A knife-wielding homeless man was arrested on Sunday, July 5, after stealing an unattended cell phone at a Santa Monica coffee shop, then threatening the owner who tried to get it back.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were flagged down at 12:30 pm by a victim in the area of the Santa Monica Pier in regard to an incident that involved a threat that had been made involving a knife.
The victim told the officers that he had briefly left his cellular phone unattended on a table inside the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf coffee shop located at 200 Santa Monica Boulevard and that when he had returned to the table the cellular phone had been taken.
The victim explained to the officers that he had followed a man whom he believed to be the possible thief.
The man had been walking away from the location, he said.
He said that once outside the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf he had confronted this individual. He told the officers that this person had pulled a knife from his pocket and exposed the blade.
The victim added that the suspect had then threatened to cut him.
The victim had then followed the suspect to the area of the pier whereupon he had flagged the officers down.
The victim pointed the suspect out to the officers and the officers approached the suspect.
The officers were talking with this suspect when he suddenly pulled his shirt up and revealed a concealed knife in his pocket.
The officers removed the four-inch open blade from this man.
The suspect then claimed that he needed the knife to protect himself from the victim, who he said had been following him in a stalking manner.
The officers then searched the suspect and discovered the victim’s cellphone inside his belongings.
This 23-year-old homeless man was arrested and charged with robbery and carrying a concealed dirk or dagger. Bail was set in the amount of $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.
