Officer’s Grim Lesson Ignored; Bomb Goes Off in Boy’s Hands
Los Angeles Police Officer Mike Kriha was unhappy Thursday to learn that the lecture he gave a teen-ager 2 1/2 years ago apparently did not take.
Kriha, now assigned to the department’s Criminal Conspiracy Section, was the detective who arrested the boy--then 15--for detonating explosive devices near Pacific Palisades in 1984.
The same youth--now 17--was injured Wednesday night when another such device blew up in his face at home. He was rushed to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica for surgery on both hands.
His 15-year-old brother, who was not injured, was taken into custody when police reported finding two other homemade explosive devices in their Pacific Palisades home.
According to Lt. Dan Cooke, Kriha thought he had made an impression in the earlier instance when he explained the dangers to the older boy and took off his own false hand to show what had happened to him in trying to dismantle a bomb as a policeman.
“He thought he had made his point,” Cooke said. “And now here’s the younger brother involved too.”
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