Friday, November 15, 2002
Page 3
LAPD Officer to Face Trial for Off-Duty Assault, Vandalism
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A judge ruled yesterday that there is enough evidence to try a Los Angeles police officer accused of attacking a man with a baseball bat while she was off duty.
Nancy Jean Alford, 35, was bound over for trial on charges of assault with a deadly weapon by means likely to produce great bodily injury and vandalism with damage of more than $400. She is accused of using a baseball bat to smash the windows of parked cars—one with a 55-year-old man inside of it—outside her Long Beach home on July 2 of this year. The District Attorney’s Office said the value of the property damaged in the incident was estimated at $1,700.
Immediately after the alleged assault, Alford called the police to say she thought the man’s car might have been used for a burglary or attempted burglary at her house. Long Beach police found no evidence of a burglary at her house, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Long Beach officers investigated and determined that the man was in the neighborhood for a doctor’s appointment.
Alford is currently free on $30,000 bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 2 in Dept. F of the Long Beach courthouse.
Deputy District Attorney Hector Guzman, who will prosecute Alford, did not return telephone calls yesterday. Long Beach Police Officer J. Blair confirmed that her department had investigated the incident but said she couldn’t share details.
A 12-year veteran of the LAPD, Alford has been on leave since February. A spokesman for the department said he couldn’t say why, because leave is a personnel issue. Prior to her leave, she was assigned to the Metropolitan Division. The spokesman said that because Alford was charged with a crime, she will be subject to an internal investigation by the LAPD as well.
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company