Santa Ana Police Department

An appeals court has upheld a federal judge's decision not to allow a jury to hear discrimination charges against the Santa Ana Police Department in a highly controversial civil rights lawsuit over the treatment of Latino officers. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that U.S. District Judge David V.

A Santa Ana woman who lied to her family about giving birth allegedly tried to kidnap a newborn baby and kill the child's mother, but was foiled when the mother managed to bite off part of her assailant's finger and alert family members, police said. Gabriela Osorio, 28, of Santa Ana was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and attempted kidnapping Friday afternoon shortly after she fled the victim's house with the baby, said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department.

Tucked deep inside the Santa Ana Police Department, rows of M-16s, fully automatic rifles and sawed-off shotguns -- neatly tagged and hung on pegboards -- fill a windowless library of sorts. This is where Rocky Edwards, the department's firearms examiner, can be found, linking guns to crimes and suspects. This year, he has worked on nearly 700 cases, for which he has matched guns to 170 crimes. He often testifies for the prosecution.

A man wanted for parole violation was shot and killed by police early Friday evening in the 100 block of West Columbine Avenue. Cmdr. Tammy Franks said the coroner had not positively identified the man although police believe they know his identity. The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. "He was stopped by our gang unit, but I haven't confirmed he was a gang member," Franks said. The officers, she said, "were conducting a surveillance of him and when they attempted to take him into custody, this incident occurred."

Mona Ruiz carries the weight of two badges. One, Santa Ana police shield No. 1725, she has worn proudly while arresting hundreds of gangbangers from the city's toughest turfs. The other, a faded red and black tattoo that coils around the wrist of her shooting hand, marks her as a former gang member, a past predator on the same streets she now protects. The two symbols clash, as do Ruiz's troubled past and her law-and-order present.

Prosecutors filed charges Wednesday that could mean life in prison for a Santa Ana man accused of fatally beating his 5-year-old stepdaughter. Bruce Alan Morton, 28, was charged with assault on a child under 8 years old causing death, Deputy Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Henderson said. If convicted, he would face 25 years to life in prison, she said, a more severe penalty than second-degree murder, which has a maximum term of 15 years to life.

Eastman Kodak will maintain police micrographics equipment under a one-year, $15,000 contract recently approved by the City Council. The Santa Ana Police Department uses Kodak equipment to make microfiche archives of all police records. The money for the contract will come from the city's account for police records services maintenance and repair for machinery and equipment.

A 44-year-old Ontario man was shot to death on a downtown street Saturday night by an unidentified assailant who fled in a car, police said Sunday. Federico Monarrez Blanco was found lying in the street by a private security guard at 11 p.m. in the 600 block of 5th Street, near the intersection of French Street, said Lt. Bob Chavez of the Santa Ana Police Department. He had a single gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene, Chavez said.

A 14-year-old boy was killed when a semi-truck hit the bicycle he was riding on Poplar Street, police said Tuesday. Esteban Nunez apparently was listening to an iPod music player when he rode into the path of the truck west of St. Andrew Place about 7 p.m. Monday, police said. The cause of the accident was under investigation, said a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department.

It was nine hours into the anti-gang surge, and an empty wheelchair sat in the driveway. "The guy in the wheelchair just took off running," said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Lorenzo Carrillo, standing over three tattooed teenagers, suspected gang members seated with their hands behind their backs while police checked their parole status. Just hanging out with one another could be a violation, Carrillo explained. Although none of the three was arrested and the not-so-disabled man was never found, Carrillo, who directs the Santa Ana Police Department's gang suppression unit, said parole checks like those taking place this week in Santa Ana are key to restoring peace to the city's central neighborhoods.

A man who had been shot several times rammed his out-of-control pickup truck into the median at a Santa Ana intersection before dawn Tuesday and later died at a hospital, authorities said. A Santa Ana police motorcycle officer heading south on Harbor Boulevard at 11th Street about 4:25 a.m. saw a blue Ford pickup with its lights off travel slowly west on 11th Street into the intersection.

A 14-year-old boy was killed when a semi-truck hit the bicycle he was riding on Poplar Street, police said Tuesday. Esteban Nunez apparently was listening to an iPod music player when he rode into the path of the truck west of St. Andrew Place about 7 p.m. Monday, police said. The cause of the accident was under investigation, said a spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department.

It takes only a glance at the Santa Ana City Council to understand the demographics of the city, the ninth largest in the state. With Latinos accounting for 76% of the population, it is no surprise that the mayor and every person on the City Council is Latino. Although the council reflects the makeup of this central Orange County city, Santa Ana has never had a Latino police chief. But that could soon change.

Four days after Santa Ana police fatally shot the driver of a stolen SUV following a 20-minute chase, authorities refused to say whether he was armed or why officers fired at him. Experts on the use of force by law enforcement said they were troubled that police had not described what threat to life led them to open fire on Kevin Rene Powell, 41, a parolee from Aliso Viejo.

Santa Ana Police Officer Rufus Tanksley had seen plenty -- dead bodies, beaten wives with black eyes and scores of tattooed gangbangers -- by the time he met the homeless couple. As he patrolled the city, he often spotted homeless people sleeping in doorways or pushing shopping carts filled with their belongings. One couple stood out, though. They weren't drug addicts or alcoholics. They weren't mentally ill. The man had once owned a business and his wife held a steady job.

Two men were shot by Santa Ana police in within six hours after they each allegedly threatened officers, authorities said Monday. Both men survived and were taken to hospitals, police spokesman Balthazar De La Riva said. The first incident began at 8 p.m. Sunday after calls to police from drivers who said a man, identified later as Cody Lopez Hernandez, 28, was running in and out of traffic on East MacArthur Boulevard.