On Saturday, Feb. 26, at 12:22 a.m., officers received a report about a trio of people loitering, and harassing patrons, outside the 7-Eleven convenience store at 630 Wilshire Boulevard.
When they arrived the officers noticed that there were two males, and one female loitering near the entrance to the 7-Eleven. The officers then asked these people to leave the area of the store, and the two males obliged and departed, but the female stayed put. This woman stated that she would not leave, and went over to where the sign that requested people to not loiter was situated, and sat directly beneath it. She then told the officers that she wanted to go to jail.
The officers continued to attempt to reason with this woman, and as they were doing so, a female patron walked by while smoking a cigarette. The woman asked the female patron for a cigarette, and then grabbed her arm in an aggressive, panhandling fashion. The officers intervened, and the woman then pushed one of the officers away forcefully, thus having her wish for a trip to jail granted, as the officers then arrested her, and charged her with battery on a peace officer, obstruction of justice, and violation of the Santa Monica Municipal Code that states that loitering near a business is prohibited. Her bail was set at $20,000.
Editor’s Note: This report is part of 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 the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
