Via Email Tip - LAPD Officer Pleads Guilty to Off-Duty Assault

This just in via an e-mail from a reader... Press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office. Posting it here since the new site is still in transition and I have something to link to for the news feed...

LAPD Officer pleads to assault while off-duty

LOS ANGELES – A 39-year-old LAPD officer pleaded guilty today to assault with a semiautomatic firearm stemming from a 2008 off-duty encounter with restaurant patrons at the Redondo Beach pier, the District Attorney’s office announced.

David Woon Chong was ordered to undergo a 90-day evaluation by the Department of Corrections by Judge Stephen Marcus. Deputy District Attorney Amy Pellman Pentz with the Justice System Integrity Division said Chong faces up to six years in state prison when he returns on Aug. 14 for sentencing.

On March 15, 2008, Chong pulled out a knife and threatened a restaurant patron after getting into a verbal altercation with two men. A witness interceded and the off-duty officer then walked away. But he returned a short time later, kicked some food out of the victim’s hand and pulled a .45-caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun and pointed at the man’s head. The same witness again interceded and walked Chong out of the restaurant.

Redondo Beach Police, responding to a disturbance call, stopped Chong in his car and arrested him. He allegedly had a .11 blood alcohol level at the time of his arrest.

In exchange for his guilty plea and admitting the gun allegation, two felony counts of making criminal threats and three misdemeanors will be dismissed.