Santa Monica police arrested an intoxicated 33-year-old homeless man on Thursday, Oct. 17 after being seen screaming and shouting for no good reason.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a radio call at 1 am on this day that had informed them that a man (apparently homeless) had been seen throwing sundry items into the street, and was accompanying this activity with loud shouting and screaming.
When the officers arrived they spoke with the reporting party, who directed them towards a man who was standing on the northwest corner of Second Street at Santa Monica Boulevard.
The officers approached this man and noticed that he was sweating profusely, had bloodshot eyes, and was emanating the distinct and powerful odor of alcohol, signifying that this man was quite possibly highly intoxicated.
The officers asked this man to give them an estimate of the amount of alcoholic drinks he had consumed that day.
This question evidently hit a sore spot with the man because he immediately became angry and threatened the officers by clenching his fists and adopting an aggressive stance.
The officers decided that they had enough evidence to arrest this man for public intoxication so they did, and as they were placing him into the back of the police vehicle, this man became even more aggressive and spat at the officers.
When they all arrived at the Santa Monica Police Headquarters the man continued spitting at the officers and they were forced to place a spit prevention mask over the head of the suspect in order to protect themselves from further assault by spit.
This 33-year-old homeless man was charged with battery on a police officer and assault on a peace officer.
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.
