henra:
Yes, the Controller delivered a less than stellar performance, much less than stellar and surely initiated some confusion.
She immensely compounded her incorrect instruction by focusing on separation of EVA from Air Canada. She did this to exclusion of terrain clearance, which she permits to become a near fatal event. KLAX is only 125 feet above sea level. It is only 23 miles to terrain and obstacles nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. It is only 18 miles to the point where the minimum vectoring altitude (MVA) is higher than EVA's achieved altitude. Keep in mind he had ask for and been granted a "high speed climb" (which is not an approved ATC procedure in the U.S.)
In any case, she became fixated on airplane-to-airplane separation to the exclusion of the pending rising terrain disaster. Once EVA entered the MVA area of 7,700 that surrounds Mt. Wilson, the controller became a passenger. She may have well been in the lunch room for all the good she could do by that point. It's a no-mans land when she has an airplane some 2,000 feet below MVA. Yes, she has an emergency map called the Emergency Obstacle Video Map (EOVM), which provides only 300 feet of obstacle clearance, but which does not have the resolution or fidelity to avoid a ridge line or a massive array of tall antennas.
Her blunders, compounded by a much more serous blunder, did not result in a catastrophic aviation disaster essentially only because the dice rolled in her favor.
I've worked with issues of instrument flight procedures and associated terrain clearance issues for many years. MVAs in mountainous areas have always been a very weak link in the safety chain with the FAA. In the year 2016 it is as bad as it was 50 years ago when you factor in a weak air traffic controller and a crew not familiar with the area.
This woman should find another line of work. But, the FAA will simply decertify her, send her to Oklahoma City for remedial training, then she will be back at the scopes.
And, the "cops" will have by then finished their investigation of themselves. (No conflict of interest there.)