Local News in Brief : ‘Street-Wise’ Boy, 4, Captured as Lookout

A 4-year-old boy who police believe was acting as a lookout was taken into custody early Monday along with two men and a 13-year-old boy after Los Angeles police patrol officers interrupted the burglary of a Westlake garage.

Sgt. Spike Valencia said that officers responding to calls of a break-in in the 200 block of South Occidental Boulevard found the “very street-wise” 4-year-old playing kick ball with Luis Valencia, 35, while Harold White, 30, and the teen-age boy allegedly looted a nearby garage.

Officers saw White and the 13-year-old loading two shopping carts with stolen goods, including crystal glasses and a videocassette recorder, Sgt. Valencia said. The 4-year-old and Luis Valencia (no relation to the sergeant) were there to warn the others if police arrived, he said.

Luis Valencia and White, who live in adjacent residential hotels, were arrested on suspicion of burglary and held at Rampart station. The boys were turned over to the county Department of Public Social Services. Officials were looking for their mothers.