A 44-year-old resident of Los Angeles was arrested Thursday, Aug. 22 after being caught with a stolen bike that still had a “U” style lock attached to the rear wheel.
At 8 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were driving east in the 500 block of Colorado Avenue in their police patrol vehicle when they happened upon a man walking westbound on the north side of the street.
This man was pushing a bicycle, and proceeded to cross the street at the intersection against a red light.
The officers decided to stop this man at that point for the infraction and investigate.
The officers began to chat with this man and noticed that he had a “U” style lock attached to the rear wheel and locked to the bicycle frame.
The officers probed and the man told the officers that he and a friend had been shopping at a nearby market.
He told the officers that the friend had stayed outside while he went into the market and did some shopping.
When he exited his friend had suddenly acquired this bicycle and the friend had asked him to take the bicycle to an address on the 500 block of Colorado Avenue.
The officers asked this man what his friend’s name was and which apartment number he had requested the bicycle was to be delivered to.
Strangely, the man could not remember either of these evidently vital details.
He could also not explain why he didn’t have a key to the “U” lock, or even where such a key could be found.
The officers decided to arrest this man and as they were doing so another individual approached and told the officers that the bicycle was his property.
This individual then produced the key to open the “U” lock.
This LA man was charged with receiving stolen property. 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.
