Residents in the area of Pico Boulevard and 22nd Street in Santa Monica likely heard the helicopter assisting Santa Monica Police, along with officers from multiple neighboring agencies, in search of a suspect who assaulted an officer and evaded capture for nearly four hours.
After stopping 36-year-old Randall Meloncon for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street at about 8:13 p.m. on Aug. 1, Santa Monica officers discovered that he was a parolee with multiple prior convictions for narcotics and weapon possession and was to be considered “armed and dangerous.” When officers attempted to take this Santa Monica homeless man into custody, he punched a female officer in the face, broke her finger, and took off running.
With the help of officers from Santa Monica College, Culver City, Inglewood, Torrance, Los Angeles, and the Long Beach helicopter, law enforcement officials set up a parameter and found Maloncon nearly four hours later hiding under a house in the 2200 block of 21st Street.
“We had him locked down we wanted to make sure we caught him,” said Sgt. Richard Lewis, public information officer with the Santa Monica Police Department.
Meloncon was taken into custody and transported to the Santa Monica Jail where he was booked for assaulting an officer and causing injury, parolee at large, and the traffic violation of riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the street. He is not eligible for bail.
