SoBe It
Thursday, February 22 at 5:25 p.m. – Baja Fresh at 720 Wilshire Boulevard – Two customers got into an argument, which led to a fistfight, which led to the throwing of chairs and tables. Customers and employees separated the combatants, but then one of them picked up a 20 oz. glass bottle of a SoBe beverage and threw it at the other, hitting him in the neck and shoulder area of his back, narrowly missing his head. Police were summoned while customers and employees detained the two gentlemen outside. The SoBe thrower was arrested, taken to jail and booked for assault with a deadly weapon (that being the bottle). But for throwing the bottle, the Police Department said, it would have been “mutual combat.” [Hey, what about the chairs and tables?]
On the Beach
Sunday, February 18 at 4:30 a.m. – 1300 block of The Beach – A woman who was at the beach with a few friends went for a walk alone and then heard someone running behind her. Turning around, she saw a naked man approaching. He caught up with her, jumped on top of her and attempted to remove her pants. She broke free and went back to her friends, one of whom then went looking for the assailant and located and detained the (by then clothed) man. The woman identified the assailant, and the police were summoned. Responding officers arrested the man, escorted him to jail and booked him for assault with intent to commit rape.
C Notes
Wednesday, February 21 at 2:20 p.m. – The Gap at 1355 3rd Street (on the Promenade) – Two women entered the store separately, although a witness later reported that they had been talking together before they went in. Each made a purchase with a $100 bill at different registers. One cashier questioned the currency, whereupon that woman simply left the store without her purchase, her change or her C Note. The other cashier accepted the bill, whereupon that woman left the store with her purchase and her change. Later, upon being called in, Santa Monica Police tested the bills and determined that they were counterfeit. The investigation is ongoing.
Parentnapping
Wednesday, February 21 at 2:00 p.m. – 2100 block of Ocean Avenue – A woman was walking to pick up her son at school. A fellow in a car pulled up and offered her a ride. (A couple of days before, he had befriended her at Venice Beach and given her a ride home to Santa Monica.) After she got in his car this time an argument ensued, he began making demands, she tried to get out, he wouldn’t let her. He drove down Lincoln Boulevard into Venice and eventually let her out. She called the police – he had detained her against her will: kidnapping. The investigation is ongoing inasmuch as she only had his first name.
