A 57-year-old homeless woman was arrested and charged with arson on Thursday, Jan. 30 after lighting objects on fire inside a residence and throwing them out the window.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 2300 block of 31st Street in order to investigate a disturbance at 10:22 pm on this day.
The officers spoke to the 911 caller outside the building who told them she had been poisoned but no longer required their assistance.
The officers continued to chat with this woman and as they were doing so they began to smell smoke emanating from the residence.
The resident then accused the officers of being “fake cops,” and stated that she did not want to talk with them any more.
The woman then ran to the rear of the residence.
The officers attempted to coax her into returning but she did not, and at that time the officers noticed that the burning smell was becoming more intense.
An officer went to the rear of the building and saw the woman inside.
The officer asked her about the smell of smoke and she told him that she had decided to start a fire.
The officers then, in the interest of safety, decided to force their way into the residence, and subsequently into the locked bathroom where the woman was hiding.
The officers entered the bathroom and saw that this woman had set fire to various objects inside, and that she was in the process of throwing them out of the window.
Bail was set at $250,000 for this woman.
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.
