Costa Mesa Police Department

A car theft suspect was booked on suspicion of murder Wednesday in the deaths of two Costa Mesa police officers and a civilian observer killed Tuesday night when two police helicopters collided over Irvine. The helicopters were participating in the high-speed chase of an allegedly stolen car when they came together 500 feet over a field near the UC Irvine campus at 10:20 p.m. A preliminary investigation showed that the skid of the smaller Newport Beach helicopter made contact with the main rotor blade of the Costa Mesa aircraft, said Gary Mucho, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board's Los Angeles office.

An apparent domestic argument in Costa Mesa turned deadly Tuesday night when a gunman opened fire on a woman and her father, killing the pair in front of a home, according to police. A 36-year-old man was apprehended at the scene after officers responded to a call of shots fired shortly before 6 p.m. in the 3400 block of Santa Clara Circle, said Lt. Bryan Glass of the Costa Mesa Police Department. He said the suspected shooter is the ex-husband of the 32-year-old woman, who lived in Costa Mesa.

U.S. customs agents and local police have identified 520 deportable inmates in the first year of a controversial program to find undocumented immigrants in the city's jail. The inmates included foreign nationals with prior convictions on drug and firearms charges, the Costa Mesa Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday. -- David Haldane

Costa Mesa Police Chief Chris Shawkey and Capt. Ron Smith have been placed on administrative leave, City Manager Allan Roeder has announced in an e-mail to police personnel Capt. Les Gogerty, who has been with the department since 1985, will serve as interim commander. "Police Department personnel, please be advised, as of this date Chief Shawkey and Captain Smith are on leave," Roeder wrote in an e-mail Thursday. "As this involves potential personnel matters, I would respectfully ask that you not speculate nor discuss this matter out of respect for these two individuals and the professional integrity of the Costa Mesa Police Department.

The Costa Mesa Police Department has established a fund for the children of the city's two police officer-pilots and of the civilian observer killed in last week's midair collision, according to Lt. David E. Brooks. The money will benefit the daughter of observer Jeffrey Pollard, 1-year-old Christy Pollard; the daughters of helicopter pilot James David Ketchum, Penny, 12, and her sister Hillary, 13, and the children of helicopter pilot John William Libolt, Katy, 15, and David, 18, Brooks said.

Cypress Police Chief John Hensley was named Tuesday to head the Costa Mesa Police Department, officials said. Hensley will succeed Police Chief Dave Snowden, who will retire after 16 years with the department, said City Manager Allan Roeder. Hensley, a 20-year law enforcement veteran, will oversee about 160 sworn officers when he takes over June 16. He will be the fourth police chief in the department's 50-year history.

Those who are arrested by the Costa Mesa Police Department and do time in the County Jail will be billed $18 more in booking fees, a result of the county increasing its fees to $176. The City Council this week voted to pass the increase to those arrested in the city who are sent to County Jail and later convicted. Dick Greer, the commander of administrative services for the Costa Mesa Police Department, said such inmates will now be billed $176 by the city.

A police checkpoint set up to encourage safe driving netted seven drunk driving arrests Friday night and Saturday morning. Officers with the Costa Mesa Police Department and the California Highway Patrol stopped and gave sobriety tests to 69 drivers in the northbound lane of Newport Boulevard at Flower Street between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. They arrested four men and three women. Officers handed out safe-driving literature to 652 motorists out of the 3,310 that passed through.

A police officer who saved a man from a burning car was honored Wednesday for his heroism, police said. Officer Derek Trusk was given the Life Saving Award during a ceremony that was held by the Costa Mesa Police Department and the city of Rancho Santa Margarita. Trusk, who was off-duty at the time, spotted a man trapped inside his overturned car after an accident Aug. 31. The car burst into flames, forcing Trusk to back away. He returned to remove the injured man, police said.

An off-duty Costa Mesa police officer shot two people, one fatally, after an argument at a Temecula restaurant, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. The officer, whose name was not released, was treated at a hospital for an unspecified head injury and released. Temecula police detectives were investigating the incident Saturday night, and the Costa Mesa Police Department said the incident would be reviewed by its internal affairs investigators, but the officer had not been suspended.

An off-duty Costa Mesa police officer shot two people, one fatally, after an argument at a Temecula restaurant, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said. The officer, whose name was not released, was treated at a hospital for an unspecified head injury and released. Temecula police detectives were investigating the incident Saturday night, and the Costa Mesa Police Department said the incident would be reviewed by its internal affairs investigators, but the officer had not been suspended.

U.S. customs agents and local police have identified 520 deportable inmates in the first year of a controversial program to find undocumented immigrants in the city's jail. The inmates included foreign nationals with prior convictions on drug and firearms charges, the Costa Mesa Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday. -- David Haldane

A Fountain Valley man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of videotaping women in their bathrooms through the windows of a Costa Mesa apartment complex. David Allen Hoyt, 26, was arrested after being spotted by officers patrolling the 2800 block of Pinecreek Avenue, said Lt. Loran Wyrick, a spokesman for the Costa Mesa Police Department.

A man arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol was actually suffering from a stroke, according to a lawsuit filed against the city of Costa Mesa. Salvador Jimenez, a gardener, accused police of negligence and failure to provide medical treatment in the civil lawsuit filed last week in Santa Ana. He is seeking more than $250,000 in damages in connection with his arrest two years ago by Officer Heather Keller. Costa Mesa officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.

A man was shot and critically injured Saturday on the Costa Mesa Freeway in what police described as an incident of road rage. The driver of a burgundy-red pickup, believed to be the shooter, fled, police said. The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. on the Del Mar Avenue offramp from the northbound lanes, said Lt. Loren Wyrick, of the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Costa Mesa Police Chief John Hensley announced his retirement Wednesday amid months of controversy over using city police officers to enforce federal immigration laws. Although the immigration debate has dominated city politics and drawn national attention, some officials said personal reasons and internal dissension over his leadership style might also have been factors.

District's Use of Drug-Sniffing Dogs Expected The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is expected to approve a plan tonight to use drug-sniffing dogs from the Costa Mesa Police Department to sniff around high school students' lockers for illegal substances. The plan calls for a fall semester program of random scent-searches of lockers, gym locker rooms and student parking lots at Costa Mesa and Estancia high schools and the district's Alternative Education Center. All are in Costa Mesa.

I recently read about the Costa Mesa Police Department using undercover officers to arrest 15 Latino dayworkers for illegal solicitation of work. The only "crime" these men committed was to look for an honest day's work instead of committing burglaries and armed robbery to obtain money to support themselves and their families. As to the Costa Mesa Police Department, if this is all they have to do to keep their officers occupied, the City Council should immediately order a 20% reduction in the number of sworn officers so those who are laid off can find a real job and the remaining 80% of the officers can go to work on serious crime prevention, like stopping daytime burglaries, investigating murders and catching car thieves, and, of course, making some prosecutable arrests of rapists and child molesters, as well as shutting down drug dealers.

Activists clashed in Costa Mesa on Tuesday night over the city's decision to become the nation's first authorizing its police department to enforce federal immigration laws. One man was arrested on suspicion of disrupting a public assembly.

A 25-year-old punk rock singer apparently jumped from a limousine into predawn traffic on the San Diego Freeway in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, and was killed when struck by at least a dozen cars, authorities said. The 5 a.m. incident triggered a huge rush-hour traffic jam. "It's been a nightmare," said CHP Officer Denise Quesada at midmorning. "It's horrible out there. This is probably one of the worst backups I've seen," she said.