This story began on Tuesday, July 19, at 9:17 p.m., when officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the area of Seventh Street and Washington Street in response to a report of a man who was attacking people at the intersection.
When the officers arrived they saw a shirtless man, so they detained him while they began their investigation. The officers spoke with the victims in this case and discovered that they had been driving westbound on Washington Avenue at Seventh Street when this man veered in front of them on his skateboard, causing them to stop abruptly in order to avoid hitting him.
The man had then walked over to the passenger side of their vehicle and proceeded to punch out both the front and rear passenger side windows with his bare fists. After he had done this he had reached into the vehicle and began punching the drivers’ 80-year-old mother in the face and neck, again with his fists. The man then grabbed the driver by the collar and attempted to drag her from the vehicle. This man failed in that attempt, and then fled southbound on Seventh Street.
The victims and some witnesses identified this man as being the assailant, and the officers arrested him, and then took him to hospital for treatment to his cut hands. Due to the evidently de-stabilized psychological condition of the suspect he was placed on a 72-hour hold before he was released to police custody. On Thursday, July 28, the officers returned to the medical center and took this man to jail where he was charged with elder abuse. The bail for this 21-year-old resident of San Raphael, California, 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
