Santa Monica police arrested a 40-year-old man on Thursday, Nov. 7 and charged him with spousal abuse after a witness recounted two incidents of assault to his estranged wife.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department went to the 1500 block of Berkeley Avenue at 3:22 pm on this day in order to investigate the domestic violence report.
When the officers arrived they spoke with the female victim who told them her estranged husband had arrived at the house and demanded the keys to her car.
She had declined his request at which point he began to throw items around the house and also eject her clothing from the dresser to the ground.
He then told the woman that she would have to “deal with this” if she did not comply with his request to hand over the car keys.
The woman, had by this time, hidden the car keys in her pants pocket.
The estranged husband then dragged the woman from the bed where she was sitting and pulled her down to the floor.
At that moment a witness who was in the residence threatened to call the police if he didn’t stop this evidently alleged abhorrent behavior.
The officers spoke with the witness who told them that the previous evening the estranged husband had attempted to choke the woman until other people interceded to stop the choking.
The officers issued the woman with an emergency protective order and then arrested the estranged husband.
This man refused to give the officers his address and he was charged with spousal abuse.
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.