Santa Monica police arrested a 28-year-old Los Gatos resident on Friday, Dec. 20 for assaulting a Traffic Services Officer (TSO) on Main Street who was issuing him a parking ticket.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 2700 block of Main Street in order to assist the TSO at 6:12 pm on this day who reported that an irate driver had assaulted him.
Upon arrival the officers spoke with the TSO who told them that he had been in the process of issuing a parking violation ticket when the owner of the vehicle in question arrived and attempted to confront him as he was performing his duty.
The TSO, as an attempt to avoid confrontation, ignored the driver of the vehicle, at which point the driver of the vehicle grabbed the electronic ticket-issuing device and said, “excuse me!”
The TSO advised the driver of the vehicle to let go of the machine twice, but the driver of the vehicle did not comply and a physical altercation ensued.
It was then that the TSO radioed the police for assistance.
The officers then arrested this man and he was charged with assault. Bail was set in the sum of $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.
