Santa Monica police arrested a 34-year-old man on Sunday, July 20 after an early morning backpack robbery in Palisades Park.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the Senior Center, located at 1450 Ocean Avenue, at 6:55 am on this day in order to investigate a report of a backpack robbery.
Upon arrival the officers saw the suspect who was still chasing the victim in the 100 block of Broadway.
The officers detained the suspect and spoke with the victim who told them that about 20 minutes prior the suspect had approached the victim and had appeared nervous and intoxicated.
The suspect asked the victim if he had seen his (the suspect’s) red backpack and the victim responded in the negative, pointing out his own backpack that was black in color.
The suspect responded by yelling at the victim and a chase ensued with the suspect running after the victim for several blocks.
The victim told the officers that he had eventually tired and slowed to a walking pace and that the suspect had grabbed the victim’s backpack and had emptied it of its contents.
The suspect then began yelling at the victim again and resumed the chase, stopping only when he heard the approaching police officers with their sirens blaring.
A witness corroborated the victim’s story and so the officers arrested this Shell Beach, California resident 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.
