For more than a decade, residents in Brentwood say a woman has been a familiar, unsettling presence on their streets — but neighbors say her behavior has grown far more alarming over the past year, escalating from mumbling to herself into outright threats. Residents report she has repeatedly defecated on sidewalks, near a neighbor's garage gate, and on two street corners near a stop sign that she frequently uses as bathroom spots. Despite months of complaints to police, homeless services organizations, their councilmember, and mental health experts, residents say they have found no way to compel her into treatment.
According to ABC7 Los Angeles, the woman has been seen on numerous streets throughout Brentwood and has occasionally mumbled and spit at people she passes. Residents believe she may spend time at a homeless encampment near Wilshire Boulevard and Barrington Avenue. Neighbor Laurie Seidman told the station the woman has become extremely worse and more aggressive over the past year, adding that she believes the woman is a danger to herself and to other people.
A Dog Walker's Frightening Encounter
The station reports that neighbor Wendy Kush said the woman yelled that she was going to kill her and lunged at her while she was walking her dogs. Kush also told ABC7 the woman defecated on a sidewalk directly in front of her during a separate walk with her rescue dog. Residents say the woman has repeatedly refused offers of assistance, leaving them uncertain how to intervene even as they say they're concerned both for their own safety and for her well-being.
Why Police and Clinicians Say Their Hands Are Tied
The frustration voiced by Brentwood residents reflects a broader legal bind that plays out across Los Angeles County: officers generally cannot arrest someone for a minor public nuisance misdemeanor, and clinicians cannot place someone on an involuntary hold unless strict legal criteria are met, according to P&A Health. Under California Welfare and Institutions Code Section 5150, peace officers and designated mental health clinicians may only impose an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold when there is probable cause that a person's mental illness makes them a danger to themselves, a danger to others, or gravely disabled, per FindLaw. Public defecation or urination that disrupts a neighborhood's enjoyment of its property can be charged as a public nuisance misdemeanor under California Penal Code Sections 370 and 372, carrying penalties of up to six months in county jail and a $500 fine, while Los Angeles County Code Section 11.16.050 separately bans public urination and defecation as misdemeanor offenses within county jurisdiction, according to the Rodriguez Law Group.
A Statewide Law Still Catching Up Locally
California lawmakers tried to widen that threshold in October 2023, when the state enacted Senate Bill 43, expanding the legal definition of “gravely disabled” under the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act to include people unable to provide for their own safety or necessary medical care because of severe substance use disorder or mental illness, according to the Governor of California's office. But the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in December 2023 to delay local implementation of that expanded standard until January 1, 2026, citing severe shortages in treatment beds and municipal liability risks, the Los Angeles Times reported; Supervisor Janice Hahn cast the sole dissenting vote. That delay meant county authorities faced statutory limits on involuntary holds for years even as complaints like those in Brentwood mounted.
Other pathways exist but depend heavily on voluntary cooperation. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health runs a 24/7 Help Line that dispatches Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams, pairing licensed clinicians with peer specialists or law enforcement to conduct field crisis interventions and hold assessments. Petitions filed under the county's CARE Court program jumped 85% between November 2025 and March 2026, following expanded outreach and the January 2026 addition of Bipolar I disorder with psychotic features to the list of eligible diagnoses, according to LAist. Still, both tools rely largely on voluntary participation or lengthy petition processes unless someone poses immediate severe danger, per CalMatters.
Local Push for Stricter Enforcement
Brentwood falls within Council District 11, where Councilmember Traci Park introduced a motion in May 2025 urging the city to adopt model encampment regulations that would strictly enforce sidewalk and parkway prohibitions. That local push for tighter right-of-way enforcement has not resolved the core dilemma facing residents dealing with someone who repeatedly declines help, even as service agencies continue to struggle with individuals who reject voluntary aid. Hoodline reported in July 2025 that point-in-time homeless count data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority showed a 21% decrease in homelessness across Service Planning Area 5, which includes West Los Angeles, Brentwood, and Santa Monica, between 2023 and 2025 — even as shelter transitions increased over the same period.
Regional psychiatric capacity is also expanding. UCLA Health is converting the former Olympia Medical Center in West Los Angeles into a standalone neuropsychiatric hospital that will grow inpatient capacity from 74 to 119 beds and add a dedicated acute outpatient stabilization unit, part of an expansion of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital's Westside footprint. For now, though, Brentwood residents say they remain stuck between wanting to protect their own safety and hoping the woman they've watched for years finally gets the help she needs.
