As California officials try desperately to keep people inside to slow the spread of the coronavirus, authorities are beginning to crack down on scofflaws.
The crackdown has escalated in recent days, with nonessential businesses that refuse to shut down as well as people who defy orders to stay out of the water finding themselves in the crosshairs.
Los Angeles prosecutors on Friday filed criminal charges against two smoke shops, a shoe store and a discount electronics retailer, accusing them of refusing to shut down despite orders imposed to fight the coronavirus. It marks the first time the city has filed charges for violations of the “Safer at Home” order, which requires businesses deemed nonessential to close their doors to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
A paddle boarder was arrested Thursday after ignoring lifeguards’ orders to get out of the ocean near the Malibu Pier despite beach closures. County lifeguards patrolling the shore by boat tried to get the man to come ashore. Despite repeated orders to exit the water, the man continued paddle boarding for at least 30 minutes. Lifeguards eventually flagged down Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who responded by boat to help, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
A surfer in Manhattan Beach was fined $1,000 last weekend after he was accused of similarly ignoring warnings by police and lifeguards not to go in the water. It’s not clear how many people in the region have been arrested for violating the governor’s order.
City Atty. Mike Feuer on Friday said the four stores were deemed nonessential businesses under Mayor Eric Garcetti’s executive order.
“The mayor’s order is clear: Only essential businesses, such as healthcare providers, organizations serving vulnerable populations, and grocery stores, may remain open during the COVID-19 emergency,” Feuer said. “We’re all safer at home. Nonessential businesses remaining open at this time jeopardize public health and safety, and my office is committed to vigorously enforcing the mayor’s order.”
Garcetti said the stores were putting lives at risk. At one store, police officers were told, “ ‘Forget you’ — probably not in as nice words — ‘we’re not going to do it,’ ” the mayor said.
“We want to let people know that we are serious about this, that businesses that flagrantly violate this will be shut down short term and prosecuted in the medium term as well,” Garcetti said.
Feuer’s office identified the businesses charged as Business Discount Electronics, 556 S. Broadway; Hot Box Smoke Shop, 9115 S. Western Ave.; DTLA Smoke Shop, 223½ W. 6th St.; and Brother Shoes, 818 W. Slauson Ave., Unit B. Calls to the businesses went unanswered Friday.
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On Sunset Blvd. in Los Feliz, Greg Barris, (cowboy hat) picks up fresh produce he ordered through Country Line Harvest, an online produce provider. Barris is a standup comedian, who is now out of work after his upcoming tour got canceled.
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Chantael Duke, 32, sits on the steps off of Sunset Blvd. in Los Feliz. She lost her two jobs due to the coronavirus closures, and is now thinking of making masks as a business.
(Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Juliann Hartman, center, and her husband Butch, do their part to cheer people up by holding signs of encouragement in dealing with the threat of the coronavirus outbreak, while on Calabasas Rd. on Calabasas.
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Grace Carter,15, of Riverside, practices her dance routine in the isolation of her bedroom since her dance classes and school were canceled during the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, Carter would normally be at her dance studio practicing for an upcoming competition, instead she has to use the Zoom app on her iPhone to practice with her dance group.”It’s hard. My bedroom is a smaller space. I miss all my friends at the studio, ” Carter said.
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Dusk falls as the sound of silence envelopes an empty downtown Los Angeles on April 2, 2020.
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A man works from his home during the COVID-19 pandemic breaking out in Long Beach.
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Jerome Campbell takes a walk along Ocean Blvd. at dusk in Long Beach.
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A San Bernardino County healthcare worker takes a sample at coronavirus drive-through testing at the county fairgrounds in Victorville.
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A Metro general service employee disinfects a bench in Boyle Heights.
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Vendors sell masks along San Pedro Street in the nearly deserted garment district of Los Angeles.
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A runner jogs past the Pottery Barn in Pasadena. Some businesses in the area have boarded up the front of their stores during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Raquel Lezama and daughter Monica Ramos collect meals for the family at Manual Arts High School. Lezama was laid off from her $17.76-an-hour job at a Beverly Hills hotel.
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Homeless artist Matteo defends his work against removal by the Los Angeles Sanitation Department and police in Venice.
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Kylie Wortham, who was laid off because of the coronavirus, relaxes with a book in a hammock overlooking the beach in Huntington Beach. The pier, beach parking lots and most shops are closed.
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People wearing personal protective equipment shop at the Santa Monica farmers market.
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A medical staff member carries a digital inverter generator into Cedar Mountain Post Acute nursing home after 51 residents and six staff members have tested positive for coronavirus in Yucaipa. Two residents have died.
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The Iron City Tavern in San Pedro tries an incentive to lure takeout customers.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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The streets of San Pedro are quiet as people remain in their homes due to the coronavirus.
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Healthcare workers gather outside UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center to call for further action from the federal government in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Kristen Edgerle of Victorville collects information from a blood donor before drawing blood at The Richard Nixon Presidential Library blood drive during the coronavirus pandemic in Yorba Linda.
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Jonathan Sanchez, manager of Choppy’s Produce Company at the LA Wholesale Produce Market, stands with an excess of inventory in the wake of the coronavirus Covid19 shutdown as LA’s produce wholesalers are seeing their business decline over 80%.
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A woman has the sidewalk all to herself while walking along California St. in downtown Ventura. Foot traffic is very light as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
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A city worker, wearing a protective suit and mask, sweeps around the Echo Park Community Center that is one of several recreation centers in Los Angeles that has been converted for homeless housing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The center is filled to capacity with over 30 beds available to the homeless.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Shauna Jin of Los Angeles, with her dog, Bodhi, practices social distancing with John Kiss of Los Angeles at the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles.
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A maintenance worker cleans the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles. The park is closed to the public because of the coronavirus.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A lending library had some additional useful items, including a roll of toilet paper and cans of beans and corn, in a Hermosa Beach neighborhood.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Protesters drive by the Getty House, the home of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, in Hancock Park. Tenant advocates are demanding a total moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus crisis.
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Security guard Marcos Ayala of East Los Angeles helps the Hermosa Beach Police Department close off the Strand and a two-mile stretch of Hermosa Beach.
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The Strand and oceanfront of Hermosa Beach are closed in an effort to prevent crowds and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Mong Noiboonsok, left, and Rena Chastan have lunch at Crystal Springs picnic area in Griffith Park.
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Venice residents Emily Berry and Gavin Kelley take a break at Venice Beach. Berry, a cocktail waitress at Enterprise Fish Co., lost her job due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Kelley, a manager at a performing arts school with a focus on music, said that he still has a job and that classes at the school will resume online this coming Monday.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Israel Torres touches up a new sign at a closed store along the boardwalk in Venice Beach.
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The JW Marriott at L.A. Live is sharing a message of hope with red lights in 34 windows, creating a 19-story display on the hotel’s north side.
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A Playa del Rey beach is nearly empty after L.A. County announced the closure of all beaches and trails in an effort to reduce crowds and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
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The Manhattan Beach Pier is locked, and a city sign explains why in three repeated messages: “Lot closed,” “COVID-19” and “Social Distancing.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Juan Diaz Jr., a lifelong Dodgers fan, prays that the season will start by May in front of Dodger Stadium on what would have been opening day.
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Hayley, CEO and founder of Love My Neighbor Foundation, right, dances with Crystal Armster, 51, while she and her colleagues continue to feed the homeless on skid row amid the pandemic.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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A masked passenger on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles.
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Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department wear protective gear while handing out coronavirus test kits at a parking lot on Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium.
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Dede Oneal waits for a coronavirus test at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles.
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A man in a mask passes a closed restaurant along Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles.
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The Westfield Topanga mall parking lot in Canoga Park is empty amid coronavirus closure rules.
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Artist Corie Mattie paints a mural on the side of a pop-up store as a man takes a picture in West Hollywood.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Medical assistant Zoila Villalta works with Rosie Boston, 32, of Glendale, who is donating blood for her first time at L.A. Care Health Plan downtown.
(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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A bus plies a route on the empty streets of downtown Los Angeles.
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The lights are on, but the Santa Monica Pier is closed.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
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A couple wait for a bus outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
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With all Los Angeles schools closed until further notice, LAUSD buses sit idle in Gardena.
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A lone traveler makes his way to catch a flight in Tom Bradley International Terminal.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Chandly Burres looks for items on the sidewalk at a deserted Venice Boardwalk.
(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Denise Young looks on as her daughter, Allison, 9, a fourth-grader at EARThS (Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences) Magnet School in Newbury Park, receives a Chromebook.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Hollywood Boulevard is devoid of the usual crowds.
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Michael Ray, 11, plays before a movie at the Paramount Drive-In.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
City officials led by Garcetti have been warning since last week that they will prosecute those nonessential businesses still open. The mayor said the Department of Water and Power would cut off service to the premises of noncompliant businesses.
San Diego authorities also are vowing to crack down.
“I think the days of trying to get voluntary compliance are really over,” said San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore. “The message is going to go out to all of public safety here in the county that we will start issuing citations for violations of the public order and the governor’s executive order.”
Gore said the maximum penalty for violating the order was a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
Sheriff’s deputies and police officers in cities throughout the county may carry out the enforcement, he said.
Law enforcement agencies will rely on reports of violators from the public, but they should not call 911. They instead are asked to call the non-emergency number of the law enforcement agency in their jurisdiction or fill out a form that was set to be posted online beginning April 4.
“If you see a violation of the order, please report it,” said San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox at the Thursday news briefing.
Gary Warth and Alex Wigglesworth contributed to this report.
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