Bail was set at $110,000 for a 48-year-old man on Tuesday, Jan. 20, after speeding off from a Santa Monica traffic stop after being caught talking on his cell phone while driving.
An officer of the Santa Monica Police Department who was working traffic enforcement in the 2800 block of Wilshire Blvd. at approximately 3 pm spotted a man driving his car while simultaneously having a conversation with someone on his cellphone.
The officers conducted a traffic stop with the man identifying himself as a resident of Culver City.
The man added that on that day he was not in possession of his driver’s license or his vehicle registration.
The officer asked this man if he could hand over the keys to the vehicle, but instead of complying with this request, this man rolled up his window, restarted the vehicle and sped off.
The man drove a couple of blocks to the 1100 block of Stanford Street, parked the vehicle, and walked away from the officer who had followed him to that location.
Other officers arrived and this man was arrested and charged with resisting arrest, driving while on the cellphone violation, and driving without a license.
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.
