PUBLIC SAFETY Drilling safety home at JWA...

PUBLIC SAFETY

Drilling safety home at JWA

Airport and safety workers from 50 county agencies took part in a

large-scale disaster drill at John Wayne Airport on Wednesday.

Airports are required to conduct such drills every three years to

test their readiness for a plane crash.

The test had an unexpected moment of reality. Orange County

Sheriff’s Department Lt. Jim Lazzaro, a 30-year-veteran of the

department, suffered first-, second-, and third-degree burns when a

flash-bang device, meant to signal the start of the drill, went off

in his hands.

* The prosecution rested its case last week in the trial of three

men accused of gang-raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl when they

were teenagers.

A neurologist testified that the alleged victim appeared to be

unconscious in a videotape the defendants took of the July, 2002

incident. Prosecutors say Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both now

20, and Greg Haidl, the 19-year-old son of a former sheriff’s

department official, plied the girl with alcohol and assaulted her

while she was passed out in the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s

father.

Defense attorneys, who contend she was feigning unconsciousness

and willingly participated in the encounter, will start presenting

their case on Monday.