Attack

A San Bernardino man pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon to charges that he allegedly pushed a woman to the ground, covered her mouth, grabbed her by the leg and dragged her until bystanders intervened, officials said. Derek Rawlins, 34, was arrested just after 9 a.m. Wednesday and booked on charges of kidnapping, assault and battery, according to police and the Orange County Superior Court website. Rawlins allegedly approached a woman sitting in a car in the 3500 block of Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, then pounded on the window.

Two Costa Mesa men stabbed over the weekend may be victims of a gang-motivated attack, police said Monday. The incident happened about 11:40 p.m. Sunday near Pomona Avenue and Park Drive, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department. The assailants, described as two Latino men in their 20s, confronted the brothers, ages 18 and 24, and asked them where they were from - a common gang challenge - before stabbing them with a machete or large knife, according to police. Police said neither victim belongs to a gang.

A Costa Mesa man who shouted racial epithets in a hate-crime attack was sentenced Friday to two years and eight months in prison, according to court records. Chad Martin Jurjaks, 31, who is white, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of hate crime battery causing injury relating to his attack on two Latinos entering a 7-Eleven in Costa Mesa in March 2010. The men, ages 42 and 26 at the time, were with family members when Jurjaks, whom police reports say was intoxicated at the time, shouted "F------ Mexicans!"

A Laguna Niguel man died Thursday after the vehicle he was driving struck a pole in a parking lot in Costa Mesa, authorities said. Steven Takei, 56, appeared to have a heart attack while behind the wheel in the 24 Hour Fitness parking lot in the 500 block of Anton Boulevard, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Rob Sharpnack. Takei was found unresponsive in his vehicle, and witnesses reported seeing the vehicle slowly crash into the pole, according to the county coroner's office.

Two brothers who allegedly attacked an 83-year-old woman as she waited at a Costa Mesa bus stop are scheduled to appear in court Friday, prosecutors said. Paul Grigore Patrulescu, 30, and Ciprian Patrulescu, 31, face a felony count each of inflicting injury on an elderly adult for an Aug. 18 attack on a woman at a Harbor Boulevard bus bench, according to the Orange County district attorney's office. The men first offered to buy the woman dinner, but after she refused and began screaming for help, the two punched her in the face twice and fled the scene on foot, prosecutors said.

The soul of the United States of America is our freedoms and liberties, and our soul is now under attack by our own government. I understand that the pressure on any president to keep us safe during his watch must be crushing. So for that reason, I don't get upset with a president who attempts to increase his power to keep us secure, frequently at the cost of our precious civil liberties and freedoms. Instead I get upset with Congress and the courts for allowing this to happen. One of the examples of this attack on our freedoms is the increasing use by our government of drones or unmanned airplanes in the skies over our country to surveil our people.

PETER BUFFA Sorry, the new pic's not quite ready. Deliberations are ongoing. Maybe next week. We've narrowed it down to one where I look like I'm being electrocuted, and one where I look like an Italian Marty Feldman. Anyway, you've probably heard about them by now. They're big and squishy and pink and red, with big black eyes and really long tentacles. No, not telemarketers. Giant squid. The first of them turned up about 10 days ago on the beach at Crystal Cove -- some three dozen giant squid, about two feet long and between 10 and 20 pounds.

A 27-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of sexual assault after he allegedly attacked a woman in front of her Costa Mesa home. Around 1:30 a.m., a woman drove to her home on Princess Court and was attacked by a man as she got out of her car, Lt. Clay Epperson said. The assailant dragged the woman to the ground and put her in a chokehold before forcing his hands under her clothing. Neighbors responded to the woman's screams and the sounds of the attack, and the attacker fled.

Danette Goulet CORONA DEL MAR -- A 13-year-old Corona del Mar Middle School student was taken into custody by Newport Beach Police on Tuesday for allegedly choking a classmate in an attempt to steal a homework pass. The boy he attacked spent two days in the intensive care unit at Hoag Hospital following the May 23 altercation. The boys' names were not released because they are minors. Principal Don Martin said students in a morning gym class had just returned to the school's tennis courts after running a lap when one student grabbed another by the throat, demanding he turn over a homework pass.

A 27-year-old man was arrested early Wednesday morning on suspicion of sexual assault after he allegedly attacked a woman in front of her Costa Mesa home. Around 1:30 a.m., a woman drove to her residence on Princess Court and was attacked by a man as she got out of her car, Lt. Clay Epperson said. The assailant dragged the woman to the ground and put her in a chokehold before forcing his hands under her clothing. Neighbors responded to the woman’s screams and the sounds of the attack, and the attacker fled.

When Newport Harbor High hosted a men's water polo pre-Olympic showcase last May, the pool deck was absolutely packed. Many felt that it was an appropriate place to watch some world-class water polo. One of those people was former Corona del Mar and current Stanford men's coach John Vargas. "Orange County, specifically Newport Beach, is the mecca of water polo in the United States," Vargas said to the Daily Pilot at the time. "You should expect something like this to happen here.

Costa Mesa police have arrested two suspected gang members who allegedly followed a man off a bus, chased him down Harbor Boulevard and then assaulted him, authorities said Friday. Zachariah Acosta, 21, of La Habra, and Arturo Gonzalez, 20, of Anaheim, allegedly confronted a 25-year-old Costa Mesa man about 7:30 p.m. March 15 on an Orange County Transportation Authority bus as it traveled through Costa Mesa, according to police. When the man got off the bus near Harbor and Bay Street, the assailants followed him. One suspect assaulted the man with his fists, while the other brandished a gun, police said.

Bees attacked three workers in a lift at the Costa Mesa Mesa Country Club, authorities said. The Costa Mesa Fire Department responded to 1701 Golf Course Drive at about 2:34 p.m. Saturday. Firefighters used foam to disperse the swarm that attacked workers who were 40 to 50 feet above the ground, according to the department. Workers were treated before they were sent to a local hospital, firefighters said. Their conditions were not made public as of Tuesday. Twenty-one fire department personnel responded to the scene.

The soul of the United States of America is our freedoms and liberties, and our soul is now under attack by our own government. I understand that the pressure on any president to keep us safe during his watch must be crushing. So for that reason, I don't get upset with a president who attempts to increase his power to keep us secure, frequently at the cost of our precious civil liberties and freedoms. Instead I get upset with Congress and the courts for allowing this to happen. One of the examples of this attack on our freedoms is the increasing use by our government of drones or unmanned airplanes in the skies over our country to surveil our people.

Prosecutors want the death penalty for a Stanton man convicted Wednesday of one murder and multiple rapes, including one in Costa Mesa. DNA and forensic evidence linked Waymon Livingston , 29, to the crimes, the Orange County district attorney's office said. Livingston was found guilty of one felony count of special-circumstances murder in the commission of sodomy, three felony counts of forcible rape, and one felony count of aggravated assault, according to a D.A. news release.

Firefighters and two 24 Hour Fitness employees saved the life of a 67-year-old man who went into cardiac arrest at the gym, officials said Friday. At about 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Costa Mesa firefighters received a call that a man had gone into cardiac arrest while working out at 24 Hour Fitness at The Triangle, according to Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Fred Seguin. Another gym member notified employees that the man was down in the cardio area, said Josh Graves, a fitness manager at the club.

The Irvine couple who were the first alleged victims of Christopher Dorner were likely stalked before being shot multiple times with a 9-millimeter pistol equipped with a high-capacity magazine, according to an affidavit for a search warrant. Monica Quan, 28 and Keith Lawrence, 27, were found dead on the top floor of their condominium's parking garage in Irvine on Feb. 3, days before the massive manhunt for Dorner took shape. The killing of the Cal State Fullerton basketball coach and her fiance is believed to have been fueled by a quest for revenge for  Dorner's  2007 firing from the Los Angeles Police Department.

Two men who attacked an 83-year-old woman after she refused their offer to buy her dinner pleaded guilty to charges Thursday, court records show. Brothers Paul Patrulescu, 30, and Ciprian Patrulescu, 31, pleaded guilty to one felony count each of inflicting an injury on an elderly adult and one misdemeanor battery charge in connection to the Aug. 18 attack, according to court records. Police said about 4 a.m., after a night of drinking, the two asked to buy the woman dinner. After she repeatedly refused their offers, she was punched and suffered bruises and an injury to her eye, police said at the time of the brothers' arrests.

A San Bernardino man pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon to charges that he allegedly pushed a woman to the ground, covered her mouth, grabbed her by the leg and dragged her until bystanders intervened, officials said. Derek Rawlins, 34, was arrested just after 9 a.m. Wednesday and booked on charges of kidnapping, assault and battery, according to police and the Orange County Superior Court website. Rawlins allegedly approached a woman sitting in a car in the 3500 block of Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning, then pounded on the window.

Two Costa Mesa men stabbed over the weekend may be victims of a gang-motivated attack, police said Monday. The incident happened about 11:40 p.m. Sunday near Pomona Avenue and Park Drive, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department. The assailants, described as two Latino men in their 20s, confronted the brothers, ages 18 and 24, and asked them where they were from - a common gang challenge - before stabbing them with a machete or large knife, according to police. Police said neither victim belongs to a gang.