A 53-year-old man was arrested on Friday, March 14 after an argument on a bus with a friend escalated to a physical assault.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to a battery in progress report in the 900 block of Wilshire Boulevard at 3:15 pm on this day.
Upon arrival the officers spoke with the female victim and she told them that she had been riding a bus to downtown Los Angeles with a male “friend” when they had become involved in an argument.
She said that they had decided to dismount the bus in order to continue the argument.
As she was leaving the conveyance the “friend” had punched her in the back of the head and then pushed her into some bushes.
The “friend” had then snatched the victim’s bag containing personal items.
A description of the “friend” was broadcast over the police radio system and an officer in the near vicinity spotted the man at the corner of 11th Street and Wilshire Boulevard.
The victim was transported to that location where she said, “yes, that’s my ‘friend’ with my bag,” or words to that effect.
The officers arrested this “friend” and he was charged with robbery. 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.
