Weeks removed from Governor Gavin Newsom’s directive to remove unauthorized homeless encampments from the streets of California, one city is set to begin a teardown of tents this week.

Speaking to KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said the city didn’t want to rush the actions, but now’s the time to act.

“We fully understand how sensitive this is for our residents and also the urgency of some of the chronic encampments, so we took our time,” Richardson said.

Long Beach has waited a little less than a month to dismantle encampments following the July 25 executive order from Newsom that encourages local governments to address the homelessness problem, giving them guidelines on processes that include clearing encampments and aiding the unhoused population with alternative options.

In the weeks since, Newsom himself has expressed deep frustration at the lack of action in removing encampments from some local governments, even after his executive order. The Democratic Governor has threatened to withhold funds from cities that fails to remove encampments.

“We need local government to step up. This is a crisis,” Newsom told reporters on Aug. 8. “The state’s unprecedented billions of dollars of support? I’m not interested in providing that support and not seeing the results. I’m a taxpayer, not just the governor. It’s not complicated. We’ll send that money to counties that are producing results.”

Newsom’s push against homeless encampments comes after a recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed governments to criminalize “public camping,” or sleeping on streets and sidewalks.

In a memo released last week, Long Beach officials detailed their intention to comply with the order, saying that unhoused people may be cited or arrested for refusing to leave encampments.

Critics of the recent push against encampments have raised ethics concerns regarding the treatment of California’s unhoused population, saying the criminalization of homelessness could create more problems than it solves.

“If the only crime you are arresting or citing someone for is just existing in public space, that’s criminalization [of homelessness],” said John Ralphing of Human Rights Watch.

Long Beach officials say that people experiencing homelessness won’t be arrested or cited outright without committing any other crimes in the process, but instead will be offered outreach programs first. The city does, however, intend to tear down tents in public spaces.

Detectives are investigating after a 19-year-old who was assaulted in Koreatown died from a head injury.

The victim was identified as Joon Hee Han, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Family members said Han was attacked in late July in the 700 block of South Harvard Boulevard. He fell down and injured his head during the violent altercation.

He remained hospitalized in a coma and earlier this week, police announced Han had died from his injuries.

A motive remains unclear as investigators work to piece together the events leading up to the assault.

“West Bureau Homicide detectives are actively pursuing additional evidence, witness statements, and other information pertaining to the incident that might help us to determine what occurred,” authorities said.

No suspect description was released as the case remains under investigation.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call LAPD’s West Bureau Homicide at 213-382-9470.

Dashcam video captured the moment a high-speed crash left a pickup truck in flames at a busy intersection in the San Fernando Valley.

The crash happened at Lassen Street and Sepulveda Boulevard in Mission Hills at around 5:09 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department. 

Dashcam video from a bystander showed a white Lexus sedan racing past him and slamming into the dark gray Ford pickup truck that was making a left turn.

The high-speed impact sent both cars spinning out of control and slamming into a traffic signal pole behind them. Flames were immediately ignited underneath the truck.

The truck landed on a nearby sidewalk and the white sedan crashed against a wall just outside of a CVS parking lot.

Both vehicles were totaled as a large amount of auto debris was strewn across the busy intersection.

“I saw on my rearview mirror that [the white sedan] was coming so fast, they’re going to hit somebody,” said Seth Gurlal, whose dashcam captured the collision. “They had no regard for anybody.”

Witnesses said bystanders in the area immediately ran over to help the female driver who was injured and trapped inside the burning truck.

“They pulled out a woman but her feet were stuck,” said Rosa Madrigal, a witness. “They pulled it out, but the moment they did, I saw she was bleeding on the side.”

The woman was transported to the hospital where her condition remains unknown on Saturday night.

It’s unclear whether the suspect driver was also injured as the incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information can call the LAPD at 1-877-527-3247. 

Footage of the crash can be seen in the video player above.