Caught Black-handed
Saturday, February 16 at 1:35 p.m. – Third Street Promenade at Santa Monica Boulevard – Officers on patrol observed a man walking with a freshly painted black bicycle. He had matching black paint on his hands. One of the officers owned a similar bicycle and so knew that it was worth over $2,000. As coincidence would have it, the officers also had prior contact with the man walking the bicycle – contact involving possession of a stolen bicycle. When the police detained the man, he gave conflicting statements and was arrested for possession of a stolen bicycle.
Routine Patrol
Sunday, February 17 at 6:55 p.m. – Rest Haven Motel at 815 Grant Street – Officers on routine patrol ran the license plates on a 2006 Toyota in the motel parking lot and discovered that it had been reported stolen February 13 out of LAPD’s Pacific Division. Follow-up investigation led to the motel room number of the person driving the stolen car, and in that room officers found the key to the car as well as a driver’s license and credit cards belonging to yet another person. When police contacted the rightful owner of the driver’s license and credit cards, they found that his car had been broken into and property stolen from it. Also in the motel room were laptop computers, other electronics, other vehicle keys, and an ignition bypass switch. The occupant of the motel room was arrested for grand theft auto, possession of burglary tools, parole violation, and on a no-bail warrant.
A Very Deadly Weapon
Tuesday, February 12 at 10:00 a.m. – 1300 block of 2nd Street -– Victim and Witness were sitting in Step Up on Second when Suspect walked in carrying a box cutter. Victim notified on-site supervision of the weapon, as weapons are prohibited on the premises, and supervision took it away. Victim and Witness left and went across the street to a local business and sat outside. Suspect, a transient, also left after getting his box cutter back, and found Victim and Witness. An argument ensued which escalated into a fight in which Suspect wielded the box cutter in a threatening manner. Witness called police, who detained Suspect, recovered the box cutter, and arrested Suspect for assault with a deadly weapon. No one was injured.
Attempted Burglary
Friday, February 15 at 6:20 a.m. – 2600 block of 31st Street – Officers responded to a 911 call from a woman who reported that she had heard someone trying to open the front door of her apartment. The subject was someone not known to the woman, and she reported that he picked up a three-foot stick and tried to break through her door. When officers arrived, they detained a man whom the woman then identified as the person that had tried to break in, and he was arrested for attempted residential burglary.
