A Hollywood man, aged 44, was arrested Saturday, May 4 after punching a Starbucks customer in the head for no apparent reason.
At 11:50 am Santa Monica Police Department went to the area of Fifth Street and Arizona Avenue after they had been informed of an assault that had just happened.
The officers rushed to the location and immediately detained a suspect who matched the description that they had been given.
The officers then spoke with the victim who told them that he had been sitting inside the Starbucks Coffee House located at 310 Wilshire Boulevard, when the suspect, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, walked up to him and punched him on the top of his head with a closed fist.
The victim rose and asked the suspect why he had done this at which point the suspect ran off.
The victim had never seen the suspect before and was desirous of a prosecution so a private person’s arrest was initiated.
The suspect was arrested and charged with battery.
During the booking process the suspect lied about who he was so the charge of providing false information to officers was added.
Bail was set at $20,000.
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.
