Santa Monica police arrested a Venice man on Friday, Aug. 1 who was caught stealing a bike basket for his own bicycle, claiming he needed it to carry his backpack as his back was in pain.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a call informing them that a theft was in progress at 12:45 am on this day at Parking Structure Eight, located at 1555 Second Street.
The officers rushed to the scene and spoke with the reporting party who told them that he had witnessed a man and a woman standing next to a row of bicycles that had been adhered to the bicycle rack by individual locks and chains.
The witness said that the man appeared to be removing a basket from the front of one of the bicycles whilst the woman seemed to be keeping lookout.
The witness continued to add that the man removed the basket and attached it to what appeared to be his own bicycle and then they both rode away, the woman on another bicycle.
The officers had arrived just in time to detain the two suspects while they spoke with the witness.
The officers questioned the suspects and the man said that he had taken the basket because he had back pain and wanted to use it to carry his backpack.
The woman said that she didn’t know anything at all about the incident.
The officers arrested the man, aged 25 years, and from Venice, as well as the woman, aged 25 and from Moreno Valley, and they were both charged with petty theft.
Bail for each was set in the amount of $1,000.
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.
