LONG BEACH, CA \u2014 A Torrance man who allegedly repeatedly stabbed a Long Beach police officer who responded to a disturbance call pleaded not guilty Tuesday to attempted murder and other charges. <\/p>\n
Arturo Scott Fernandez, 44, was charged April 21 with one count of attempted murder of a peace officer and two felony counts each of assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest, according to the criminal complaint. <\/p>\n
The complaint alleges that he has a previous conviction for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and a juvenile court conviction for assault with a deadly weapon. <\/p>\n
It also details a string of other convictions in juvenile and adult court, with Fernandez being sentenced to prison on multiple occasions. <\/p>\n
Long Beach police officers responded April 17 to a call in the 200 block of West Broadway, west of Pacific Avenue, according to the department. While en route to the scene, officers learned the man was possibly armed. <\/p>\n
When they arrived, they found a suspect matching the description provided by the calling party and attempted to de-escalate the situation in order to get the suspect to surrender, the police department said. <\/p>\n
The confrontation escalated, however, and Fernandez allegedly stabbed one of the officers multiple times. <\/p>\n
Four uniformed U.S. Department of Homeland Security federal air marshals who were working on a security assignment nearby witnessed the assault and rushed to the aid of the police officers, assisting them in taking the knife-wielding suspect into custody, police said. <\/p>\n
After being medically cleared at a hospital, Fernandez was booked at Long Beach City Jail. <\/p>\n
The officer who was stabbed was taken to a hospital but was later released. <\/p>\n
“The violent actions of this individual serve as a stark reminder of not just the dangers faced by our police officers, but also their continued dedication to protecting our community each day,” Long Beach Police Chief Wally Hebeish said in a statement issued after Fernandez’s arrest. “This officer put himself in harm’s way in the defense of others and sustained serious injuries in doing so. I am very grateful that he is going to recover. <\/p>\n
“I would also like to commend the additional LBPD officers who were on scene and the federal air marshals who helped take this dangerous suspect into custody without further incident.” <\/p>\n
Officers recovered a knife at the scene, police said. <\/p>\n
In a statement issued last month after the case was filed, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the incident “underscores the risks law enforcement officers face every single day in service to our communities. The offender’s actions were violent and deliberate, and our Crimes Against Peace Officers Division will ensure that this defendant answers for the harm and violence his actions caused.” <\/p>\n
Fernandez remains behind bars in lieu of nearly $2.3 million bail, jail records show. He is due back in a Long Beach courtroom June 16, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial. <\/p>\n
He could face up to 100 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office. <\/p>\n
City News Service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, CA \u2014 A Torrance man who allegedly repeatedly stabbed a Long Beach police officer who responded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-221437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}