Up next
Author
Tags

While Governor Gavin Newsom’s been busy outlawing gas-powered cars and diesel trucks, California’s homeless epidemic continues to worsen along with the accompanying crime and addiction. Los Angeles officials meanwhile have been encouraging residents to ditch their cars and use mass transit instead—but who would want to use it, seeing as crime has risen 21 percent across the system from the previous year?

Now there’s news that a homeless drug addict bit part of an LAPD officer’s finger last week, and doctors were not able to reattach it. CBS Los Angeles reports on the incident:

According to a statement from LAPD, officers were on the platform level of the station at around 10:30 a.m. conducting their routine work activities when one noticed the man “in possession of narcotic paraphernalia.” The officers escorted the man off the train at which point he allegedly “became violent,” the statement said.

The officer, a sergeant with the department, remains hospitalized at the latest after a part of his finger was bitten off by the suspect during the ensuing altercation.

The suspect, 36-year-old Ephraim Okorie, has been taken into custody on charges of mayhem and resisting an executive order. Doubtless, this being LA, he will be back on the streets shortly. Metro issued a statement saying the usual things about how they don’t tolerate such behavior:

We take this matter extremely seriously and have zero tolerance for violent acts on the Metro System. We continue to work aggressively to address safety on the transit system and have directed our law enforcement partners to increase their visible presence and to actively enforce penal code violations, including enforcement of our drug-free policy.

But the truth is, they do tolerate it. From Fox News:

The spike in lawlessness has left many riders unhappy, with LA Metro Safety Officer Gina Osborn reporting last month [February 2023] that the agency had recorded a 99% year-over-year increase in complaints from riders over other passengers possessing or using drugs. LA Metro received 1,385 reports of narcotics use last year alone, according to the Los Angeles Daily News…

The violence and drug use has apparently kept Los Angelenos away from public transportation, with ridership on the Gold Line, which links East Los Angeles to Union Station, sitting at just 30% of pre-pandemic levels in January, the outlet found. The Red Line, which runs from Downtown Los Angeles to North Hollywood, saw only 56% of its pre-pandemic levels in January.

A video of the horrible conditions by Steve Gregory, a correspondent for KFI AM 640 and host of the “Unsolved with Steve Gregory” podcast, went viral in 2022.

Breitbart describes the scope of the homeless problem in the City of Angels:

There were nearly 42,000 homeless people on the streets of the Democrat-controlled city of Los Angeles, as of last year’s count.

As Breitbart News’ Joel Pollak recently reported, many homeless people suffer chronic mental illness or addiction, and some choose to be homeless, as they prefer an environment in which they can do as they please, without interference from authorities — who are less and less inclined to enforce the law.

Homelessness in California is also driven by the high cost of housing, generous welfare benefits, exploitative drug treatment programs, and mild weather that makes street living much easier than other locations.

City officials will never get people who have other options to use the LA Metro system as long as this situation is allowed to continue. Kevin Dalton, who ran for the LA County Board of Supervisors in 2022, sums it up best:

(The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)

More:

Criminals, Homeless, and Big Labor Thrive While LA Businesses Are Crippled by Government

City of Angels Puts Business Owners Through Hell – Ignoring Open-Air Fentanyl Markets and Samurai Sword-Wielding Homeless

Trending on RedState Video

Source: