Darleene Barrientos
On her way home to Los Angeles after visiting her parents in
Glendale, Lillian Anjargolian said she was driving toward the
Glendale (2) Freeway when she swerved to avoid a man who stepped off
the curb near Verdugo Boulevard and Park Place.
A Glendale Police officer immediately pulled over Anjargolian for
failing to yield to a pedestrian. The incident occurred during one of
the department's four pedestrian sting operations held in the past
three months. Three pedestrians have been killed this year in
Glendale.
Anjargolian, 26, said she felt the ticket was unfair but has not
decided if she will fight it in court.
"You have someone stepping out into 35-mph traffic," she said. "It
was a dark intersection. It was a trap."
Anjargolian was one of many drivers stopped during the Aug. 22
sting. The Glendale Police Department ticketed 62 drivers for failing
to yield to a pedestrian.
The police department has fielded several calls since the sting
from drivers who were ticketed. Most of the callers alleged the
undercover officer failed to cross the street safely, Glendale Police
Lt. Don Meredith said.
A Montrose man who identified himself as a former police officer
wrote to the News-Press, saying he believed the decoy officer walked
into the path of his son's car and was close enough to constitute an
immediate hazard. His 16-year-old son received a citation during the
sting.
"These actions put the decoy officer, motorists and citizens in
the community at risk. You can't enforce the law by breaking it,"
Frank Frias wrote in a letter that also was sent to the City Council.
John Drayman, a board member with the Montrose Shopping Park
Assn., said he did not witness the sting operation but heard about it
from several merchants and friends.
"The only reason why I knew about it was because customers and
other merchants kept talking about it," he said. "I suppose the
police department wants to raise awareness about pedestrians crossing
the street. They have certainly done that."
The area where the operation was held was chosen because several
shops and restaurants there create a lot of pedestrian and car
traffic, Meredith said.
"Up in that area, everybody wants us to do enforcement, but no one
wants to be a target," he said.
Meredith said he has fielded a handful of calls from drivers who
received citations during the sting, as well as a letter, but the
complaints are not unusual.
"We have an obligation to the citizens to try to do the best job
