California
California teenager cut, scratched in sea lion attack during junior lifeguard trial: Reports
Although sea lions are a common sight in Long Beach, California, attacks are rare, Gonzalo Medina of the Long Beach Fire Department told local outlets.
California teen girl attacked by sea lion
A 15-year-old girl was attacked by a sea lion in Long Beach.
Fox – LA
A 15-year-old was hospitalized with several cuts and scratches after she was attacked by a sea lion in Southern California during her junior lifeguard cadet trial, local media outlets reported.
Phoebe Beltran sustained several cuts on her right arm and had to be hospitalized after she was attacked by the marine animal Sunday in Long Beach, about 24 miles south of Los Angeles, NBC Los Angeles and KTLA5 reported. Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Jack Crabtree told ABC6 that Beltran, a junior lifeguard candidate, was out swimming during tryouts for the junior lifeguard cadet program’s 15-to-17-year-old age group around noon Sunday when the incident occurred. While she has since then been released from the hospital and has even returned to school, she said the encounter has left her shaken.
“I’ve been stung by a sting ray, pinched by crabs, bitten by tiny fish,” Beltran told NBC Los Angeles. “But a sea lion?”
‘Assumed the worst’
Beltran told KTLA5 she was in the water about 25 feet from shore during her junior lifeguard tryout and was in the final leg of her 1,000-yard swim when she suddenly felt an intense pain and “assumed the worst.”
“Out of nowhere, I feel something biting my arm,” Beltran said, per KTLA5. “I saw a shadow of it, and all I’m thinking is, ‘Please, don’t be a shark. Please, don’t take off my arm and please, don’t kill me.’”
Turns out a sea lion had bitten into her right arm, leaving her injured with bite marks and bruises.
“The first bite — I went under, and I just see the shadow, but I couldn’t make out what it was,” Beltran told NBC Los Angeles. “As I came up, I was way too scared to face it head-on. I’m screaming this way as it’s biting me over here and it finally let go.”
Encounter left Phoebe Beltran with bruises, scratches
As Beltran screamed for help, a team of lifeguards and her mother ran to her aid.
“I saw something come up, like a fin, and somebody yelled, ‘Shark,’” Phoebe’s mother Bibi Beltran told KTLA5. “We all rushed to the water and when I realized it was my daughter, that’s when I broke down.”
The attack left the teenager with several bites and scratches on her arm and hand, but fortunately, she escaped grave injuries and did not need advanced treatment, ABC6 said.
Sea lion attacks in Long Beach are virtually unheard of
Gonzalo Medina of the Long Beach Fire Department told NBC Los Angeles she’d never heard or seen anything like this before in her “25 years of service.”
While sea lions are a common sight in Long Beach, attacks are rare. Cases of sea lions sickened by toxic algae blooms have increased across Southern California, but it’s unclear if the animal that attacked Beltran was ill given it scampered away almost immediately, authorities told the media outlet.
Medina said a “potentially aggressive behavior” is “certainly a side effect of the acid” but that “there’s no way to tell.”
“What we do know is the sea lion was very agile, very fast,” Medina added, per NBC Los Angeles.
The Long Beach Fire Department and the Long Beach Fire Department Junior Lifeguard Program did not immediately respond when contacted by USA TODAY.
The California Wildlife Center in late February had advised beachgoers to avoid distressed sea lions in the Malibu area after suspicions that the sea lions were sickened by domoic acid, a toxin deadly to sea mammals, from a recent algal bloom.
“Though we have not confirmed the cause for these animals’ illness, their signs and the recent rains make the situation highly suspicious for domoic acid toxicity,” the center had said in a post on Instagram, warning beachgoers to not interact with the animals on the beach and instead contact their team for help with distressed animals.
Sickened animals may “lunge and bite without warning,” so the public needs to stay away, the Marine Mammal Care Center has warned.
Despite the frightening experience and injuries, Beltran remains undeterred, telling KTLA5 that she’s determined to get back in the water and redo her tryout which was canceled after the attack.
“I love the beach. I love the ocean. I love swimming,” Beltran told the TV station.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
California
All lanes reopen on 5 Freeway in Oceanside after officer-involved shooting forces closure
OCEANSIDE, Calif. (KABC) — Hours after an officer-involved shooting prompted the full closure of the 5 Freeway in Oceanside, all lanes were reopened Saturday afternoon as the investigation continues.
“The 5 is closed in both directions between Oceanside and the Orange County border while police investigate a shooting,” Caltrans said in a social media post at 9:39 a.m., adding that drivers should use the 15 Freeway as an alternative route.
The Buena Park Police Department said its officers attempted to pull over a car for vehicle code violations just before 1 p.m. in the area of La Palma Avenue and San Marino Drive, but the car failed to stop and a pursuit ensued.
“At 1:05 a.m. we asked CHP to take over the pursuit. They did but requested our K-9 unit stay in the pursuit,” Buena Park police said in a statement.
Police said that at 2:10 a.m., the suspect vehicle was brought to a stop and then an officer-involved shooting occurred. It was not immediately known what led to the shooting.
A SigAlert was issued shortly after 2:30 a.m. between Harbor Drive in Oceanside and Christianitos Road in San Clemente, according to the California Highway Patrol.
As several lanes were reopened hours later, the Highway Patrol urged motorists to continue to use caution and watch for personnel in the area.
The investigation is ongoing.
Copyright © 2025 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
California
Chris Bell scores 21, sparks California to 91-67 victory over Sacramento State
BERKELEY, Calif. — – Chris Bell scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half and California cruised to a 91-67 victory over Sacramento State on Friday night in a campus game of the Empire Classic.
Bell and Justin Pippen combined for 29 points to help California take a 47-33 lead into the break. Bell sank 6 of 8 shots with three 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
John Camden’s 3-pointer capped an 11-2 run to begin the second half and the Golden Bears (5-1) were never threatened. Cal took its biggest lead at 81-47 on a 3-pointer by Camden with nine minutes left to play.
Pippen finished with 16 points and five assists. Dai Dai Ames also scored 16 and Camden totaled 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Brandon Gardner hit 4 of 5 from 3-point range and scored 19 to lead the Hornets (3-4). Mark Lavrenov had 14 points and Prophet Johnson notched his fifth double-double of the young season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Golden Bears shot 50.8% overall and made 15 of 38 from beyond the arc (39.5%).
Sac State made only 18 of 67 shots (26.9%) overall, including 7 of 24 from distance. The Hornets made 24 of 30 free throws, while Cal sank 10 of 19.
—— Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketballbr/]
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California
‘Toxic’: California ex-police chief tells of colleagues’ racist harassment campaign
The embattled former police chief of Vallejo, a San Francisco Bay Area city that has attracted national attention over police violence, has said that he endured a steady procession of racist remarks from colleagues and online harassment and threats that ultimately led him to resign.
By the time Chief Shawny Williams tendered his resignation in 2022, he said he had received a slew of threats – at his office, at his home, and in his email inbox. Most demanded he step down. But even after resigning, the threats still came by mail to his home and a second property he owned outside the state.
“They were hostile, toxic,” Williams testified in a deposition on Wednesday. “I had safety concerns.”
Williams made the statements as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Vallejo police department brought by Deyana Jenkins, whom officers pulled from a car and tased during a traffic stop in 2019. The incident occurred months after six Vallejo police officers shot her uncle, Willie McCoy, a 20-year-old rapper, 55 times while he was asleep in his car. The killing attracted widespread attention and thrust a spotlight on the department’s use of force.
The deposition, first reported by the Vallejo Sun, offers a window into what Williams describes as a pattern of hostile, threatening and retaliatory behavior that ended his brief attempt to impose accountability on a department known nationally for unchecked violence and resistance to reform.
Vallejo police officers have repeatedly drawn concern over their practices, perhaps most notoriously for the ritual of “badge bending”, in which officers reportedly fold back a tip on their badges after killing someone on duty.
Williams took over the department in 2019 with a mandate to reform it. His three-year stint coincided with a national reckoning over police violence, sparked by nationwide protests over the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
But Williams said he experienced harsh backlash for his efforts to impose accountability on the department’s use of force.
“He was our first Black police chief in a department that’s always been known as a racist police department,” Melissa Nold, the lawyer representing Jenkins in the federal case, told the Guardian. “To hear that he was run off because he was doing reform and discipline – that’s very concerning. It doesn’t seem like it should be possible that the people being reformed have that much power.”
In his deposition, Williams said a colleague made several disturbing statements, including: “This Black Jesus can’t save us.”
He described “racial hostilities or comments” made to him by a former police captain. Williams also said the city attorney threatened him, but did not describe how.
The Vallejo police department did not immediately respond to a Guardian request for comment.
Williams also received several anonymous threats, through the post and online. Three weeks before resigning in October of 2022, he received a “Halloween card threat” that said “quit today” and emitted a deafening screech that “filled the hallway” and kept blaring until the battery ran out.
A secretary opened the letter. When Williams heard it he “actually thought it was some kind of domestic violence occurring outside the building because it was so loud”.
Williams also said that he received anonymous threats, after an officer who shot an unarmed 22-year-old in 2020 later rejoined the police department.
Officer Jarrett Tonn shot and killed Sean Monterrosa after an alleged looting incident at a Walgreens during a George Floyd-inspired protest. Williams dismissed Tonn after the shooting.
But an arbitrator reinstated Tonn in 2023, after Williams left the force. Tonn was promoted to sergeant in September of this year, according to the Vallejo Sun. Afterwards, Williams said he received messages that said “some bad things were coming”.
Williams said he asked the department to investigate the threats and raised concerns to city manager Mike Malone. But the city failed to act, and Malone appeared uninterested in helping him, Williams testified.
“One of the things that I guess exacerbated my concerns was [Malone’s] statement that this is not going to stop – or ‘They’re not going to stop until I fire you or you quit,’” Williams said in the deposition. “And he said that over half a dozen times.”
By “they”, Williams said the city manager was referring to the Vallejo Police Officers’ Association (VPAO), which serves as the bargaining unit for all ranks of police officer except the chief in its negotiations with the city. The VPOA did not immediately respond to a Guardian request for comment.
“My resignation was a result of a pattern of constructive termination hostility,” Williams testified. “There was racial animus, retaliatory things that were happening that just made it unbearable or impossible for me to perform my duties in a safe environment.”
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