FREE
SanGabriel Sun
Here are the top-selling used cars in the Los Angeles metro area PG 02
Orange County sheriff’s sergeant testifies in informant scandal hearing PG 24
A Beacon Media, Inc. Publication
VISIT SANGABRIELSUN.COM
MONDAY, JUNE 17- JUNE 23, 2024
VOL. 13,
NO. 176
CSULA president says protesters must leave encampment
El Monte council honors police officers for saving boy’s life
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
By Joe Taglieri
T
he president of Cal State Los Angeles is demanding Friday that the protesters who have been camped on the campus for more than a month must leave. The declaration comes two days after pro-Palestine activists occupied and extensively vandalized the Student Services Building on campus. “The encampment has crossed a line,” Cal State Los Angeles President Berenecea Johnson Eanes said in a statement. “Those in the encampment must leave.” Eanes also said in her statement that four people — three employees and one student — were assaulted by protesters during Wednesday’s occupation of the Student Services Building, although no other details were released. “A trust we had in the encampment to practice nonviolence has been violated,” Eanes said in her statement to the “Golden Eagle Community” released Thursday afternoon. “Trust is a hard thing to restore, but we will do the work together.” The protest began Wednesday afternoon as activists descended on the building that houses the university president’s office. Some protesters chained themselves together outside the main entrance as others moved inside the building. Others used patio furniture, golf carts and other materials to establish a barricade around the structure. At one point, protesters were seen rolling copy machines in front of the building’s entrance. University officials issued a campus alert urging anyone inside the building to shelter in place, and telling others to leave the campus. University spokesman Erik Frost Hollins told reporters Thursday that police were able to escort some employees out of the building within a few hours of the occupation
El Monte police and 8-year-old Ethan Cante attend the City Council ceremony honoring the officers for saving the boy from choking. | Photo courtesy of Trevor Stamp/city of El Monte
T Pro-Palestine graffiti occupies a glass wall on the Cal State LA campus. | Photo courtesy of the People’s City Council - Los Angeles
beginning. He said, “Obviously it’s a different and more dangerous situation when you have people in a multistory building.” Hollins said Eanes was among about 12 administrators who were initially sheltering in place inside the building. “There were a dozen, then it got down to maybe half a dozen administrators who remained in the building to work the situation throughout the evening,” he said. Eanes and the remaining administrators left the building shortly after midnight Thursday. Around 1 a.m. Thursday, most protesters left the building voluntarily and returned to the existing proPalestine encampment on the campus. A remaining handful were coaxed out by university officials a short time later. A criminal investigation was underway. There were no immediate reports of any arrests stemming from the extensive damage inflicted by protesters, including graffiti
on walls and furniture, shattered office windows and overturned vending machines. A large amount of trash was strewn about in front of the building. The building’s first-floor windows and walls were sprayed with pro-Palestinian graffiti. All classes will be held on a remote basis until further notice, the university announced. “As you likely know, last night unlawful protesters occupied the first four floors of the Student Services Building, destroying offices, stealing property, and leaving significant damage,” Eanes said in her statement Thursday. “For 40 days, there has been an encampment on our campus. We have been in ongoing formal and informal communication with the encampment and its advisers. I went into the encampment twice. I made significant commitments on transparency, respectful conversaSee UCLA protests Page 24
tions, and mental health support. These are all within my authority and aligned with our first principles as a university. “So long as the encampment remained non-violent, I was committed that the university would continue to talk. “Last night, those involved with the encampment chose violence and destruction. Our chief concern at Cal State LA has always been the safety and security of all involved: our students, faculty, staff, public, and protesters. “Yet, the significant damage to SSB will affect student-facing services: including admissions, records, accessible technology, basic needs, new student and family engagement, Dreamer resources, and educational opportunity programs. It will take time to restore all those spaces and divert significant resources that would otherwise go to academics, student
he El Monte City Council on Tuesday commended police officers for providing life-saving aid to a boy who was choking. El Monte Police Department Officers Raul Vega and Dennis Chiu along with Cpl. Carlos Tello responded June 3 to an emergency call and found 8-year-old Ethan Cante unconscious because his airways were blocked by a piece of candy, according to the city. Chiu provided Vega with a LifeVac anti-choking device to clear the child’s airways and save his life. Vega credited his fellow officers and the training they received, along with a little luck for the successful use of the portable anti-choking device. “Our police department supplied 200 of these to our patrol officers and to city employees, and this is a life saver,” Vega said in a statement. “For 60 to 70 dollars this is going to save someone’s life.” Vega’s use of the LifeVac to revive the boy was the first time the device was used since the police department purchased the devices in April, officials said. Body camera footage shows El Monte police applying a LifeVac device to clear the airway of local youth Ethan Cante. | Photo courtesy of the city of El Monte “I am proud of our officers who were able to utilize the device and save the life of a child in a matter of seconds,” El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher said in a statement. “By equipping our officers with LifeVac we are taking a crucial step in improving our emergency response capabilities. Investments in tools like these are critical to our Department as our Officers are better equipped and trained to save lives in critical moments when every second counts.” Ethan Cante and his mother Vanessa Becerra-Aguayo attended the council ceremony Tuesday evening in which Vega, Chiu and Tello received a city Life Saving Award. El Monte police dispatchers Veronica Chacon and Sandra Gonzalez received official commendations “for their critical and professional response” as officers arrived at the scene of the emergency. “I can’t even imagine what that call must have felt like, knowing that many of you have children as well,” Mayor Jessica Ancona told Chacon and Gonzalez. “But you sprung into action and you gave the appropriate direction that led to saving the life of this young boy.”