On Sunday, July 10, at 7:58 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to Third Street and Santa Monica Boulevard in response to a report of a disturbance. When the officers arrived at the scene they were confronted by the sight of a man holding a woman down on the ground.
The officers detained both of these people and questioned them. The man told the officers that he had been taking pictures of the intersection of Third Street Promenade and Santa Monica Boulevard with his camera prior to walking over to the bus stop in order to embark upon on one of the public transit vehicles, when the woman (that he had been holding down on the ground) ran up to him and suddenly punched him in the face with her clenched fist. The man further informed the officers that this woman had accused him of taking her picture (say cheese?) and had threatened to kill him for doing that.
The man, who is 65-years-old, had subsequently held the woman down and requested that other people call the police (which clearly they did). The man was desirous of a prosecution so the officers arrested the woman, who incidentally was already on parole for assault, and she was charged with elder abuse, battery, assault, and a parole violation. This 46-year-old woman was taken to jail where presumably she was photographed before being refused bail and put into a cell.
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