A 33-year-old homeless man was arrested on Friday, Jan. 3 after being caught raiding a donation bin then becoming aggressive toward a Santa Monica police officer in the area.
A lone officer of the Santa Monica Police Department who was on patrol in the 1300 block of Ocean Park Boulevard witnessed a man reaching inside a donation bin and removing items from it at 3:20 pm on this day.
The officer stopped and began a conversation with the man in order to ascertain what was going on.
The man told the officers that he (the suspect) was homeless and was searching for a suitable pair of footwear inside the donation bin.
The officers explained to the man why he had been stopped at which point the man became agitated and shortly afterwards put his hands inside his pockets.
The officer, fearing for his safety, and unsure as to why this man had inserted his hands into his pockets, asked the man to remove his hands from his pockets.
The man, however, instead of complying with the officer’s request became angrier, began to hurl abuse at the officer, and then adopted a fighting stance (presumably after removing hands from pockets).
The man then began to approach the officer in a threatening manner whilst asking the officer what “he was going to do about it.”
The officer backed up and asked the man to cease his aggressive behavior but the man continued his disobedient conduct so the officer spoke into his radio and requested a “code-three” (officer needing help so please come with lights flashing and sirens wailing).
Within a few short moments other officers arrived and the man complied with their orders to sit on the curb.
This homeless man was arrested and charged with resisting a police officer. Bail was set at $10,000.
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.
