Leads Sought in Attack on TV Show Host
Long Beach police are looking for leads in the beating of the host of a local cable access show who was apparently left to die when his apartment was set ablaze early Sunday.
Robert James LaFont, the son of Long Beach Municipal Judge Robert L. LaFont, was rescued from his burning second-floor duplex by two police officers flagged down by a passing cabdriver who saw smoke and flames.
LaFont, 43, was in critical condition at Torrance Memorial Medical Center, with burns over 42% of his body. He is also being treated for head trauma, thus confirming, said a hospital spokeswoman, that he first had been beaten.
LaFont, the host and producer of “Long Beach Gay and Lesbian News,” has been unconscious since Officers Scott Lasch and Garey Bruyere kicked open his door about 2:30 a.m. to find him face down as flames crept along the ceiling. They dragged him to a staircase landing before windows exploded and fire shot out the front door.
Homicide detectives are working with arson investigators but have no suspects and no motive. Lasch and Bruyere were treated for smoke inhalation.
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