Police assailant gets 10 years in...

Police assailant gets 10 years in prison Friday

A man who fled the United States and eluded police for two years

after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and assaulting a

Newport Beach Police officer was sentenced to 10 years in state

prison Friday and ordered to pay more than $12,000 in fines.

On Nov. 6, a jury found 34-year-old Jeffrey Minor of Irvine guilty

of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. Prosecutor Tom

Crowfoot said he is happy with the sentence.

“It’s the maximum sentence,” he said. “He got what he deserved.”

Minor fled to Italy in February 1999 after failing to appear at

Harbor Justice Center. He was extradited from Italy and escorted back

to the United States by federal marshals in November 2001.

Minor was arrested Dec. 21, 1998, after he dragged a police

officer 77 feet with his car through a crowded parking lot in Fashion

Island.

Newport Beach Police Officer Kristen O’Donnell stopped Minor on

suspicion of drunk driving, but he tried to escape in his red 1987

Porsche. O’Donnell, who clung to the vehicle while he drove away,

escaped with cuts and bruises.

Authorities arrested Minor in Italy in March 1999, but he fought

extradition. Officials said he entered Italy using his brother’s

passport.

Minor had also been charged with felony drunk driving in Irvine

and was on probation for a 1993 conviction of drunk driving and

manslaughter in Riverside.

No one hurt in costly Newport boat fire

A boat fire Thursday near Lido Park Drive caused about $20,000 in

damages, officials said.

Newport Beach firefighters, lifeguards and Harbor Patrol deputies

responded to the fire that broke out at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday,

Capt. John Blauer said.

He said a security guard spotted smoke coming out of The Last

Call, a 125-foot boat docked at Anchorage Lane. The most significant

damage was around a radio mounted on the side of a Jacuzzi on the

front deck. No one was injured in the fire.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.

Man in fake beard robs Harbor Boulevard bank

An armed robber reportedly wearing a suit, fake beard, dress hat

and mask made away with an undisclosed amount of cash after holding

up a Western Financial Bank branch in Costa Mesa on Friday, officials

said.

The man entered the branch in the 2000 block of Harbor Boulevard

at about 4:35 p.m. and used a handgun to threaten the teller, Costa

Mesa Police Sgt. Burt Santee said.

He escaped on foot and was last seen heading eastbound on Bay

Street, Santee said.

New court hearing set for substitute teacher

A 35-year-old substitute teacher accused of sexually assaulting

several female students waived his preliminary hearing scheduled for

Thursday. His next court hearing is set for Dec. 17 in Santa Ana.

Todd Jerome Haluch of Huntington Beach faces 17 felony counts of

sexual assault and one count of witness intimidation. He was first

arrested Sept. 13 after a therapist who treated one of the victims

told police about it. Haluch posted $250,000 bail the same day.

A second warrant on four fresh charges led to another arrest Sept.

30. Haluch is now in Orange County Jail. On Oct. 16, he pleaded not

guilty to all charges.

Smoke reported in plane cockpit Friday

The pilot of an Alaska Airlines flight from Oakland that landed at

John Wayne Airport at about 3:30 p.m. Friday reported smoke in the

cockpit, spokesman Justin McClusker said.

No one was hurt, and the plane was not evacuated, he said.

“The plane had landed and had taxied normally into the gate,”

McClusker said. People disembarked as they normally do, he said.

McClusker said the cause of the smoke was not known.

Back Bay area closed after sewage spill

A sewage spill in the Back Bay on Thursday forced the Orange

County Health Care Agency to close the water at the Harbor Tower

Marina to swimmers and divers, officials said.

The spill of about 400 gallons was caused by a sewage line

blockage from an apartment complex in Newport Beach.

Officials said the affected area will remain closed to

water-contact sports until follow-up water quality tests meet

acceptable standards.

For information about Orange County ocean, bay or harbor postings

and closures, call (714) 667-3752 or visit www.ocbeachinfo.com. To

report a sewage spill, call (714) 667-3600.

-- Deepa Bharath