Thursday Morning News Roundup

The San Francisco Police Department is advising fireworks lovers to steer clear of Treasure Island on the Fourth of July.

“Treasure Island for viewing the fireworks? Think again,” the department tweeted Wednesday. “Due to ongoing construction, viewing areas for the fireworks show and parking will be extremely limited and roadways into parking areas will be inaccessible.”

Fireworks are set to start over the San Francisco waterfront, near Fisherman’s Wharf, at 9:30 p.m. Monday. For a roundup of Fourth of July events, go to https://bit.ly/3yrKNzi.

Two Oakland police officers were relieved of police powers this week amid an investigation into a fatal sideshow-related crash over the weekend, Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said Wednesday.

“We identified potential misconduct, very serious potential misconduct in our investigation,” Armstrong said Wednesday evening during a short press conference.

The chief did not give specifics of an investigation into the officers’ actions in connection with the fatal crash, which happened early Sunday in the 5400 block of International Boulevard.

The two officers involved were initially placed on administrative leave, which is protocol after such incidents. But on Monday, the department relieved one officer of their police powers and the second officer on Tuesday.

In light of San Francisco Mayor London Breed’s announcement to phase out the controversial Tenderloin Center by the end of this year, the Tenderloin’s new supervisor Dean Preston wants to ensure there is an adequate replacement for drug overdose prevention services.

On Tuesday, he requested a hearing on San Francisco’s overdose prevention plan to go before the Government Audit and Oversight Committee, which he also chairs.

The Tenderloin Center — previously titled the Tenderloin Linkage Center in hopes of “linking” those with drug addiction to resources — opened January as a part of Breed’s emergency initiative for the neighborhood. It has since had over 50,000 visitors hoping to access its shelter, housing and substance abuse treatment, including 109 overdose reversals, according to city data.

The center ran into controversy shortly after it opened — local media reported that people are allowed to use illegal drugs on the premises, which the city did not publicly disclose. With its status as a de-facto safe consumption site, the center can also be a legal liability for the city, both on the state and federal level.

Santa Cruz County public health officials announced Wednesday that the county’s first probable case of monkeypox has been identified in a local resident.

According to the county’s Public Health Division, the resident is isolating and in good condition while awaiting test results from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The resident initially tested positive at a California Reference Laboratory Network facility, according to the county.

Public health officials stressed that the virus is only spread through skin-to-skin contact or bodily fluids via kissing, breathing at close range, sexual activity and sharing bedding or clothing. The virus is also not spread through airborne transmission like COVID-19 or the flu.

A man died after his car veered off State Route 237 in Santa Clara and went down an embankment on Wednesday night, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The crash happened along the freeway near Great America Parkway. The man was driving a Honda CR-V headed east in the far left lane about 10 p.m. when the car turned right and went across lanes, Officer Ross Lee said.

The Honda went through the guardrail, overturned and went down an embankment, coming to rest in an area near a parking lot. The driver, a man in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene, the CHP said.

A San Joaquin County Superior Court judge ordered a 68-year-old man to stand trial Wednesday following a two-day preliminary hearing for the fatal shooting of a 47-year-old Stockton fire captain in January.

Robert Alston Somerville will make his next court appearance for arraignment on July 13.

During the hearing, family members and supporters of Capt. Vidal “Max” Fortuna along with Somerville’s family heard witness testimony about the day, Jan. 31, that Fortuna was killed.

On the first day of the hearing on Tuesday, Pasquale D’Onofrio with the Stockton Fire Department sat at the podium dressed in a navy blue uniform as he recounted that day.

A 77-year-old woman is suspected of intentionally setting a fire at a West San Jose home over the weekend that resulted in the death of her husband, police said Wednesday.

Rebecca Makino was taken into custody after the blaze, which was reported at 3:47 a.m. Saturday in the 5900 block of Amapola Drive.

Makino’s husband, found by firefighters in an upstairs bedroom, was hospitalized in critical condition with severe smoke inhalation.

He died at a hospital on Tuesday, and homicide was added to pending charges against Rebecca Makino. The husband’s name has not been released. The death is the city’s 18th homicide this year.

The Yolo County Coroner has identified a man found dead when a garbage truck deposited its load at a trash dump on Thursday and his body was discovered.

Miguel Penuelas, of Dixon, climbed into a dumpster on his own accord and covered himself with cardboard around 4:30 a.m., police determined. A garbage truck arrived around 5:30 a.m. to empty the dumpster and take the contents to a Yolo County dump.

Investigators believe that his death was an accident and that no foul play was involved.

Five people were shot at and two were struck on Tuesday in Union City after their car ran out of gas and they attempted to push it to a nearby gas station, police said.

Officers were dispatched around 9:57 p.m. to Whipple Road and A Street after reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, police encountered three people who had been shot at and two who had been struck. The victims, both juveniles, were taken to a nearby hospital and are expected to survive.

The victims said that they were confronted by two suspects. A verbal exchange occurred prior to the shooting, but an exact motive has not yet been determined, police said.

A 25-year-old Greenfield man was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday after pleading no contest to felony drunk driving in connection with a January collision that injured four people.

Gerardo Bautista Hernandez admitted that he caused great bodily injury to four victims, that he has a prior conviction for the same offense, and that his blood alcohol level was at least .15 percent, almost double the legal limit of .08, according to an announcement Monday from the office of Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni.

Hernandez was behind the wheel of a vehicle Jan. 23 that hit head-on another vehicle driven by a woman whose three children were also in the vehicle, prosecutors said.

The mother had several displaced rib fractures and an ankle fracture. Her oldest child, age 15, had significant internal injuries. Her 9-year-old twins were airlifted to Valley Medical Center, one with a fractured wrist and the other with a fractured elbow.

A water main break in the Berkeley Hills has caused a significant sink hole and cut power to approximately 30 homes Wednesday night, according to the Kensington Police Department.

Police reported at 6:41 p.m. that the sink hole came about after a water main break in the 600 block of Oberlin Avenue and in the 100 block of Arlington Avenue near police headquarters caused flooding in the area and pushed debris into the roadway.

Police urge people to avoid the area in Kensington, an unincorporated area in the Berkeley Hills.

Officials with the East Bay Municipal Utility District responded to the scene and issued an alert that 10 homes were without service and estimated that water service would be restored by 7 a.m. Thursday.

Crews from the Contra Costa Mosquito & Vector Control District will spray insecticide early Thursday along the waterfront in Martinez and Bay Point in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes.

Crews will spray from truck-mounted, ultra low-volume sprayers from about 4-8 a.m.

District officials said in a news release that the insecticide is Zenivex E4 RTU, which will be applied at a rate of 1.5 ounces per acre.

For more information, see the district’s website at www.contracostamosquito.com.

Police in San Jose arrested four teens suspected in an armed carjacking early Sunday.

Officers responded to a 1 a.m. report of the incident near the intersection of South 7th Street and East Reed Street, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the San Jose Police Department.

The victim told officers he was sitting in his car when four male suspects wearing masks approached him and, at gunpoint, demanded his vehicle and possessions. He complied and the suspects fled in his vehicle.

Officers apprehended the suspect a short time later, along with three other suspects at the scene, where officers found a loaded handgun in the vehicle.

The four boys are between the ages of 14 and 17. Detectives recognized three of them from prior armed robberies and carjackings and discovered each are on probation for prior convictions.

The National Weather Service forecast for the greater San Francisco Bay Area calls for continued cooling Thursday, with daytime highs ranging from the low 60s along the coast, in the 60s and low 70s around the bay and reaching the mid 70s in the inland areas of the East and North Bay. Overnight lows are expected in the 50s.

The ongoing cooling trend will bring relief to inland areas through the weekend and into at least the first part of next week, accompanied by morning fog.

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