Boy Killed In Hit-And-Run Collision East Of San Leandro

A boy was killed in a hit-and-run collision east of San Leandro on Tuesday evening, an Alameda County Sheriff’s sergeant said.

The collision occurred in the area of East 14th Street and Ashland Avenue around 6p.m., Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said.

Prior to the collision deputies observed a person recklessly driving a vehicle and when they attempted to conduct a traffic stop the driver fled the scene, Kelly said.

A deputy saw the suspect vehicle hit the child before the driver fled the scene, according to Kelly.

The deputy attempted to chase the suspect car but the driver got away and remains at large, he said.

Investigators are trying to determine if the pursuit was terminated before or after the collision, Kelly said.

The deputies involved in the chase have been placed on administrative leave, he said.

Woman Fatally Struck By Car This Afternoon, Driver Arrested

A woman was killed when a car hit her in East San Jose on Tuesday afternoon, a police spokesman said.

Officers responded to a report of a vehicle that struck a woman in the area of Barberry Lane and South King Road shortly before 4:30 p.m., police Officer Albert Morales said.

Arriving officers found the woman on the street suffering from serious injuries and she was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.

The driver of the car was stopped and arrested, Morales said.

The circumstances surrounding the collision are under investigation by the Police Department’s traffic investigation unit, he said.

The death marks the city’s 38th traffic fatality this year, according to Morales.

No further details were immediately available.

Police Shoot, Kill Fleeing Burglary Suspect

Police shot and killed a burglary suspect who allegedly pulled a gun as he fled from officers in Menlo Park on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Officers received a report at 12:33 p.m. of a suspicious person on Willow Place, a short cul-de-sac off of Willow Road between Middlefield Road and Waverly Street.

Office buildings along the street house venture capital and startup firms.

As officers arrived, they found a male suspect involved in a burglary and ran after him. One officer used a Taser to try to stop the running suspect, who then pulled out a gun, police said.

Police shot the suspect and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators have not yet confirmed whether the suspect aimed or fired at the officers.

One police officer was taken to a hospital for an injury suffered in the pursuit that was not life-threatening. Police did not specify how the officer was injured.

Officers remained in the area Tuesday afternoon. The name of the suspect has not yet been released pending notification of his family.

Anyone who saw Tuesday’s shooting has been asked to call Menlo Park police at (650) 330-6300.

Search Suspended For Missing Airman Off Monterey Coast

The search for a missing California Air National Guard airman off the Monterey County coast was suspended Tuesday evening, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The airman was swept by a wave off of Garrapata State Beach in Carmel and reportedly missing around 9:30 a.m., Coast Guard officials said.

He was assigned to the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Field, according to Coast Guard officials.

A 47-foot motor lifeboat from Coast Guard Station Monterey was launched and a helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco also responded to the search.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, Cal Fire, State Park Rangers and lifeguards also assisted in the search.

“The decision to suspend a search and rescue case is one of the most difficult decisions to make,” Capt. Greg Stump, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said in a statement.

“I want to extend my sincere condolences to the family, friends and California Air National Guard. After conducting an extensive search for seven hours with our partner agencies, we made the challenging decision to suspend the active search,” Stump said.

Man Possibly Suffering Dementia Found Lost

Police are trying to find the family of a man found lost in Lafayette who appears to be suffering from dementia.

The 80-year-old man was found in the area of Carol Lane on Tuesday afternoon and has been unable to provide police with any information other than that his name is Richard or Ricardo.

He has no identification on him or any other information that could be used to locate his family, police said.

The man is described as Asian, about 5 feet tall, weighs about 125 pounds, has gray hair and dark eyes.

He was wearing a red jacket, a dark vest, a red plaid shirt, dark pants and slippers when he was found.

Police said they checked with other local police agencies and have not found a missing persons report that matches his description.

Anyone with information about the man has been asked to call Lafayette police at (925) 284-5010.

Paragliding Man Crashes Into Tree, Suffers Moderate Injuries

A man visiting from out of the country was injured while paragliding when he crashed into a tree in Vallejo on Tuesday afternoon, a fire spokesman said.

Shortly before 5 p.m., the man’s wife and friend paragliding with him entered Fire Station 27 at 1585 Ascot Court to report the crash, fire spokesman Mark Libby said.

A downdraft sent the man into a tree and rocks in the area of Columbus Parkway and Ascot Court, Libby said.

Emergency crews were able to secure the man who was unable to walk on his own, according to Libby.

The man was wearing protective clothing and padding when he was found, Libby said.

He suffered moderate injuries and was transported to a helicopter crew that airlifted him to a trauma center, the spokesman said.

No other injuries were reported.

Libby said the man has more than 10 years of experience in paragliding but “today was just not his day.”

Saudi Arabia Lowers Price Of Crude Oil Further Dropping Northern California Gas Prices

Last week’s move by the world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, of lowering the price per barrel for crude oil sold to the United States, has added further momentum to Northern California’s already falling gas prices, according to a report released Tuesday by AAA.

With a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline being sold at an average of $3.19 this week in Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, automobile drivers are experiencing gas prices, on average, 39 cents cheaper than last month, according to AAA Northern California spokeswoman Cynthia Harris.

“As consumers adjust to falling oil prices, California motorists can enjoy some of the lowest prices during a holiday season since 2009,” Harris said.

She said the highest recorded price ever registered in the state of California was $4.67 a gallon for unleaded regular gas in October 2012.

Average Northern California gasoline prices still come in 26 cents more expensive per gallon than the national average, according to AAA.

Tuesday’s national average for regular unleaded gasoline was $2.93 per gallon, the lowest price since Dec. 4, 2010.

The national average price of gasoline has dropped for 46 days in a row, the longest consecutive decline since 2008, according to AAA.

Fueling the decline in gas prices has been the drop in crude oil costs, with prices for West Texas Intermediate down to $77.19 per barrel last week.

Analysts are likely to be pay close attention to an upcoming meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Nov. 27 in Vienna, Austria and the cartel’s response to falling global gas prices, according to AAA.

Helicopter Sent To Cliff Rescue Stranded On Slope On Bodega Bay Beach

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter that responded to Bodega Bay on the Sonoma Coast where a 4-year-old boy fell 238 feet down a cliff onto the beach Monday afternoon remains at the site because it landed on a slope, Coast Guard officials said Tuesday afternoon.

The boy, Sebastion Johnson, was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital by ambulance. He suffered broken bones and is listed in serious condition Tuesday at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland.

Coast Guard Lt. Myles Richardson said the helicopter landed on a 10-degree slope and can’t take off because the tail rotor might strike the ground or the helicopter’s rotor blades could hit a nearby hillside.

“You can’t land on a slope greater than 10 degrees. We shut it down,” Richardson said.

“We need to get it on more level terrain. The crew is working to find the safest way,” Richardson said.

Possible remedies include using a winch or a sky crane to move the tilting helicopter, Richardson said.

Crews from the Coast Guard Air Station in San Francisco have been at the site since noon Tuesday, and there’s no estimate of when the helicopter will be able to lift off, Richardson said.

Security will be posted at the beach site until then, Richardson said.

Airlift Will Give Dogs Another Chance At Life

Volunteer pilots today will fly about a dozen Oakland dogs at risk of being euthanized to safety in Washington state and Canada.

The trip to Bellingham, Washington, will start as the dogs arrive at Livermore Municipal Airport at 10:30 a.m. to be loaded onto planes operated by Wings of Rescue, a volunteer pilot group.

Four rescue groups, including LeftBehindK9Rescue, Rescued Hearts Northwest, Size Small Dog Rescue and Dachshund Rescue Team, will meet the dogs in Bellingham to give them foster homes while finding them permanent homes.

For Cindy Smith, a pilot and co-founder of Wings of Rescue, the work “feels pretty good.”

“We’re pretty much their last chance,” said Smith, whose group has rescued nearly 10,000 dogs in three years.

Of the dozen dogs making the flight, eight or so are Chihuahuas, Wings of Rescue spokeswoman Nicole Kohleriter Perelman said. In Oakland, about 75 percent of the dogs in shelters are Chihuahuas, she said.

Wings of Rescue flies the animals to other places outside of California because the demand from families that want dogs exceeds the supply. Besides Bellingham, some of the dogs will find a home in British Columbia.

Size Small Dog Rescue and Dachshund Rescue Team are based in Canada.

Nurses Strike At Kaiser Medical Centers To Demand More Resources

Nurses working at Kaiser Permanente medical centers in the Bay Area walked off of the job Tuesday to protest what they say are eroding standards of patient care.

The California Nurses Association said the strike, which started at 7 a.m. Tuesday, is planned to last until 7 a.m. Thursday.

Kaiser medical centers remain open during the strike, though some elective procedures and appointments may need to be rescheduled, hospital officials said in a statement. A Kaiser representative will contact patients whose appointments will need to be rescheduled.

Katy Roemer, a registered nurse and a member of the union’s bargaining team, said there has been no significant movement on 39 proposals the union has placed before Kaiser during contract talks.

Deborah Raymond, a registered nurse and senior vice president and area manager of Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, said management has responded to all of those proposals and is waiting for the union to respond.

Currently, the talks center around “operational issues” and pay and benefits haven’t “even come across the table yet,” Raymond said.

She said patient care at the hospital is not eroding. Rather, the hospital is delivering high-quality care and its outcomes show that.

Roemer said Kaiser did respond to its proposals, but said the company has not put forward any of its own. Nurses have been bargaining since the end of July, Roemer said.

The lack of resources being offered to nurses at Kaiser hospitals for treating Ebola patients prompted nurses to demand more resources during a march last month.

Union officials said that Kaiser has not filled more than 2,000 nurses’ positions lost at its Northern California facilities during the past three years and nurses are currently having trouble taking care of patients.

At noon Tuesay, about 500 nurses rallied in front of Kaiser’s new hospital at the corner of West MacArthur Boulevard and Broadway in Oakland to demand the additional resources.

Kaiser officials added a statement Tuesday afternoon that the union has recently changed the reason for its worker actions.

“For weeks, union leadership has claimed to the public that this strike is about Ebola,” the statement said. “In the last day or so, the union has changed its message and now says to the public that the strike is about ‘staffing.’ Just as the union’s Ebola message is not sticking because it is not supported by the facts, this new reason for striking by the union also isn’t true.”

Mother Of Down Syndrome Child Petitions Disney To Include All Children In Its Films

An Antioch mother’s campaign to get Disney to represent children with Down syndrome in its films has grabbed tens of thousands of signatures and the attention of Disney headquarters.

Keston Ott-Dahl launched a petition last month on activist social network website Care2, inspired by her young daughter Delaney.

“Our daughter has Down syndrome,” Ott-Dahl said in a message on the online petition page. “Like other children, she adores animated movies — so when I see her mesmerized by Disney princesses, it breaks my heart to know that she has no role models like herself.”

Addressing the petition to Walt Disney Studios President Sean Bailey, the mom of two wrote that while the entertainment company “does a great job of depicting right from wrong…its movies have almost no representation of disabled people, those often bullied and looked down upon by their fellow children.”

The petition calls on Disney to represent children with Down syndrome in its movies and asks the public to support the cause.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the petition had collected more than 67,700 signatures.

In addition, Ott-Dahl said in an online post Tuesday that she has finally received a response from Disney.

“Disney has responded to the petition, saying the studio is ‘committed to continuing to create characters that are accessible and relatable to all children,'” she wrote.

But the Antioch resident said she will keep pressing the issue, and plans to deliver the petition in person at Disney headquarters in Burbank on Nov. 26.

3 Alleged Gang Members Arrested In Slaying Of Man, Wounding Of Juvenile

Three men were arrested last week in the alleged gang-related shooting death of a man and the wounding of a juvenile at an apartment complex in south San Jose, police said Tuesday.

San Jose police last Thursday arrested Brandon Brown, 24, and on Friday arrested Jose Quiroz Sr., 49, and Jose Quiroz Jr., 17, all on suspicion of murder with gang enhancements for the killing of 19-year-old Juan Guillen, according to police Sgt. Heather Randol.

At 5:17 p.m. on Nov. 4, the Police Department’s communications center received a 911 call about a person shot at an apartment complex in the 5700 block of Almaden Road in the Almaden area of San Jose, Randol said.

Officers found Guillen, who was shot at least once and was pronounced dead at the scene, and later located a juvenile who had a laceration and graze wound from a gunshot suffered while running from the building, police said.

The juvenile victim was treated at a hospital and later released, according to police.

Homicide detectives determined that members of a rival gang had confronted the two victims, both alleged gang members themselves, inside a vacant apartment, Randol said.

Police identified and arrested Brown two days later and captured the elder and younger Quiroz the following day. All of the suspects are San Jose residents and were arrested in the city, police said.

Though a juvenile, the 17-year-old Quiroz Jr. was arrested and booked as an adult, according to Randol.

The department is asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact the homicide unit at (408) 277-5283, or to provide an anonymous tip at the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers line at (408) 947-7867.

Gas Leak In Underground Pipe Capped, Evacuations Lifted

PG&E crews capped a gas leak in Morgan Hill late Tuesday morning after a few homes were ordered evacuated when a construction crew broke a 4-inch underground natural gas pipe, a utility spokesman said.

The utility stopped the leaking natural gas at 11:53 a.m. after PG&E workers finished digging trenches 50 feet on either side of the breach to get to the plastic pipe at 30 Tilton Ave. near Monterey Street, PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi said.

The capping off of the leak meant that residents evacuated from a few nearby homes were allowed to return and traffic was allowed to resume on Tilton Avenue, Guidi said.

At 7:49 a.m., PG&E received a report that a construction work crew not affiliated with the utility pierced the gas pipe while digging with a backhoe on Tilton, according to Guidi.

PG&E crews arrived on the scene at 8:05 a.m., he said.

Morgan Hill police ordered the nearby homes evacuated and set up a roadblock to stop motorists from driving down the block on Tilton, according to police Sgt. Carson Thomas.