District, Police Investigate Report of Attack Near School

LOS ANGELES — A local radio reporter was assaulted Thursday while leaving a Los Angeles charter school, a station official said.

The Los Angeles School District and Los Angeles Police Department are investigating the allegations.

The reporter, Sandy Wells of KABC radio, was not hurt, said station spokesman Steve Sheldon.

Wells was leaving the campus of Academia Semillas Del Pueblo, 4736 Huntington Drive, after interviewing the principal when a car came around the corner, jumped the curb and the driver tried to run him down, Sheldon said.

Wells dodged the car, but the driver, a man who appeared to be in his mid-20s, got out and tackled him, taking away his tape recorder, he said.

“He managed to tackle me and push me into a car,” Wells said. “He demanded my recording equipment, which I had over my shoulder. He was struggling to grab that. Finally, I was able to eject the tape, and I gave it to him.”

Wells was at the school, which is under the LAUSD’s jurisdiction, to interview administrators and parents.

The incident was reported to police, Sheldon said, adding that it is believed to be linked to the station’s reporting on the school.

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McIntyre in the Morning has begun an investigation into Academia Semillas del Pueblo, an LAUSD charter school. The website for the K-8 school says it is, “dedicated to providing urban children of immigrant native families an excellent education founded upon their own language, cultural values and global realities.” The school’s student body is 91.3% hispanic and 8.7% native / alaskan native. There is not a single white, black, or asian student.

The school receives support not only from the tax payer but also the National Council of La Raza and the Pasadena City College chapter of MeCHA (Movimemeniento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan). In various interviews and actions the school’s founder, principal and council trustee secretary, Marcos Aguilar, has shown contempt for racial integration. Like everyone else connected to the school, Aguilar has refused repeated attempts by McIntyre in the Morning for an interview, telling our reporter he only speaks with spanish speaking media and warning the reporter, “I would be very careful before I came down here.”