A 30-year-old Marina del Rey man was arrested on Saturday, Oct. 31, after screeching past a Santa Monica police officer who then pulled the man over and found the suspect had an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
At 6:45 am an officer of the Santa Monica Police Department, who was on patrol in the 300 block of Broadway, was suddenly alerted to a suspicious event when he heard tires screeching and the revving engine of a car in a nearby alley.
The officer approached the alley and saw a vehicle exit past him at a very high rate of speed.
The officer gave chase and used his PA system to request that the driver of the speeding vehicle pull over and stop.
The vehicle did stop, but when the officer approached he noticed that the driver was moving around with suspicious haste inside the vehicle.
The officer stood a safe distance away from the vehicle and asked the driver and his passenger to put their hands on the dashboard.
Both the driver and the passenger complied with the officer’s commands, but when the officer asked the driver to throw the car keys out of the window the driver refused and told the officer he didn’t know where they were.
The officer cautiously approached the car and as he got closer the officer recognized the pungent odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle.
The driver then became very upset, agitated and belligerent with the officer so the officer called for backup while giving the driver multiple commands to exit the vehicle.
The passenger exited the vehicle as commanded, but the driver remained inside and at one point told the officer that he had a gun on him.
When the backup officers arrived the driver eventually complied with the orders and exited the vehicle.
This 30-year-old resident of Marina del Rey was arrested and charged with for criminal threats, resisting arrest, exhibition of speed, possession of marijuana, unlicensed driver as well as having an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Bail was set at $51,000.
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.
