A 55-year-old intoxicated homeless man was arrested on Saturday, May 2, after spitting on a Santa Monica police vehicle and then a police officer.
An officer of the Santa Monica Police Department who visited the Star Liquor store at 8:20 pm, located at 1929 Main Street, spotted a homeless man standing next to the refrigerators in the store.
The officer noticed that this individual appeared to be intoxicated so the officer spoke with the store clerk.
The clerk told the officer that he had asked the homeless man to please leave his bicycle outside moments earlier but the homeless man had refused, so the officer politely asked the homeless man to take his bicycle outside.
The homeless man complied and went outside with his bicycle.
A few moments later a witness came into the store and told the officer that the homeless man had been spitting on the officer’s police vehicle and was also yelling at people in the street.
The officer then left the store and confronted the homeless man and informed the homeless man that he better leave because he was drunk in public and harassing citizens.
The homeless man refused to leave the area and began hurling insults at the police officer so the officer arrested this man for public intoxication.
As the officer was assisting the homeless man to get into the back seat of the police vehicle the homeless man spat at the officer with the projected spit striking the officer in the face. Other units then responded to the scene and this homeless man was arrested and charged with assault on a police officer. Bail was set at $20,000.
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.
