A 23-year-old man was arrested after spitting at Santa Monica police officers on Friday, Aug. 21. At 10 pm an officer of the Santa Monica Police Department was called out to a business located in the 2600 block of Colorado Ave. after a call had been placed with dispatch informing them that there was an employee who was behaving strangely in the building. Upon arrival at the location the officers were directed to the suspect employee and spoke with him. This man said that he had felt it necessary to “drink a ton of alcohol and smoke some weed” in order to muster up the courage to tell his boss that he had stolen $10. During the conversation with this man the officers noticed that there was the distinct odor of alcohol emanating from the man’s breath and body. The officer decided that this man was indeed intoxicated and placed him in the back seat of the police vehicle. It was at this point the man asked the officer to lean over and then spat at the officer. This man continued to spit at the officer several times including through the patrol vehicle window. The man also threatened to spit at the minute they arrived at the Santa Monica jail. This man of an unknown location was charged with public intoxication and assault and battery upon 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.
