A 20-year-old Riverside man was arrested on Saturday, Aug. 3 after a parking lot attendant on the Santa Monica Pier witnessed the man punch a woman inside a car while they were trying to leave.
At 9:05 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were informed via radio that a man was hitting a woman in the Pier Deck Parking Lot.
The officers rushed to the location and detained the couple so that they could begin their investigation.
The officers noticed the man was emitting the strong, unmistakable aroma of alcohol from his mouth.
The man told the officers he had been driving to the pier with his girlfriend and that he had become angry after he thought that she was talking with another man on her cell phone during the journey.
The officers then spoke with the parking lot attendant.
He told them that as the couple’s car had approached the exit he saw the man punch the woman in the face with a closed fist.
At that point the attendant had kept the gate arm lowered, thus preventing them from leaving, while he called the police.
The officers looked at the woman and noticed three one inch long welts on her red and swollen face.
The officers arrested this Riverside resident and he was charged with spousal battery.
Bail was set at $50,000.
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.
