Week in Review: Coach Swift Remembered; Pedestrian Killed on I-680

FREMONT

Man Convicted of Voluntary Manslaughter in Road-Rage Killing

Just over two years after Ricky Ziesmer of Fremont was stabbed to death in a downtown Livermore parking lot, a jury on Thursday found the suspect in the case guilty of voluntary manslaughter. Livermore-resident Cort Holbrook, who claimed he was acting in self-defense when he stabbed Ziesmer on March 9, 2011, was convicted in a Hayward courtroom. Ziesmer and girlfriend Roschelle Morgan of Newark were driving down First Street in Livermore when they got into a gesturing match with Holbrook. Both drivers pulled into a parking lot where Ziesmer and Holbrook got into a fistfight. After being knocked to the ground, Holbrook went to his car, retrieved a dagger and stabbed Ziesmer in the upper chest.

Bomb Threat Prompts Lockdown at Thornton Junior High

Thornton Junior High School was put on lockdown Wednesday afternoon after district officials received a report of a bomb threat. The school was locked down for safety for about 30 minutes as police investigated the threat. No danger was found, and the lockdown was lifted.

The very next day, another bomb threat was called in at the school. The school was not put on lockdown but authorities quickly investigated the threat. They eventually arrested a 14-year-old boy at the campus for conspiring with another person to call in the hoax. The other suspect, who the boy said he met online, is still at large.

Police Confirm I-680 Pedestrian Death Was Suicide

Authorities believe that a pedestrian death along I-680 in Fremont early Sunday morning was a suicide. Fremont police said that the woman — identified as 59-year-old Linda Charles of Fremont — either walked into traffic or jumped onto the freeway from an overpass before she was run over. The day before the incident, Fremont police received a call from one of Charles’ family members saying that she was missing. The family member said that Charles left a suicide note with details about the I-680 overpass near where she was fatally struck.

UNION CITY

24 Hour Fitness Super Sport Opening on Hayward-Union City Border

Construction is underway at the new 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport on the Hayward-Union City border. The new facility will be located at 2480 Whipple Rd. in Hayward in the former Circuit City, just off the Whipple Road exit and across from Target. It's scheduled to open on June 1, according to the company's website. The gym will feature cardio equipment, strength machines, free weights, a full-sized basketball court, an indoor lap pool, a sauna, a whirlpool, a Kids’ Club and a Pro Shop, among other amenities.

Police Log: Man Flashes Elderly Woman at Park; Credit Card Skimmer Found at Bank

This week's police activity report from UCPD included a report of a man exposing his penis to a 77-year-old woman at Mariner Park and an identity theft device being found at the entrance of Citibank. The log also includes safety tips to help prevent identity theft.

Rebuilt Taco Bell Now Open

After a year being shut down, the Taco Bell on the corner of Alvarado-Niles and Decoto roads has been reborn. The fast food restaurant reopened Friday. It shut down after sustaining significant damage in a fire last February. Earlier this year, construction reconstructing it with new paint, new signs, handicap parking access, bike parking and upgraded lighting.

NEWARK

Coach Rich Swift Remembered as a 'Father Figure' and 'Reliable Rock'

A legend, an idol, a father figure. These were the ways Rich Swift was remembered during a memorial service held Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of people, some visiting from out-of-state, crowded the Newark Memorial High School Event Center to celebrate the life of the only head football coach Newark Memorial has known since its inception. Swift, 60, passed away Feb. 13 of an inoperable brain tumor. And while Swift was a coach, teacher and mentor, his students from over the generations spoke of how he was much more than an educator. Read the full story here.

Man Who Put Fist Through Window Arrested After Bloody Fight With Police

A domestic dispute erupted into a bloody brawl last Saturday night when a man put his fist through a window, then bled all over police during a struggle in which the suspect was bitten by a police dog. Newark resident Edgar Real, 27, was arrested on charges of battery upon a peace officer, resisting arrest, assault and child abuse. The incident began after 6:30 p.m. when Real became embroiled in a domestic dispute that prompted family members to call the police. He ran away from home to the AllCare Veterinary Hospital, where officers found him bleeding profusely from what was later discovered to be an arterial wound sustained when he punched through a window at the hospital.

Futi Murder Trial Nears Climax As Defense Asserts DA Has Wrong Man

Abraham Hade took the stand Wednesday to defend himself against accusations that he fatally stabbed Newark Memorial High School football player Osana Futi. Hade, a Fremont resident, is being tried in Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland on charges that he stabbed Futi to death last April. In their opening arguments defense attorney Thomas Knutsen and his opposite, Alameda County prosecutor Elgin Lowe, agreed that Futi's stabbing arose from a feud between football players at Newark Memorial and members of the Norteno gang. Lowe has argued that Hade wielded the knife in the attack that occurred about 11 p.m. on April 28, 2012, following a house party on the 4900 block of Hyde Park Drive, near Yellow Stone Park Drive in Fremont. But Knutsen has sought to convince jurors that Futi was killed by a friend of Hade's who was only 14 at the time of the murder.

What was your favorite story this week? Do you have future story ideas? Tell us in the comments.

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