On Wednesday, June 5, at 8:45 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to a hotel in the 1700 block of Ocean Avenue in order to investigate an assault incident.
When the officers arrived they assisted some other officers who were already there handcuffing the suspect.
The officers then spoke with the three victims who were all employees at the hotel.
The officers learned the suspect had approached victim number one as he stood in the entrance to the hotel lobby and had spontaneously punched him in the head.
The suspect then challenged another employee to a fight.
Yet another employee had then arrived on the scene to see what the commotion was about, and upon witnessing the problem had yelled at the suspect in order to divert his attention away from victim number one.
This yelling had attracted the suspect who then proceeded to punch this employee around the neck and chest thus making him victim number two.
The suspect had then walked away eastbound through the property towards Ocean Avenue.
The third victim had been asking other employees what had happened when the suspect returned and grabbed hold of him.
This resulted in a struggle that had caused them both to fall to the ground.
The third victim had managed to control the suspect on the ground until the arrival of officers.
Based upon the testimony of the victims the officers arrested this 27-year-old homeless man and he was charged with assault, battery and challenging other people to a fight.
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.
