By Tim Broughton
Life is a Carousel.
On Tuesday, September 12, at 3:22 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a radio call informing them that an individual had been riding the Santa Monica Pier Carousel whilst highly intoxicated and had punched a window on the carousel sustaining lacerations to his hand. The officers were told that the subject had entered the Santa Monica Pier Police Substation requesting medical assistance. Santa Monica Fire Department Paramedics had also been summoned and were at the scene treating the individual. When the officers arrived at the pier they went over to the carousel and saw that a window of the carousel structure had been smashed. The officers the approached the intoxicated suspect as he was being treated by the paramedics and asked him if he had broken the window. The suspect admitted to have punched the window for unknown reasons so the officers arrested this 28-year-old Los Angeles resident and he was charged with vandalism and public intoxication. He was released several hours later after the officers deemed that he had sobered up sufficiently to not be a danger to himself or others.
Hot Wired.
On the evening of Tuesday, September 12, officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were on routine patrol in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica when they spotted a suspicious looking vehicle parked in the parking lot of the Pavilion’s Motel, located at 2338 Ocean Park Blvd. The officers noticed that this vehicle was bereft of license plates so they investigated. The officers saw that the ignition of the car had been tampered with so they ran the VIN number of the vehicle and discovered that it had been reported stolen from Riverside County. The officers were also able to obtain a description of the suspected car thief involved. The officers concealed themselves near the vehicle and after a few minutes a female subject approached the vehicle. This woman matched the description of the suspected car thief. The suspect spotted the officers and began to turn around and walk away from the car but the game was up and the officers pounced and detained the woman. The officers questioned this suspect but she was evasive and refused to furnish the officers with any identifiable information, giving the officers only a false name. Suddenly the woman attempted to run away from the officers but they were quicker than her and took her into custody. The officers then discovered that this woman was wanted for the theft not only of this vehicle but also had another theft warrant issued for her arrest. This 28-year-old resident of Moreno Valley was arrested and charged with grand theft auto, resisting arrest and providing false identification to an officer. Bail was set at $35,000.
They Are Following Me.
On Wednesday, September 13, at 11:34 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a report of a prowler at an apartment in the 2900 block of 11th Street. The officers rushed to the scene and as they were en route they were informed that the prowler had attempted to enter the apartment by breaking a patio window. When the officers arrived at the location they immediately ran to the patio where they saw the suspect still standing next to the broken window. The officers detained the female suspect and spoke with the victim who told them that after the suspect had broken the window they had confronted the suspect and that the suspect had claimed that she was “being followed.” It was not clear who, or why anyone was allegedly following the suspect but that was her story. The officers arrested the suspect, aged 30 years, and from Bradenton in Florida, and she was later charged with vandalism and prowling. Bail was set at $20,000.
What’s in Your Wallet…A Knife?
On Wednesday, September 13, at 6:28 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a radio call informing them that a person had been threatened by a man with a knife in the Capital One Cafe, located at 401 Broadway. The officers sped to the location and as they were en route they were told that the suspect had fled northbound on Fourth Street. The officers arrived in the area and spotted the suspect in the 1400 block of Fourth Street whereupon they detained the man. The officers then investigated and determined that this individual had entered the establishment and plugged in his cell phone charger in order to replenish the battery. At that time a security guard at the business had advised the suspect that phone charging was a privilege of paying customers at which point the suspect produced a knife. The security guard told the suspect that he had to leave the cafe and the suspect began to exit the building but as he was doing so he yelled that he intended to return and stab an employee. The officers arrested this 31-year-old person of an undisclosed place of residence and he was later charged with making criminal threats. Bail was set at $50,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of The Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
