This story began at 11:37 p.m. on Oct. 22 when officers were called to the 2000 block of the beach in response to a request from Harbor Officers who were detaining a suspect who had just assaulted them. When they arrived at the scene the officers spoke with the Harbor Officers who told them that they had been patrolling the beach in their truck when they chanced upon a figure lying in the sand.
The Harbor Officers realized that this figure was that of a man, possibly an intoxicated man, and that he was asleep. Because there was heavy fog present, the Harbor Officers exited their vehicle with the intention of awakening this character so that he wouldn’t be run over, and possibly killed, by any city or county vehicles that may have been driving along the beach.
As the Harbor Officers were waking this man up, he threw sand at them, and took up a fighting stance. The Harbor Officers wrestled him to the ground and detained him until the police arrived.
By the time that this man (who was heavily intoxicated) was arrested it was Sunday, Oct. 23, and he was charged with assault (the sand throwing), battery, and public intoxication. Furthermore, this 32-year-old Torrance resident was in the United States illegally, and so an ICE hold was added to the charges.
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.
