Actress Heather Locklear, 47, was arrested yesterday afternoon in Montecito after an area resident alleged she was "driving erratically," according to the Associated Press. Her vehicle was parked on a state highway when she was approached by a CHP officer, who "determine[d] that she seem[ed] to be under the influence of something," and then took her the local police station for testing. "She was booked at 7 p.m. on suspicion of driving under the influence......

Last year, Kanye West flipped out backstage at MTV's Video Music Awards and swore he'd never come back. Sunday night he was there and closed out the show, but this morning the books are open after West snapped, smashing a photographers camera at LAX Terminal 4. West was arrested just before 8 a.m. on charges of battery and vandalism and remains in custody at the airport, according to reports. TMZ has video here.......

Yesterday we showed you the video of Democracy Now! (airs on KPFK 90.7 FM) host Amy Goodman being arrested by police at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. When she was arrested, she was trying to find out what happened to the producers of the show who were arrested earlier that afternoon. Here's what’s happening in this video: producer Nicole Salazar, who is reportedly wearing the full official press pass information around......

This is apparently obstruction of a legal process and interference with a 'peace officer' Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now! on Pacifica Radio 90.7 FM, was arrested on Monday by police at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. She was on the convention floor when she heard that two of her producers were arrested. She went outside to find out what was going on when she was arrested herself. Goodman was charged......

At least one protester was detained by police outside the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver just after noon on Monday, as the Democratic National Convention was getting underway. Four people wearing bandanas over their faces, who said they were protesting "capitalism," sat down on the sidewalk in front of the convention center, prompting a swarm of roughly 20 police officers to shut down one lane of traffic and subsequently put one of them......

Good job, boys! Here's what the LAPD sent out in an e-mail today: "At 6:00 p.m. [Monday], police verbally warned Alexander Passos, 35, and Eduardo Ravalha, 35, for loitering on city owned property near Mulholland Drive and Cold Water [sic] Canyon and asked them to leave. About 45 minutes later, the officers learned the pair had returned to the location and arrested them. Passos of Canoga Park and Ravalha of Los Angeles were arrested and......

If you're part of some drama and TMZ is around, it doesn't matter if you're a celebrity or not. You're going to be online and in-house publicists are going to e-mail every blog in town about it. Last night outside of STK, the swanky La Cienega Blvd. restaurant, a girl was hit by an SUV that sped off after. The victim's boyfriend chased down the SUV and confronted the girl until police and paramedics arrived.......

Spencer Rollins of the Young Animals | Photo via the band's MySpace profile After leaving the Autonomous Music Festival in Victorville this past weekend (cops broke it up for lack of permits), the lead singer of the locally based band, the Young Animals, was arrested and charged for possession of a Controlled Substance. Spencer Rollins was pulled over for having is license plate light out when police asked if they could search his vehicle.......

Photo by o2ma via Flickr Last week, news that one branch of what remains of the Manson family tree, Susan Atkins, was seeking a compassionate release due to an undisclosed and likely terminal illness triggered waves of reaction from the public, many of whom believe convicts of Atkins' ilk should remain incarcerated for the duration of their life sentences. In public statements made regarding Atkins' 37 years' imprisonment to date, California Department of Corrections......

Photo by nailmaker via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr 22-year-old Alan Hamai from Redondo Beach had just been awarded his degree in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and was celebrating when he fell to his death from the third floor of a dorm building. Hamai is the second student from SoCal to die at UCB this month; two weeks ago Christopher Wootton was fatally stabbed after a party on campus. The folks at......

Photo of an arrest in Hollywood by paulvonspector via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Daily News caused quite a stir last week at city hall when they released a database containing every city employee's salary, save for sworn employees (ex. police, fire). You can browse by department or look up by name. Have a friend who works too hard? Now you know they need a raise. Deal with an irritable city employee over the......

Photo by Daniella Zalcman via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Maybe actor Dennis Farina was taking his former role as an L&O detective too seriously when he packed his suitcase and headed to LAX this morning. Authorities arrested Farina on charges of carrying a concealed weapon when a .22 caliber handgun was found in his carryon. Homicide detectives are working on the case of an infant found dead inside a Lancaster home......

A man suspected of a DUI (influence of heroin that is) was driving on the 100 block of Washington Blvd. last night where officers on patrol witnessed him hit up to ten parked cars near the intersection of Strongs Drive. When officers approached the vehicle, the man resisted attempts by the officers to take him out of the van by allegedly poking them both with a syringe, according to KCBS. The officers then subdued the......

Deputy district attorney Damon Mosler, chief of the narcotics division points out guns and drugs seized during at a news conference held in San Diego today.(AP Photo/Denis Poroy) SDSU may as well stand for Sold Drugs to Some Undercover after 18 students were arrested today on drug charges. Nearly 100 people -- including 75 students -- have been stung in Operation Sudden Fall, a five-month DEA investigation on the San Diego campus.Agents were involved......

Photo from the Getty by Rick O! via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr Students, faculty, staff, and parents associated with Lincoln Elementary school in Santa Monica are trying to come to grips today with the weekend arrest of Thomas Beltran, who taught ESL at the school. Beltran, 60, has been charged with molesting four young girls who were his students. An auto fire turned into a brush fire late this afternoon near......

Photo by _ROXANNE_ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr After heisting a rental car that was just about to be rented out, a woman led police on a wild three-county tour of SoCal which ended with her being put out by a spike strip. The chase began in Anaheim and ended near Camp Pendleton. A pot bust took place late last night in a gated community in El Monte, netting cops 1,000......

A 30-year-old woman has been charged with the murder of Samantha Padilla, the 19-year-old LAX employee who was gunned down last week on the West Slauson off-ramp of the northbound 110 Freeway late at night. Jessica Ortega faces arraignment this afternoon for one count of murder. According to the press release issued from the District Attorney's office, the "count carries two special allegations that the principal intentionally discharged a firearm causing death and that the......

Photo by _ gianni's_ photography _ AKA *Prime Imagery* via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr In part to honor the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr and in part to "increase the peace" a 40-hour moratorium on violence goes into effect for the City of Los Angeles starting at 6:01 p.m. tonight. Do your part! Because "You can't fire me...I QUIT!" lacks that certain je-ne-sais-quoi, perhaps? An employee in......

Officials still haven't determined whether or not the Orange County Sheriff's deputy found dead in an unmarked car yesterday shot himself or was a homicide victim. BUT...Just hours before he was found, [41-year-old Gerald] Stenger was charged Wednesday morning with molesting a 12-year-old boy for two years after meeting him through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County. Stenger was charged with one felony count of lewd acts on a child younger than 14 and......

Frequent LAist Featured Photos contributor discarted submits this photo and tells us what's happening. These cops harassed me the entire time i photographed them during this arrest. The only way I could get them to back off (especially the bald guy; he was the most aggressive) was to ask him if he wanted to talk to my lawyer. The bald cop then said, "Oh I bet you would do that. you're out for the......

It was a tense Good Friday for those in the vicinity of the 4300 block of Club Vista Drive yesterday in Palmdale when the attempt to serve an arrest warrant on a man wanted for a 2004 North Hollywood murder barricaded himself inside a home for several hours and the neighborhood went into lockdown mode. The Daily News explains yesterday's events and how they impacted area residents: Several blocks around the Club Vista Drive home......

Police arrested Pedro Espinoza on Friday, but the announcement of charges came late this morning, just as the funeral began for 17-year-old Jamiel Shaw Jr. who was shot dead a few steps from his home earlier this month. KCBS reports that 19-year-old Espinoza is 'an active participant in a criminal street gang and the murder was carried out to further the activities of the criminal street gang." He is being arraigned today downtown on a......

Photo by Plankton 4:20 via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr More on the arrest of Kazuyoshi Miura, who is accused of killing his wife in LA in 1981 and is being extradited from Japan: Turns out it was his blogging that got the authorities' attention. Bad blogger! Bad! Another one from the Cold Case Files solved: 47-year-old Wayne Osbourne of Virginia has been charged in the 1988 murder of Diana Michael, who......

There are many ways to handle a tough break-up with a girlfriend, but torturing and injuring a little puppy isn't one of them. The Daily News reports that a 22-year old Encino man, Steven William Butcher, was arrested yesterday in the 6400 block of Bertrand Avenue for animal cruelty. After a break-up with his girlfriend, Butcher was reportedly distraught and had threatened aloud to harm his small puppy. Worried about the man's mental state, a......

It sounds a little like something you might see on COPS: What was just going to be a routine traffic stop in Glendale turned out to be a major nab for the FBI. Police pulled over Sarkis "Sako" Militonyan on January 27th because his white Chevy Tahoe had no plates and was positioned in two lanes. According to the Daily News, the cops "discovered he was a fugitive and a search of his SUV turned......

USC students might be trying to claim victory in an unspoken hardest-partying contest among local college students--or they're just doing what college kids tend to do: PARTY!!!! In today's wee morning hours, bragging rights may well have been earned by a handful of revelers, according to ABC7: Police broke up a gathering of about 1,000 students early Saturday, arresting nine of them on suspicion of public drunkenness. LAPD began receiving complaints about the party near......

Probably the worst place to do a crime spree within a short period of time is Burbank. There are police everywhere and they are total squares, which makes for police who don't fuck around. Add in dumb teenager arsonists suspected of setting a fire at Michael's Bar and Grill in Burbank and four or five other small fires within a 15-minute time span early this morning. A perimeter was set up by Burbank police and......

Last night, 20 year old Ricardo Hernandez was killed by gunfire in a gang-related shooting in Pacoima. The incident took place in the 11800 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard. The Daily News is reporting the arrest of 30 year old Pablo Serrano who is "veteran documented gang member possibly trying to make a name for himself." The incident and subsequent arrest occured when during a routing air patrol the police "began following a speeding car......

Even Flat Stanley pays his Orange Line fare. The Daily News has an idea. We're not so much into it, but here is how it goes. While Metro contracts with LA County Sheriff's, the LAPD has a man who knows something about enforcing ticketless travelers on transit systems and he happens to be top cop Chief William Bratton. Some will remember that he became famous for his "broken windows" theory that enforced smaller crimes......

A cyclist westbound on Hollywood Boulevard hears a loud horn behind him as he rides in the right side of the #2 lane, alongside a row of parked cars and dangerously close to the door zone. The motorist with the heavy horn hand turns out to be Metro Bus Driver #XXXXX and she passes the cyclist so closely that his left hand touches the side of the bus as it speeds past him. The number......