Tow Truck

Pre-dawn traffic on the Foothill (210) Freeway came to a halt and travel along Foothill Boulevard was gridlocked after a big rig accident closed the eastbound lanes of the freeway on Thursday. Traffic congestion continued throughout the day and into evening rush hour as lanes were periodically closed and tow truck drivers worked to remove the big rigs. According to California Highway Patrol, about 4 a.m. an accident involving two big rig trucks occurred on the eastbound 210. When emergency personnel arrived, they found one semi-trailer truck had rear ended another.

A 38-year-old man who allegedly carjacked a minivan from a 16-year-old girl at knifepoint on Tuesday is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday. Andre Khanyan, who is being held without bail, allegedly told police he used heroin four hours before the carjacking, according to Glendale police reports. The girl was seated in the passenger seat of a Nissan minivan at about 1:35 p.m. on the 1700 block of West Glenoaks Boulevard and listening to music while the key was in the ignition, according to police.

A 38-year-old man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he carjacked a 16-year-old girl at knifepoint on Tuesday in Glendale, officials said. Andre Khanyan faces two felony counts of second-degree robbery and carjacking for the incident on the 1700 block of West Glenoaks Boulevard, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court complaint. He also faces a special allegation of personal use of a weapon during the robbery. He allegedly approached the girl as she sat in the passenger seat of a Nissan minivan at about 1:35 p.m., opened the door, pointed a knife and yelled “get out” several times, according to police reports.

Ani Amirkhanian After he graduated high school, Carvel Gay, 64, decided to go into the towing business when he joined the California National Guard. He attended vehicle school and learned about towing and maintenance while on active duty. Gay bought his first tow truck after he returned home and started working for a service station. Before he knew it, he bought three more trucks and went into business for himself. Gay's business has expanded to what is now Gay's Automotive & Towing Service, Inc., a family-owned business since 1965.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- A company with plans to install two more radio antennas and two maintenance buildings on a prominent Glendale hillside may be scaling back it plans. Company officials with USI Corp. asked the Environmental and Planning Commission for a delay Thursday in its vote on requiring an extensive environmental study before any approvals are given. The commission was set to stick to its Feb. 3 decision requiring the study until a USI spokesman said the company would do a redesign of its plans.

The following incidents were taken from police reports. 1100 block of East Garfield Avenue: A 40-year-old Glendale man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of possessing a stolen bike. Glendale (2) Freeway and Fern Lane: A 38-year-old Van Nuys man was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of possessing stolen property and narcotics for sales. 1000 block of Winchester Avenue: A man told police someone stole a bucket of tools from an open apartment Wednesday.

CITY HALL — A car got lodged into a tree just inches from the City Hall building Tuesday afternoon after its driver accidentally slipped off the brake and onto the gas pedal, police said. At about 1 p.m. Tuesday, workers inside City Hall at 613 E. Broadway walked outside after hearing a loud bang to discover a blue Honda Civic lodged into the tree and several bushes. "I guess it would be somewhat like — you know those dump trucks, like the trash bins they have — it would be like the dump trucks dropping the bins, but louder than that," said Levon Pilavjian, an administrative assistant working inside the building at the time of the accident.

A woman drove over a freeway embankment into the Los Angeles River early Monday morning, the California Highway Patrol said. The woman, whose name and age were undisclosed, drove onto the Colorado Street onramp to the Golden State (5) Freeway and hit a collection of buckets, known as an attenuator, that divides the onramp from the freeway, CHP Officer Patrick Kimball said. ?She collided with the attenuator and reversed back down the onramp,? Kimball said. ?She tried to go back up and her car went up the roadway and into the riverbed.

Darleene Barrientos California Highway Patrol officers are trying to determine the identity of a woman found dead in a sport utility vehicle that ended up nearly 50 feet over the side of a local freeway. The woman was found in a gray 1997 Jeep Cherokee that apparently crashed and ended up in the bushes off the Golden State (5) Freeway, just before the transition to the east Ventura (134) Freeway, CHP Officer Vince Bell said Thursday. A freeway patrol tow truck driver was driving north on the Golden State Freeway just before Zoo Drive about 9 a.m. Thursday when he saw the SUV out of the corner of his eye, Bell said.

Colleagues and friends of the man involved in the alleged murder-suicide last week in La Cañada identified him Monday as Aaron Welch, an auto mechanic, tow-truck driver and longtime La Crescenta resident. The bodies of Welch and 39-year-old Genny Herrera were discovered by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in the front room of an apartment in the 4500 block of Lasheart Drive shortly after 11 a.m. Friday. Sheriff’s homicide Det. Steve Lankford said it appeared the man fatally shot Herrera, and then fatally shot himself.