiple felony charges including burglary, grand theft, forgery and drug possession. He was held without bail due to his status on probation.

Monday, April 8

Public intoxication. 2000 Ocean Way. 7 a.m. A 43-year-old transient who was yelling was arrested for suspicion of methamphetamine possession. Bail was set at $20,000.

Tuesday, April 9

Property. 21600 block of Treetop Lane. 8:20 a.m. Canisters of marijuana were found in the flag lock box.

Traffic stop. S. Coast Hwy. A 30-year-old Anaheim man was arrested for outstanding traffic warrants.

Fraud. 200 block of Moss St. A local resident reported being called by an electronics retailer about a fraudulent $554 charge for an iRobot shipped to someone in San Diego.

Vehicle burglary. West St. An unknown suspect smashed a rock into a windshield and stole a purse.

Wednesday, April 10

Fraud. 700 block of S. Coast Hwy. A fraudulent $655 charge was made to a resident’s  credit card.

Threats. 13-01151. 200 block of Forest Ave. 11:15 a.m. An unknown person called a downtown insurance broker 20 times over three days, cursing at employees for no apparent reason.

Verbal threats. 100 block of High Dr. 3:14 p.m. A woman reported receiving threatening texts from an unwanted suitor.

Thursday, April 11

Traffic stop. 1200 blockof S. Coast hwy. 12:26 a.m. Michael Gregory Lusk, 20, of Newport Coast, was cited for suspicion of possessing LSD, Ecstasy and marijuana after police stopped his vehicle for driving without headlights. A 17-year-old Laguna Beach girl with him was detained for possession of concentrated cannabis.

Vandalism. 400 block of Mountain Rd. 9:16 a.m. Water which was sprayed onto a car seat shorted out its gear box.

Vandalism. 2100 block of Park Ave. 1 p.m. The assistant principal reported that an unknown student set off a firecracker in the boy’s restroom.

Vandalism. 600 block of Ramona Ave. 1:23 p.m. Someone slashed front and rear tires the previous night.

Detective activity. 1:26 p.m. A school district employee, who made a remark regarded as a threat, was told to stay away from district facilities until a work related issue was settled.

Fraud. 400 block of Oak St. 4:43 p.m. A resident reported learning someone attempted to open two accounts in his name.

Traffic collision. 1900 S. Coast Hwy. A 58-year-old Dana Point woman suffered multiple fractures after being hit by a vehicle while crossing at Pearl Street. While the accident involving a 37-year-old driver from Rancho Santa Margarita is under investigation, neither drugs nor alcohol were a factor, said Capt. Jason Kravetz.

Friday, April 12

Burglary. 3200 block of Laguna Canyon Rd. 7:22 a.m. An unknown person kicked in the door of an arts studio, causing $300 worth of damage, though nothing was stolen.

Stolen vehicle. 300 Cliff Dr. 8:45 p.m. Martha D. Kagarakis, 53, Stavroula Lolonis, 30, both of Laguna Niguel, were arrested for suspicion of felony vehicle theft and held for $20,000 bail. They allegedly failed to return in February a rented vehicle, which was reported stolen in March.

Saturday, April 13

Traffic stop. Diamond St. 1:22 a.m.  A 33-year-old from Capo Beach was arrested for DUI and held for $2500 bail.

Petty theft. 700 block of Wendt Terrace. 1:31 p.m. A mailbox was stolen.

I’ve lived here for about seven years. During this time, I acquired the belief that this city was not interested in any change whatsoever, and the vocal majority had the muscle to resist change, sometimes as a matter of principle. I had no reason to speak out and I didn’t; but in private conversations, I was critical of the fact that the Downtown Specific Plan was treated as immutable, unchangeable and had fewer amendments than the Constitution of the United States. I admit to having been sarcastic about the fact that the Planning Commission didn’t plan or didn’t even plan to plan, or never set deadlines on itself to make or revise a plan by a certain time. Instead, it seemed to be involved in minutia, like how many phantom parking spaces a new business should have, or couldn’t have anyway because there aren’t any!  A great charade brought to you by adults.

I wondered about the City Council condoning these practices, but I learned to believe that this is Laguna;  it’s a fabulous place, and who was I to question the formula that kept it unchanged and wonderful.

A few months ago, I heard some creaky sounds, like a glacier slowly moving a very little bit. The sounds were emanating from The Planning Commission! They’re awake, someone cried. Without any hint of bias, I had to see for myself.

And it was true. I attended three meetings of the Planning Commission, looking into the great parking charade and seriously discussing changes to the Downtown Specific Plan! Lo and behold they seemed dynamic, muscular, even beautiful, and wise as they sat at their appointed locations on the dais. They even talked about getting some specific recommendations to the City Council ahead of time. Can it be true? Sure it can. You see, even glaciers can move!

And, oh by the way, come join me on Wednesday nights to see for yourself.

Allan Simon, Laguna Beach

Editor’s Note: The author owns the Indy.

The diver was identified as Mark Gibbs, of Tustin, according to the coroner’s office’s website.

Gibbs was among a dive class of four people organized by Irvine’s Dive & Photo, marine safety Lt. Kai Bond said on Monday. Though divers usually submerge in pairs, when the group resurfaced in the popular dive spot after their first 35-minute dive, “for whatever reason,” Gibbs had become separated from his dive buddy,” Bond said.

The alarmed divers shouted for help from the water and citizens onshore called authorities to report a missing diver at 11:21 a.m., police said.

A three-man Laguna lifeguard dive team located Gibbs by 12:40 p.m. on the ocean floor at the north end of Shaw’s Cove, stripping him of 15 to 20 pounds of weights to bring him to the surface, said Bond, who described water conditions as fairly calm.

The diver’s air tank, which generally holds 35 to 40 minutes of air, was empty, he said.

Emergency personnel performed CPR on Gibbs, who was in cardiac arrest and was pulled aboard a Newport Beach lifeguard boat. He was transported to Newport Harbor and from there transferred to an awaiting ambulance and Hoag hospital, a police statement said.

Laguna lifeguards, police and fire officials who responded to the scene learned that one of the participants in a diving class was missing after the instructors conducted a head count, Laguna Beach police Capt. Jason Kravetz said in a statement.

Citizens called “911” about 11:21 a.m. Friday and told dispatchers they heard people screaming for help in the ocean off of Shaw’s Cove, Kravetz said.

The diver was located in the water 90 minutes after rescuers arrived, Kravetz said.

The Harbor Patrol, the Orange County Sheriff’s helicopter, U.S. Coast Guard and Newport Beach lifeguards participated in the rescue. Emergency personnel performed CPR on the Orange County resident aboard a Newport lifeguard boat en route to Newport Harbor, where he was transferred to an awaiting ambulance and taken to the hospital, said Kravetz, adding that the incident is under investigation.