Courtroom antics

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the courtroom today.. Or should I say, in the courtroom. I was assigned the duty of going to the Pomona Superior Court this morning to take photos of one Martin Morones who was captured in Mexico Monday night and sent straight to the American judicial system. As the story goes, he was racing some other guy in El Monte when they crashed into a mother and her two children, whose car exploded in flames. Needless to say, the family died in the car. The one dude was caught right away but Morones fled to Mexico, btu since he is an American citizen, the Mexican government found him and immediately sent him packing back home.
So, I check in with the deputy in the courtroom at 8:30am like I'm supposed to and hand him a copy of the 980 form that was faxed to the courtrom the night before. He immediately tells me that no camera equipment is allowed in the courtroom and that he will let me know if I am approved or not. So I tell him I'll wait for him to inform me right outside. About 9:15 am, Fox11 videograher goes into the courtroom and comes out saying he was denyed and that the Morones dude was coming out. I walk into the courtroom and they are already asking him if he wants to give up his rights to a speedy trial, yadah, yadah, yadah. Some 20 seconds later, the dude is taken back behind closed doors and I am left shaking my head in disbelief.
This deputy working there did not have the courtesy to let me know if I was approved or not, but I assumed I was not because the TV guy was denied too. So, if I don't go in the courtroom I would probably still be sitting out there waiting for Baca's finest to give me the news about our request to photograph.
Final thought: When they want to show off their new high tech toys or they need help finding a killer who shot one of their own, yeah they run to us. But when it comes to being courteous they drop the ball. I feel this deputy was derelict in his duty to serve the public. Hope Sheriff Baca reads this blog and chastices that deputy or at least shakes his head in disbelief too.

Stolen puppies have Puppy Love store hating it!

So, they sent me to a pet shop one block away from Buena Park in La Mirada because all their high-priced mni-puppies were stolen sometime in the very early morning. This two-month old female Pomeranian was one of three doggies left by the thieves. Here's the LMPD CSI doing her job at finding finger prints that the perpetrators may have left behind.

In all, 22 Maltese, Chihuahuas, Yorkies, Pomeranians and others were taken to a tune of $30,000... WOW! The thief or thieves knew what they were doing because they only took dogs, no merchandize, the register or older dogs. Only the puppies disappeared in the middle of the night.

Here is the video.

The poor owner's only message to those thieves was to keep the dogs safe and to treat them nice... What a guy!

NHRA Day 4 - Finals Champs!

Hello all,


Here are the two Funny Car finalists, both from Team Force! Robert Hight, in the black car, took the win from teammate Phil Burkart, Jr. in the green car. What a night. If Ashley had not gone down in the quarterfinals, she would have been up against Burkart Jr. in the semis. Imagine that!
Here we have the two Top Fuel Finalists
Tony Schumacher is in the black car, The Sarge, right here and Bob Vandergriff, Jr., down below in the one with the highest flames! Schumacher took him down by less than two tenths of a second.


Here is Ashley burning it up earlier in the day. She had a great week and now, according to her dad John Force, all the Force team cars will be either cut into tiny pieces, sent to Ford for testing or sent to museums (in a manner that they will never work) so that what happened to John never happens again to anyone else. Force, the senior, said he was working on making NHRA much more safer for all. Let's keep tuned in to see what happens. (Hey John, if your listening, I'm ready for that lunch you offered).

And right here is Angelle Sampey, who made it to the semifinals only to have her bike malfunction at the lights. What a let down for her last run ever with the US Army team. The photo here was taken only a couple of minutes after her bike did not start. Her frustration showed in her body language as she got off the bike and shook her head in disbelief at being one run away from the finals!

Here is Antron Brown in one of his last runs ever on a motorcycle. Yesterday he announced he'd be moving up to Top Fuel next year.



Here is legendary Funny Car driver and team owner John Force, left, congratulating his one-time driver and now team owner Tony Pedregon, on Tony's Funny Car World Championship! So, we have Tony Pedregon walking away with the POWERade Funny Car World title, over to the left is Tony Schumacher who took the POWERade Top Fuel World title, and down below is Jeg Coughlin who was named the POWERade Pro Stock World champ and the POWERade Pro Stock Motorcycle World title went to Matt Smith.














Here we have Jeff Smith, motorcycle champ, farther down is Robert Hight, the Funny Car final round winner, and older brother and co-team owner Cruz Pedregon with 2-time Funny Car World Champ Tony.

I have tons of video of some of the winners, so I'll post that up soon too!
Until Next Time, keep shooting

NHRA Pomona Day Three

Here is a view of Ashley Force, from both sides.


Hello everyone, Had a great time out in Pomona today although it was pretty busy all day. From running to the track to take photos and putting them up right away to heading out to see and interview John Force (the legend, the one and only Funny Car 14-time world champ), I ended up somewhat tired.

Here is Tony Pedregon, who will most likely be champ tomorrow.





And down below is John, with his wife beside him, even thought still recovering from his awful crash back in September 07, he gets out there and watches his team race.



Force is always loving his fans and waving back to them.

NHRA Day Two

Shot out to Pomona today for a quick one. They've got the POWERade finals all the way through Sunday. Got to see Angelle Sampey head down the straight-away and a few of the top Fuel dragsters. Man are these car LOUD!
As they accelerate, you can feel their power as the sound waves travel through you. As they pass by, while I'm standing next to the barricade on the track, you can feel their heat. The vibration that courses through your entire body is like being shaken violently for a second while the car passes on by. It's quite scary but exhilirating at the same time!Here is one of the SKOAL girls greeting visitors to their trailer display. Until next time, keep shooting.

NHRA Pomona

If it's November and you're in Pomona... it's NHRA time!
Yes folks, this is one of my faves. Here is Tony Pedregon heading down the 1/4 mile track at some 311 MPHs... (Miles per Hour!), and that was only good for 7th place today!
Ashley Force burning out during her first go at the straight-away.

Terry Haddock, in the 2006 Race Girl Monte Carlo Funny Car spits flames out of the exhaust pipes while heading down the black-top, Yikes! This is Angelle Sampey, on her 2003 Suzuki, just before setting a new track record on the quarter-mile track in 6.973 seconds.
Getting to go out there with the smell of burnt rubber, nitro fuel and drunk people just can't be topped. Best of all, everyone has access to "backstage," or as they call it, the pit. Yes, the 43rd annual NHRA Auto Club Finals is here and will continue until Sunday, so you have no excuse to go check it out.
Getting to meet the best of the best, the legends and legends-to-be can't be topped by any other sport. Here is dedicated dad John Force keeping an eye on his girl Ashley even though he should be kicking back in his trailer. Where else can you see the drivers and mechanics building their engines from the ground up, and all for the price of admission! I also got to do a video of Tony Pedregon showing off his trailer and of his crew getting the Q-Racing Impala ready for the first day of qualifying.

Until next time, keep shooting

Another tip to self & Haunted video

Hello everyone,

Coming home this evening from the store, a Black&White rushed past me. It happened to be going my way, so in a few minutes, I was at the location where it had stopped, with two other B&Ws. There was some type of large bag or body or something on the ground with an officer looking at it, so, here is the tip for the day, I called the WATCH COMMANDER at Whittier PD. I was told it was a petty theft suspect that had fought for a second or two with Ralph's manager or employee and ran away with the loot. Well, the PD caught up to him not far from the store and had him on the ground.

Moral of the story: Be on top of your local PDs phone numbers AND USE THEM. When calling, introduce yourself as a media member and ask for information on what you are interest on (the B&Ws with something on the ground). If it had been something more exciting, I would have been all ov er it, but it just turned out to be nothing worthy of capturing on camera.

By the way, appropriate for this time of year, I shot this video last year in Pasadena but I thought I run it through again.



Until next time,

keep shooting