A 24-year-old Santa Monica man was arrested on Saturday, Oct. 25 after violently hitting his “friend” over the head with a skateboard for no apparent reason, which caused major bleeding and hospitalization.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to investigate a report of assault in the 1300 block of 17th Street at 6:33 pm on this day.
When the officers arrived they discovered the victim sitting in a chair inside a nearby convalescent home being treated by Santa Monica Fire Department paramedics.
The victim appeared to be under the influence of many alcoholic beverages when the officers spoke with him.
The officers quickly noticed that this man was bleeding from the right side of his head and also had blood on his hands (literally).
The victim told the officers that his “friend” had hit him on the head with a skateboard for no apparent reason.
He added that he had grappled the skateboard away from his “friend” during the altercation and that the “friend” had then run away from the scene in a northerly direction on 17th Street.
In spite of this victim’s state of drunkenness the officers were able to extract from him a detailed description of the assailant.
The victim was then transported to UCLA Westwood for treatment. Meanwhile, other responding officers apprehended a man matching the description of the suspect in the area of 16th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.
The officers noticed this suspect also had blood on his hands (again, literally), so they arrested and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon (skateboard). Bail was set at $30,000.
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.
