B4 THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019 LATIMES.COM
Early did not enter a plea
during a brief court appear-
ance Wednesday, and his
public defender declined to
comment. During the ap-
pearance, Deputy Dist. Atty.
Joy Roberts said Early was
captured at the scene Mon-
day night and identified by
eyewitnesses as the man
who set the blaze.
About three dozen peo-
ple clutching purple bal-
loons and purple roses — in
memory of their friend’s love
of Hendrix’s “Purple Haze”
— gathered Wednesday
night to remember Fields.
Angela James, deputy di-
rector of finance and opera-
tions at Los Angeles Com-
munity Action Network,
said she met Fields when she
started working with the or-
ganization about a year and
a half ago. Since then, she
had seen him almost every
day.
James never learned
much of Fields’ life story —
she knew he was from Flint,
Mich., and had played with
bands in L.A. and Las Vegas
— but she grew to look for-
ward to hearing him play his
guitar every Thursday at the
farmers market hosted bythe action network.
The group of mourners
walked from Los Angeles
Community Action Network
a few blocks to the southeast
corner of 6th and San Pedro
streets, where Fields had
lived with his longtime part-
ner Valarie Wertlow. What
two nights earlier had been a
crime scene became a living
memorial to Fields.
Alongside Wertlow’s be-
longings were three pictures
of her companion of two dec-
ades. Paper printouts of
Fields’ smiling face were at-
tached with paper clips to
the chain-link fence thatbackstopped her home.
Speakers were set up. A
keyboard was plugged in.
And Fields’ friends sang “A
Change Is Gonna Come,”
“Bridge Over Troubled Wa-
ter” and “Amazing Grace.”
Wertlow led the group in
singing “Lean On Me.”
Wertlow said Fields’
kindness kept them to-
gether.
“If you needed anything
... he had it,” she said. “He
had you.”Times Staff Writer Richard
Winton and Jaclyn Cosgrove
contributed to this report.FRIENDS OF Dwayne Fields gather downtown Wednesday, some clutching purple balloons and purple roses
in memory of Fields’ love of “Purple Haze.” Among the songs they sang: “Lean on Me” and “Amazing Grace.”
Luis SincoLos Angeles TimesTribute to skid row guitarist
[Fields,from B1]
lanueva said. “This black eye
is on the individual himself.
It’s not a reflection of the de-
partment or any member of
the department outside of
his own individual actions.”
The department plans to
submit the results of its
criminal investigation to the
Los Angeles County district
attorney’s office. Prose-
cutors ultimately will deter-
mine whether Reinosa will
face criminal charges.
Sheriff ’s Capt. Kent We-
gener said the department is
still waiting for forensic evi-
dence and is looking into
how many hours officers
spent on the search and the
deployment of other re-
sources to understand the
full impact of the false re-
port.
Law enforcement
sources speaking on the con-
dition of anonymity said de-
tectives also are investigat-
ing whether Reinosa com-
mitted perjury, filed a false
police report or falsely re-
ported a work injury for fi-
nancial gain.
Sources told The Times
that Reinosa had been in-
vestigated in a previous inci-
dent involving allegations of
dishonesty documented by
his supervisors.
That investigation led
to discipline but no recom-
mendation that he be
fired.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex
Parris said that Reinosa had
been struggling in his first
year in the field — a proba-
tionary training period that
all sworn personnel must
complete before becoming
full-fledged deputies.
“He should have been
fired, and he should be
charged,” Parris said
Wednesday.
“Everyone in Lancaster
and the Sheriff ’s Depart-
ment wants him held ac-
countable.”wearing stopped a shot to
his chest, while another bul-
let had grazed his shoulder.
When Villanueva visited
Reinosa at the hospital, the
deputy had what appeared
to be a contusion on his
shoulder that was red and
covered with a bandage. The
sheriff said that it did not ap-
pear to be a bullet wound
and the situation “seemed
odd.”
Still, the incident
sparked a massive response
from law enforcement offi-
cials, who spent days search-
ing for a phantom gunman.
It wasn’t long before
Reinosa’s story unraveled,
officials said.
Investigators noted there
had been no 911 calls report-
ing gunfire in the area and
no bullets were found in the
parking lot.
A hole in his shirt that
Reinosa said came from a
bullet was far too large, mul-
tiple sheriff ’s officials and
others with knowledge of the
investigation told The
Times.
On his own radio call
seeking help, sources say,
Reinosa sounded too calm
for someone who had just
been shot, let alone a rookie
deputy.
Even as a massive man-
hunt for his purported at-
tacker continued that night,
investigators began scruti-
nizing Reinosa’s story.
Those early suspicions were
borne out Saturday, when
investigators announced
that Reinosa had concocted
the shooting.
Villanueva said the de-
partment was “appalled and
disappointed.” Reinosa’s
motive for allegedly faking
an assassination attempt re-
mains unknown.
“He made a life-altering
decision and, unfortunately,
he has to live with it,” Vil-Deputy is fired in
shooting hoax case
[Deputy,from B1]vation, charter schools have
evolved from an experiment
to a system that enrolls more
than 600,000 students across
the state. California ties edu-
cation funding to
enrollment, and charters
have often been pitted
against traditional neigh-
borhood schools in a compe-
tition for students.
Teachers unions and re-
form advocates have ac-
cused charter schools of
draining the financial re-
sources of local districts that
might already be strapped
and have argued that the
state gives districts little say
when it comes to approving
new schools.
Critics have also called
for more accountability for
charter operations and per-
formance.
State law requires a
school district to approve
any new charters that meet
basic requirements. Charter
school proponents can ap-
peal denials to a county
board of education and then
the State Board of Educa-
tion, an entity whose mem-
bers are appointed by the
governor and tended to side
with new charters under for-
mer Gov. Jerry Brown.
The new agreement pro-
vides some notable wins to
teachers unions, which ne-
gotiated the deal with a la-
bor coalition that included
the California Teachers
Assn., California Federation
of Teachers, California La-
bor Federation and Califor-
nia School Employees Assn.
“After months of honest
and difficult conversations,
we have made significant
progress on behalf of our
students,” the labor coali-
tion said in a statement. “We
believe the measure Califor-
nia lawmakers will vote on
will lead to a more equitable
learning environment for
students in California’s
neighborhood public
schools.”
Under the bill, local
school boards would be al-
lowed to reject new charter
petitions based on the po-
tential fiscal effects on the
district and whether the
charter seeks to offer pro-
grams that the district al-
ready provides, according to
the governor’s office.
The deal would require
all new charter school teach-
ers to hold the same creden-
tials as traditional public
schools next year and phase
in requirements for existing
teachers over five years, the
governor’s office said.
The proposal would also
eliminate the state board’s
role as a chartering author-
ity, allowing it only to weigh
appeals to determine
whether a school district
abused its discretion in de-
nying the petition.
Under existing law, the
agency that grants a peti-
tion allowing a charter to op-
erate is often responsible for
providing oversight of that
school regardless of where
its campus is located — the
Board of Education in Sac-
ramento has, in some in-
stances, overseen charter
schools as far away as Los
Angeles and San Diego.
Assemblyman Patrick
O’Donnell (D-Long Beach),
a former high school teacher
who introduced Assembly
Bill 1505 this year, criticized
the system in a July hearing.
“Local school boards and
administrators know their
districts and students best
and should have the ability
to determine which charters
are best for their students,”O’Donnell said.
The California Charter
Schools Assn. argued that
earlier versions of the bill
gave too much discretion to
local school districts to
block new charters without
a valid reason. They previ-
ously said that Assembly
Bill 1505, coupled with other
legislative proposals, would
effectively implement a mor-
atorium on new public char-
ter schools.
In a concession de-
scribed as a bonus for char-
ters by people involved in the
deal, the legislation would
allow county boards of edu-
cation to retain their role in
reviewing appeals for denied
charter petitions. The two-
year moratorium on virtual
and other non-classroom-
based charter schools also
falls short of calls by unions
for a statewide freeze on all
new charters.
“We are removing our op-
position, and we are cer-
tainly doing our part to in-
form the Legislature that we
think this is a balanced reso-
lution to a long-standing de-
bate between charter
schools and school districts
that affirms the role for high-
performing charter schools
in California,” said Carlos
Marquez, senior vice presi-
dent of government affairs
at the California Charter
Schools Assn.
Additional provisions of
the agreement would re-
quire charter schools to
meet the same performance
standards as traditional
public schools, the gover-
nor’s office said.
The law would build on
legislation passed this year
to ensure charters reflectthe demographics of special
education students, English
language learners and other
groups in the communities
in which they are located, ac-
cording to the governor’s of-
fice.
“This agreement focuses
on the needs of our stu-
dents,” Newsom said in a
statement with other state
leaders. “It increases ac-
countability for all charter
schools, allows high-quality
charter schools to thrive,
and ensures that the fiscal
and community impacts of
charter schools on school
districts are carefully con-
sidered.”
This is the second time
Newsom has intervened in
the legislative process to
help pass new restrictions
on charter schools after
wealthy charter advocates
opposed him in the gover-
nor’s race.
Less than two months af-
ter assuming office, the gov-
ernor followed through on a
campaign promise and
signed a law requiring char-
ters to meet similar trans-
parency standards as tradi-
tional public schools.
Newsom denied sugges-
tions that the proposal was a
form of political payback for
charter advocates spending
$23 million to back former
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villarai-
gosa, Newsom’s Democratic
opponent in last year’s elec-
tion. The California Charter
Schools Assn. supported the
final iteration of the bill.
Newsom’s approach
marks a shift from those of
Brown and Arnold Schwarz-
enegger, who supported
charters and vetoed similar
transparency bills.Deal pauses battle over charters
CHARTER SCHOOLsupporters protest in January as the L.A. school board
considered a resolution calling for a statewide moratorium on such campuses.Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles Times[Charters,from B1]
‘This agreement
... allows high-
quality charter
schools to thrive,
and ensures that
fiscal and
community
impacts ... are
carefully
considered.’
— Gov. Gavin
Newsom,
in a statement with other state
leadersSAN DIEGO — Annie
Bwetu Kapongo cannot stop
smiling.
Her husband — who was
separated from her and their
seven children nearly two
years ago when they asked
for asylum at the U.S.-Mexi-
co border after a grueling
and perilous journey from
their home in the Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo —
is finally home.
Constantin Bakala was
released from immigration
detention in Georgia and re-
united with his family last
week at San Diego Interna-
tional Airport.
“There was only joy, the
pure joy of seeing my family,”
Bakala said of the moment
he came down the airport’s
escalator.
“Joy” was also the word
that came to mind for his
wife Bwetu Kapongo, whose
face has shed the tiredness
that had been etched into it
for months by the trauma of
losing her husband just
when she thought they were
finally safe.
Bakala marveled at how
much his children, particu-
larly his youngest, had
grown. When he was split
from his family at the San
Ysidro Port of Entry in No-
vember 2017, his youngest
was 3 years old. Now his son
is 5, and Bakala can no long-
er put the boy up on his
shoulders.
He’s been with his wife for
two decades, he said, and all
of his children were born at
home. Before this, they had
never experienced life with-
out their father for so long.
Bakala and his family
fled the Democratic Repub-
lic of Congo after they were
all targeted because of
Bakala’s activity in a politi-
cal party that promoted
democracy there. He was
kidnapped, imprisoned and
tortured in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. When
Bwetu Kapongo went to the
police to try to find her hus-
band, she was beaten and
raped.
Later, someone released
poison into the house while
the family was sleeping.
They escaped, traveling
to Brazil and then north to
the U.S. border. When theywent to San Ysidro to re-
quest asylum, Bakala re-
called last week, they were
immediately separated.
He began to worry about
when he would see them
again. When he asked an offi-
cial, he was told that he
wouldn’t receive any infor-
mation until he reached the
next detention center. He
found himself on a bus head-
ing to Arizona, where he
stayed for a short time be-
fore being transferred to a
detention facility in Georgia.
Bakala’s case was split
from those of the rest of his
family, who had been re-
leased from custody.
At his first hearing, the
judge encouraged him to
find a lawyer and gave him a
list of free and low-cost at-
torneys to try.
Bakala said he called ev-
ery number. No one an-
swered.
At the next hearing, the
judge told him that he would
have to represent himself.
When the day to present
his case before the judge ar-
rived, the judge refused to
consider the evidence he’d
submitted that was in his
original French. The judge
denied his request for asy-
lum.
It was only after he had
mailed his appeal that
Bakala met Julie Hartlé, an
attorney who had agreed to
help the family.
Hartlé got to work with
other lawyers to write mo-
tions to stop his deportation
and reopen his case.
First, his deportation
was paused. Then his case
was reopened and the Board
of Immigration Appeals
sent it back to the judge for
another decision.
Then, on Aug. 18, he
called his family. His wife
told him what she’d learned
from her daughter when she
got home from work. Bakala
would be freed.
When he got off the
phone, he said, he began to
dance and sing and to thank
God for helping him.
When asked for a state-
ment on Bakala’s case, Im-
migration and Customs En-
forcement confirmed that
he had been released while
his case is pending.Morrissey writes for the San
Diego Union-Tribune.Family split at
border reunites
in San Diego
By Kate Morrissey