A bicyclist waiting for a green light at a Santa Monica intersection escaped injury after a group of men pulled up next to him in a dark colored Honda, surrounded him, and then demanded he fight them on the night of July 26.
Santa Monica Police Department officers went to the area of 19th Street and Colorado Avenue after they had received a report of a fight in progress at about 7:45 p.m.
When the officers arrived, they saw two subjects fighting and detained them both. Based on witness statements, the officers identified the suspect then spoke with the victim who told them what had happened.
The bicyclist said he had been riding east on the 1900 block of Broadway when he had stopped at a red traffic light at 20th Street.
While he was waiting at the light, he said a dark colored Honda driving southbound on 20th Street entered the intersection in front of him and stopped at the curb line. Then, he claimed, four to five men exited the vehicle and began to threaten him, surrounding him and demanding that he fight them.
One of these men, he said, then pushed him backwards onto the street.
The victim was able to call 911 on his cell, which made the men flee in several directions, one of them riding the victim’s bicycle.
A sole suspect decided to remain at the scene and continued to attempt to persuade the victim to fight, and this suspect (in more ways than one evidently) was still demanding a fight when police arrived.
The officers, after taking statements from other witnesses, arrested this 19-year-old Santa Monica resident and charged him with robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime. His bail was set at $50,000.
The investigation is ongoing and officers are in search of the other suspects at this time.
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.
