A Triple Metro Attack, LA’s Hepatitis Outbreak & Rolling Stop Cameras

ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Thoughts on three separate attacks, two on Metro buses, and one at a train station in a 24-hour period AND the latest on Los Angeles County health officials ongoing investigation into an outbreak of hepatitis A infections among L.A.’s homeless population…PLUS – A look into Temescal Canyon’s “Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority “rolling stop” ticket program - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:22):
I am six forty years later withMokelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio
app and it's happening again and againand again. They were three separate and
unrelated attacks on metro buses or metrotrain platforms in the past twenty four hours.

(00:46):
Three two of them were stabbings.One was originally reported as a stabbing,
but it was actually attacked by wrench. Three different attacks, three different
areas of the city. It's notlike we can relegate it to one portion
of town. It's not like wecan say, well, it's only happening

(01:07):
at night. Know what's happening alltimes of the day, all areas of
La County. These three attacks,after my conversation with La County Supervisor Catherine
Barker, who has been very vocalabout this issue, let me go back
to the beginning, the very beginning, when we first started talking about violence

(01:30):
on the metro, I received anumber of notes from you, messages from
you cross various social media saying MO, to the effect of MO, you're
putting too much on it. You'reexaggerating it's not as bad as here,
or it's not as bad as thereover here in Washington, DC, it's
happening like this, It's not happeningevery day. It's more safe. I

(01:55):
remember someone was sending me a messagesaying it was more safe than driving in
a car, because people drive,and they getting accidents and die in automobile
accidents every single day. I've neverheard much of people getting stabbed every single
day while driving in their car.But as the tide began to change,

(02:19):
I think, I think maybe I'mwrong. People began to see the undeniable
truth that the Metro as we knowit is uncontrollably violent. And sometimes I
can be prone to hyperbole, butthis is not one of those times.
It is getting close to becoming aneveryday occurrence. A person was assaulted a

(02:42):
board a metro bus today, thethird attack in the Encino area, and
a suspect was taken into custody.And as I said, this is a
third attack tied to the transit systemwithin the past twenty four hours. According
to LAPD, officers responded around twoo five to the reported attack near the
intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Balboa Avenue. The suspect, who apparently suffered from

(03:08):
a mental illness, stole a cellphone from the victim before slamming a wrench
into his chest. The victim wasnot seriously injured, thank goodness, and
did not require hospitalization. The suspectwas taken into custody. That was the
most recent attack. Let me goback to Monday. At about seven h

(03:30):
five pm Monday, a teenage boywas stabbed during an attempted robbery a board
a metro bus. Remember we hadbeen talking about these attacks on buses against
operators and passengers. Boy was stabbedduring an attempted robbery a board a metro
bus near West Los Phelis Road andSouth Central Avenue in Glendale. And there's

(03:54):
something else that should be highlighted.This is not what I call garden variety
gang activity, where gang members orattacking gang members. You have people who
are not gang members. Maybe they'rehomeless, maybe they're suffered from mental illness,
maybe they're under the influence of drugsor a combination of these things.

(04:14):
They are attacking random people, civilianslike you and me, mother's children.
It does not matter. Everyone isequally vulnerable and susceptible. But this teenage
boy was stabbed and there were threejuvenile suspects who approached the victim and attempted
to steal his backpack. The victimwas stabbed during the attempted robbery and the

(04:36):
suspects ran away from the scene.This is according to the Glendale Police Department.
They caught two of the three suspects. The third suspect is still at
large. Two hours later, aboutnine oh five pm last night, a
woman was stabbed at a Metro seawhich is the Green Line station at South

(04:57):
Vermont Avenue and the one oh fiveFreeway. I know this stop and location
intimately. It is literally the closestpickup point for any metro bus or train
from where I live. I passedit every single day. And this victim

(05:18):
who was attacked on an elevator,I know that elevator. I know it
is on the freeway level as youexit the one oh five Freeway at Vermont,
and it will take you down tothe street level where you can pick
up the train, and there's alsoa parking ride there. But this victim

(05:40):
was stabbed while boarding or riding anelevator going from the freeway level down to
the street level. A man wearingall black got away boarding a westbound train
toward Hawthorne, And as you know, these attacks are the latest incidents of
VYE all across the Metro transit system. I'm not talking about homelessness in general.

(06:08):
I'm not talking about people doing drugson the trains or buses. I'm
not talking about fair jumpers. Thosehappen all day, every day in all
places on Metro. I am onlytalking about violence in which people are getting

(06:30):
shanked, getting hit with wrenches.It is something that we cannot ignore anymore.
And this is not about comedy.This is not about pointing fingers.
This is about having an honest conversation. Part of the reason we started talking
about Metro was because Metro was talkingabout everything except the violence. It was

(06:59):
talking about, well, it's amental health issue, you heard Maorbassi.
We've heard about how we need todeal with the mental health aspect of it.
We've heard about how writers they wantinformation. So they rolled out the
ambassadors as if that was going tochange something. In fact, we got
more and more ambassadors over the previousmonths. We got slight acknowledgment of the

(07:26):
actual violence. And here is thebottom line. Until the violence is addressed,
nothing else matters. Absolutely nothing elsematters. And I am not requiring
Metro to prevent all violence. That'snot what I'm saying. Crazy and criminal
happen. You can't prevent crime,but you can't address it. You can

(07:50):
act like it's the singularly most importantissue confronting the Metro. There is nothing
else that matters. I don't careabout graffiti. I don't even care about
a cleanliness or it being unsanitary innature. If you cannot do something honestly,
attempt to do something to address theviolence being perpetrated on writers and operators,

(08:18):
nothing else matters. When we comeback, we're going to hear some
audio Cafi's own Blake Trolley was outtalking to different members of the subway and
also bus writing community. We'll alsohear from LAPD interim chief Troy what he's
talking about relative to this violence andtrying to propose solutions and more. You're

(08:43):
listening to later with Moe Kelly ondemand from KFI AM six forty And Honestly,
I didn't choose this Metro story.It kind of chose me. I
say that because I was I'm gonnabe completely honest. I had the privilege.
I was fortunate enough when I wasriding the Metro. It was by

(09:07):
choice. It wasn't because I hadno choice. I exercised the choice.
I had the option. I wantedto save money. I didn't want to
spend all that time in my car. I didn't want to burn all that
gas. I wanted to be ableto use because time wise it was about
equal. It was gonna take meabout the same amount of time with all

(09:31):
these transfers to go from home tothe office via the subway and above ground
rail than if I were to actuallydrive. But I would save some money,
and if I were on the train, I could maybe get some work
done pull out my computer. ButI was then not. Now I have
exercised a different choice, and Iwon't ever get on the metro, or

(09:52):
at least for the foreseeable future.I have no reason to get on it,
and I would not recommend anyone thatI personally we care about getting on
it either. And just to letyou know, we have a request in
too, Supervisor Catherine Barger to maybecome back on the show tonight. Issues
available. We had a very veryinsightful conversation last week, but that was

(10:16):
before all this has happened, andI'm sure what's happening in the La County
Supervisors meeting is all about this,and I would love to hear how that
body is deliberating over something like this. But I had a choice, and
I chose to get on the traineach and every day. And I only

(10:37):
had to worry about and I wastalking about this with Twala during the break.
The only thing I had to worryabout, by and large, the
homeless people, kids who were actingup getting on the train, you know,
jumping fares, acting a fool.But I didn't have to worry about
random, unprovoked acts of violence.I didn't back then, and this is

(11:01):
maybe five six years ago. Ididn't feel for my personal safety. I
absolutely would now KF I so ownedBlake trolley was out in various areas around
the city and county getting people's thoughtsabout the Metro. Some people were willing
to give their name, others weren't. But here's the conversation that he had

(11:24):
with an unnamed writer what he thoughtbecause of these recent attacks, what he
saw on his daily commute, andwhether any of this has changed how he
would approach commuting day to day.What do you make of a woman being
stabbed taking the elevator here, couldn'tstab that's a little wild, it's a

(11:46):
little harmed. I don't know.I tell you, the truth makes me
double think about public transportation, justlike the metro brilliant safe. Do you
ride Metro often? Not really?But hearing this might change my thought of
writing. That's again, God,Just so you took it today? Yeah?
I took it today, heading towork right now, a little late,
but all right. Did you seeanything on your ride today? Nah?

(12:09):
Just a lot of homeless people.What you saw today? Yeah,
pretty much, that's it. Thatwas pretty noticeable. Though, what could
you say you saw from your pointof view as a passenger? No,
it makes me really feel unsafe whenthere's a lot of homeless people, especially
when the tweaking out and stuff makesyou feel uncomfortable, makes you not want
to pay for the bus anymore.Did you take the rail system as well

(12:31):
today? Yeah? I take therail system. I'm gonna catch the bus
right now, gotcha? All right, thank you, I appreciate it.
Thanks man. That's Blake Trolley.And there's some other statements which will be
coming in. We'll give that toyou. As far as whether Ellie County
Board of Supervisors individually or as abody would have a statement about Metro.
What is going to be going onLAPD. Interim Chief Choy had some thoughts

(12:54):
as well in some public remarks.There's other discussions about potentially how how do
we keep weapons off? Do weneed additional security at the gates? But
these are all ongoing discussions that weneed to keep working with MTA. I
will say that we are looking ata variety of ways that we can help
our partners at MTA and the otheragencies that are involved in policing this,

(13:18):
the trains and the bus. I'mnot a member of law enforcement. I
can't begin to strategize what law enforcementwould need to do to manage Metro,
but this I can say as aconcerned citizen, as a voter, as
someone who cares about the community inwhich he lives. This can't continue as

(13:41):
it is. I don't know ifthe answer is putting an officer on every
platform, every train, and everybus, and financially that's probably not feasible.
But I do know the longer wewait, the more people who will
be hurt. And I get thesneaking suspicion that a lot of this crime

(14:01):
is probably reflexive in nature, wherecriminals know where they can commit crime and
there is a lesser path of resistance. I don't believe that one stabbing is
completely emotionally unrelated to other stabbings.I think the word is out that if

(14:22):
you're going to harm someone on ametro train, there's a good chance you
might get away with it. Orif you're going to go crime, go
crime on a metro bus or metrotrain. And here's something else we've heard
from the metro bus operators. Theymade it clear they had a sick out
and that was last week, thatwas before this was happening. I wonder

(14:46):
what that means for next week anda week after that, or the month
after that. Because with all duerespect to lapd Item Chief Choy, nothing
has changed. With all due respectto the La County Board of Supervisors,
nothing has changed. We all cansee the problem, we can identify the

(15:07):
problem. We all probably agree thatthis is unacceptable. This this amount of
crime. People, citizens, parents, grandparents, even children. I told
you about a boy, and weknow about a grandmother who was killed.
It's all ages, all ethnicities,everyone is dealing with it. We all

(15:28):
can point at it and say thisis unacceptable, But nothing has changed since
we all can agree as they sayto Church, touch and degree, this
is unacceptable. Well, what isgoing to be the short term solution or
the short term strategy until we canget to the long term strategy. We
can't have tomorrow just like today.We can't have commuters and writers get on

(15:50):
a train or bus. We can'thave operators operate a train or bus tomorrow
just like today, and expect tomorrowto be different. Friend, simply because
we all can agree that crime isa problem. When we come back,
I'm going to a attack this froma different vantage point and explain how there's

(16:14):
overlap with these ills pun intended hereof society of La County, of La
City, and how crime on Metro, how homelessness on Metro is going to
have some unintended consequences because once we'vestopped addressing one, then we have to
deal with the other and they startto overlap. Remember I was telling you

(16:36):
about this hepatitis outbreak, but it'scoming from the homeless population. Well,
when you talk about the homeless population, you also have to talk about Metro.
So this hepatitis outbreak will have unintendedconsequences for writers on Metro. That's
next. You're listening to later withMoe Kelly on demand from KFI for LA

(17:02):
County. You know, I talka lot about civics, learning how your
government works, what office or electedofficial is responsible for this or that for
reasons like this, what I'm gettingready to talk about LA County supervisors.
They're responsible for managing facilities, resourcesservices. They're kind of like mayors for

(17:26):
various portions of these cities, portionof La City, unincorporated areas of LA
County, and LA City. Butthey're like mayors without getting too deep in
the weeds. They're managing facilities,resources services. So when I talk about

(17:48):
La County Department of Public Health anythingconnected to that services resources facilities, or
talk about metro facilities resources services,there's overlap and the issues of one portion

(18:12):
are inextricably linked to issues of another. Talking about hepatitis, La County health
officials are continuing to investigate this outbreakof what is at this point, five
different Hepatitis A infections. Here's what'sreally important. These infections were identified among

(18:40):
the homeless population, and this issince March. The homeless population is not
one which is going to be testedconsistently or tested frequently. I can't tell
you and I don't think La CountyDepartment of Public Health can tell you that
health status of all the homeless population. But this is what I can tell

(19:06):
you. It is a community whichis not unto itself. It is not
self in case, it's not selfenclosed. It is going to move in
and out of every portion of LaCounty. They will get on Metro,
they will ride Metro, they willgo to sleep on Metro. Some will

(19:30):
even do drugs on Metro. Thepoint of it is saying that whatever happens
to the homeless population can happen tothe general population. If there is an
outbreak of any kind, and Icall it the hepatitis alphabet, be it
a hepatitis B or C, itis an outbreak which could easily jump over

(19:52):
to the general population. Why Metroalone is a conduit. Metro is that
literal intersection where the non homeless populationand the homeless population intersect. We've told
you about the stories in which LaMetro was trying to remove some five to

(20:17):
six hundred different homeless people per nightfrom trains per night, and with that,
any type of disease probably remains.I know they clean the trains,
yes, yes, yes, YadA, YadA yadah, blah blah blah.
But you can't, and here's thelarger point. You can't talk about a

(20:37):
budding or burgeoning hepatitis a outbreak andnot talk about the possibility of its spreading
if only because of what's happening onMetro. These things are not unrelated,
they are absolutely connected, because whatever'shappening in the homeless community is not going
to stay in the homeless community whenthe homeless community is very prominent on Metro

(21:07):
going anywhere and everywhere. And I'mnot saying that they need to be somehow
ostracized or put on some sort ofisland. I'm saying that we need not
be ignorant of the reality here thatif there's a hepatitis break within the homeless
community, that hepatitis outbreak is verywell possibly going to move over into the

(21:30):
general community if only because of Metro. So the problems of Metro are not
limited to Metro. We may saythe crime on Metro is the crime on
Metro, but if there's a hepatitisoutbreak in the homeless community and the homeless
community is writing Metro well, thenthat hepatitis outbreak is more likely to spread

(21:51):
and As I said before, wedon't really know If this hepatitis outbreak is
limited to five people, that's justfive people that the La County Department of
Public Health officials know of and haveverified. Metro. What is happening right
now is going to have untold consequencesand untold impact on La County. And

(22:15):
in the way that I started talkingabout Metro from a crime and safety standpoint,
do you remember I also talked aboutthe unsanitary nature of it, not
just dangerous, but it's a healthissue. And if we don't deal with
all these things at the same time, then we will have multiple problems which

(22:37):
are out of control but traceable backto Metro. Specifically, watch this story
this hepatitis a outbreak, because therewill be some intersection and will be overlap
with the problems and issues of Metro. It's later with mo Kelly can't if
I am six forty live everywhere onthe iHeartRadio app And when we come back,

(23:00):
we're going to turn the corner.No pun intended for just a moment
as we talk about cameras which arewatching Southern California drivers for rolling stops,
and it can here you go,mark negatively impact Oh no, your credit
will tell you about it in justa moment. You're listening to Later with
Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AMsix forty and during the break, I

(23:23):
was saying to Mark Ronner said,this next story is for you because it
sort of continues our ongoing conversation aboutcapitalism. I feel flattered when you think
of me. Actually I do,but not in the way that you want
me to. Oh no, I'mtaking what a disappointment. Let me tell

(23:44):
you about the Mountains Recreation and ConservationAuthority or at MRCA. It's a public
entity that oversees more than seventy fivethousand acres of southern California parkland. They're
giving out tickets, in fact,the giving out tickets for more than a
decade. Well, they don't callthem tickets. They call them administrative citations.

(24:08):
And they are one hundred dollars foreach and every time you roll through
a stop sign. And it's notthe same as a citation or ticket issued
by a law enforcement officer or ahighway patrol officer. These citations do not
count against your driving record or yourinsurance rates. But if you don't pay

(24:30):
them, it's a bill. Andthey can come after you. They can
send debt collectors after you, theycan ruin your credit score. It's almost
like you any other credit card,just any type of item in which you
actually purchased or enter into an agreementto pay, except there's no agreement here,

(24:53):
and there's a question of whether thispublic entity has the authority to charge
one hundred dollars for these citations andalso come after you. It's pretty amazing
listen to this. They're engaged ina deceptive practice of pretending to enforce the

(25:14):
motor vehicle code when they don't havethe authority to do that, and they're
tricking people into paying these tickets.They are. At twelve fifteen PM on
a warm sunny day last July,Andrew Rice's adult kid did a rolling stop
in a Prius while leaving the TemescalCanyon parking lot near Pacific Palisades. What
Rice's kid didn't know was that hewas being filmed as he did so,
and the recording would result in aone hundred dollars administrative citations from the Mountains

(25:40):
Recreation and Conservation Authorities catch Up mrcarepublic entity that oversees more than seventy five
thousand acres to child in California.Start copying me. That's not the same
as a ticket issued by a copor a highway patrol officer. Right,
it doesn't count against your driving recordor your insurance rates Nope, but failure
to pay canon actor credit score andcan possibly result in debt collectors coming out.

(26:03):
I wrote that that's what happened toSanta Monica resident Rice, the registered
owner of the car. He receiveda letter from a debt collector saying he
owed one hundred bucks for a citationissued by the MRCA. He says he
never saw the original citation, whichmay have appeared as junk mail. It
looks like it's a citation you mightget from the city of Santa Monica,
the city of Los Angeles, froma police department. But the language in

(26:26):
it was strange, and so Iresearched the you know what is under it,
and as it turns out, it'sa violation for breaking in park role.
Wait, let's rewind the tape.See that white car behind Rice,
it's doing a rolling stop at theexact same stop sign where his kid was
busting. I think everyone leaving thisparking lot does that. Well, maybe

(26:48):
not everyone, but in the hoursmy cameraman and I were at timescal we
saw numerous drivers roll through stop signs. We even saw an MRCA truck doing
This is not a program that ismeant for public safety. This is a
program that is meant to make incomefor the park system. A spokeswoman for

(27:08):
the MRCA told me no one wouldbe available for a no on camera interview,
but she said by email that thestop sign cameras are all about public
safety. She said the agency operatesseven cameras at four parks, Temescal,
Marvin Browdie, mohalland Gateway Park,top of Tipanga Overlook and Franklin Canyon.
The MRCA issues roughly seventeen thousand stopsigned citations a year, bringing in about

(27:34):
one point one million dollars in revenue. To be sure, they provide ample
warning that rolling stops will result infines, But is this the best way
to raise funds? So I thinkit is a terrible abuse, and the
fact that it's gone on for adecade or more without anyone doing anything is
really shameful. Mark Ronner reaction.I think this is exactly like the plot
of an Old Adventures of Superman episode. I'm not kidding you. They stole

(27:56):
this is people were getting pulled overa little postage stamp sized town on a
highway that people didn't know they werespeeding through, and if they couldn't pay
the fine, they go to jail. I know that, and then Superman
had to come get Jimmy Olsen outof the jail. That's what I think.
How's that for a response. Well, it's a good response, But
I don't know how legally they're ableto do this. Maybe they're not.

(28:21):
Well, we'll see what happens inthe future now that more media coverage has
come to it. I don't knowabout you, Mo, but I've been
in this business long enough to knowthat sometimes people do right up to the
level that they can get away withuntil there's stops from getting away with it.
But imagine you're going through a park. There's not a lot of car

(28:42):
traffic through a park, state park, regional park, neighborhood park. There's
not a lot of car traffic,and you're giving out one hundred dollars citations
for rolling through a stop sign.Knowing good and damn well, most people
are going to ignore the fake citationlooking thing. You're gonna get in the

(29:03):
mail if you receive it at allor or notice it. And the next
thing, you know, maybe you'retrying to go get a car, maybe
trying to qualify for a house,you realize, oh my gosh, there's
this thing on my credit from twoyears ago from some rolling stop sign that
you don't even remember. And that'sjust the fine. I'm quite sure it
escalates, you know, if youdon't pay it after three months, it

(29:25):
probably doubles. There's something stupid likethat. Yeah, and Superman, it's
not gonna come help you either.No, it's it's horrifying. Uh.
And I I'm trying to look upthis episode while we're talking, and apparently
I can't multitask. I was gonnasay, and to put it into terms
of people who don't know the area, I know exactly where this is.
Uh. Think of the deadest,quietest area that you live in, wherever

(29:52):
you are in the entire world.Think of that and think, oh,
I don't need to stop, likethere's literally nobody here. That's what this
is. Also, what's another wordfor a rolling stop California stop. And
you can't do that in California,not legally, but the enforcement agency happens
to be actual law enforcement, notranger rick with a camera hiding behind a

(30:17):
tree. I don't know what tosay. I'm not to say. I
don't know why people put up withit. Honestly, i'd be raising Holy
hell, Oh, it's the lasttime I drive through wherever that is.
Yeah, I'm out, but itis something else to think about the next
time you were on a public parkor a golf course for that matter.
I remember I got a rolling stopticket. I've gotten two in my life.

(30:42):
One was cal State Domingus Hills backin the early nineties, like ninety
three ninety four, and they backthen they had I don't know how it
is now, but their on campuspolice were actual police. And this was
eleven thirty, twelve o'clock at night. I was creeping coming from this young
woman's apartment. What yeah, youknow, it's what young people do.

(31:06):
And so I rolled through the stopsign at midnight, and so they pulled
me over, and I was hot. I'm wearing my fraternity sweatshirt. And
it says, uh, excuse me, so, uh, why are you
here on campus? It's a collegecampus. I'm wearing a fraternity sweatshirt.
You look at my car and asa fraternity plate, I'm doing some college

(31:29):
stuff, some fraternity stuff. Soundslike it negatively impacted you. It did,
it did. And then the officer, I remember, it's clear as
day, said, uh, isthere anything we need to worry about in
your car? Do your mind ifwe search your car? Me At that
point, I'm just pissed off.I said, sure, go ahead search
my car. And I knew itwas it was junking. It's like,
you're not gonna find anything. Idon't do weed or anything, so I

(31:52):
had nothing to worry about. Well, it's a good thing. Police never
plant anything. Well, look,I could have taken a test and I
would have that would have passed withflying colors. I wouldn't worried about that
per se. And then they asked, do you have any weapons like grenades
or anything. There's a grenade inmy pants, officer. And it's like,
this is how I end up injail because I was so close from

(32:15):
telling where, telling him where toget off. Where would that have been
exactly? I'm not gonna say.All I'm saying is I understand what it's
like to be mistreated for a rollingstop. That's all I'm saying. And
if it turned out to be theMRCA, the MCA, the MTA,

(32:36):
whatever this fly by Night organization is, well we'd have a misunderstanding right then
and there. Show them that's right. Stop trying to act quiet to Alla.
You know exactly what I'm dealing with. It's later with mo Kelly,
can't I M six forty. We'relive everywhere on the iHeart ready at perfect
for achy indecisive minds. Can ifI is cooling? Info Jael quickly relieves

(32:57):
ignorance and leaves a nifty fresh scentK S I M K O S T
H D two, Los Angeles,Orange County Loves Everywhere on the radio,