Assaults

The family of a 52-year-old Huntington Memorial Hospital nursing assistant who had a stroke a week after she was attacked by a patient has filed a claim in a state workers' compensation court, saying she was unfairly denied medical coverage. Amelia Mendoza, who has four adult children, had a massive stroke April 20, about 2 1/2 hours after being turned away from Huntington Memorial Hospital's occupational health clinic because it was too busy, her family's lawyers said Tuesday.

A cyclist testified Friday that he was run off the road by a physician seven months before the doctor allegedly injured two other cyclists on the same Brentwood street when he slammed on the brakes of his car in front of them. Patrick Early, an advertising consultant, said he was riding up Mandeville Canyon Road when a speeding red Infiniti honked aggressively and passed inches from his bicycle, forcing him into a gutter. Early identified Dr. Christopher Thompson in court as the driver and accused him of shouting a profanity and telling him to get off the road.

The recent arrest of a UCLA student in the brutal stabbing of a classmate in a campus chemistry lab has again focused attention on an issue that gripped the nation after the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech: the mental health of troubled college students. The Virginia Tech shootings, which left 32 victims and the gunman dead, raised difficult questions about how a disturbed student could have been allowed to remain at the school despite danger signs. Since then, campuses in California and around the country say they watch their students ever more closely for signs of possible mental illness or other problems.

The video of the beating and sexual abuse of five young alleged thieves at the hands of vigilantes has provoked widespread outrage here. But in some quarters, there have been disquieting voices of approval. The video landed on YouTube. It shows the cowering teenage boys being slapped in the face and forced to French kiss one another. Each is forced to say that they are about to be raped as punishment for robbing houses. In the state of Nayarit, where the incident took place, many people suspect that the abusers might be police officers.

A La Cañada Flintridge couple trying to save their home from foreclosure were arrested along with three others on suspicion of beating, torturing and robbing a pair of loan modification agents they believed had done nothing to help them rescue the residence. Daniel Weston and Mary Ann Parmelee, both 52, allegedly sought mortgage assistance from Lamond Dean and Luis Garcia, two loan modification specialists, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. Authorities said the homeowners thought agents had taken their money and done nothing to help them.

A doctor charged with assault for allegedly slamming on his car brakes in front of two cyclists in Brentwood testified Wednesday that he never intended to hurt anyone but stopped his vehicle to photograph riders who were cycling dangerously. Christopher Thompson, a veteran emergency room physician, said a group of cyclists flipped him off and yelled profanities when he overtook them last year as they rode three abreast down Mandeville Canyon Road, a narrow residential street that is popular with bike riders.

Like many avid cyclists, Rick Wurtz has his share of horror stories from the road. His closest call came as he pedaled along an open highway in Montana and a big rig rushed by within inches of his handlebars, passing so close that the truck's wake blew him off the road. There is little more terrifying to a cyclist than sitting astride 20 pounds of carbon fiber and aluminum when a motorist encased in 2 tons of steel makes a sudden right turn or bumps the riders. Yet for Wurtz and other cyclists, few episodes have reinforced the dangers as powerfully as last year's crash in which a Brentwood doctor is accused of slamming on the brakes of his car in front of two bike riders, injuring both.

The former wife of Oakland Raiders Coach Tom Cable and a recent girlfriend claim Cable has a history of violent behavior toward women, and asked that he seek help for his anger. Sandy Cable and Marie Lutz said in separate interviews on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that the first-year head coach physically abused them at various times during their relationships. Cable's attorney, Donald Yee, said in a statement Sunday that ESPN refused to provide details about the story when the network asked for comment.

A physician accused of deliberately injuring two cyclists by slamming on his car's brakes on a narrow Brentwood road was convicted Monday of mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and other serious criminal charges. Dr. Christopher Thompson, 60, slumped forward and held his face in his hands after the verdicts were announced in a courtroom packed mostly with supporters and cyclists. Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Stone, who prosecuted the case, asked for Thompson to be jailed immediately, calling him a flight risk and a safety threat to cyclists.

The Los Angeles Police Department has reduced the backlog of untested DNA evidence kits from rapes and sexual assaults by two-thirds since last fall, but City Controller Wendy Greuel cautioned Thursday that "we still have a long way to go to resolve this issue." With Police Chief-designate Charles L. Beck at her side, Greuel outlined the results of a new audit one year after former Controller Laura Chick found that the LAPD's backlog of untested kits had grown to more than 7,000, with 217 languishing beyond the legal time limit for prosecuting suspects.