She Tightened Her Purse Swings.
On Saturday, April 2, at 10:45pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the Buca di Beppo restaurant, located at 1442 Second Street in order to investigate a disturbance. When the officers arrived at the location they spoke with the manager of the restaurant who pointed out a woman in the restaurant. This woman was yelling at other customers and refusing to leave the restaurant. The officers approached this woman and were able to gently coax her out of the restaurant where they detained her in order to ascertain what was troubling this woman. As the officers were in conversation with this woman they detected that the woman was rather drunk and at one point the woman spontaneously began to walk away from the officers. The officers, believing that this woman was too intoxicated to care for herself, attempted to stop this woman from leaving at which point the woman clenched up and swung her purse at one of the officers striking him with said purse. The officers subdued this woman and arrested her. This 68-year-old Santa Monica resident was later charged with public intoxication and assault on a Santa Monica police officer. Bail was set at $20,000.
Unhappy Passenger.
On Monday, April 4, at 8:30am a student of the Santa Monica College was riding the Big Blue Bus to the Santa Monica College Campus when he overheard another passenger on the bus say that he was going to “shoot up” the campus and then kill himself. The student immediately called the Santa Monica Police Department and informed them what had happened and officers from the Santa Monica Police Department were dispatched to meet the bus at 19th Street and Pico Boulevard. When the bus arrived at the location the officers spoke with the witness and the bus driver who pointed out the person who had allegedly made the threats. The officers spoke with this man and asked him about the threats and he admitted to making the threats but said that he had done so because he had become frustrated with the Santa Monica College, the faculty, and the other students. He wouldn’t specify his frustrations but told officers he had no intention to carry out the threats. He added that he just wanted everyone to understand his anger. Another passenger then approached the officers on the bus who told them that he had also observed this man’s strange behavior and had as a result recorded the man with his cell phone. The officers viewed the recording and saw that it depicted the suspect saying, “This is a public announcement, I am going to shoot up SMC in 25 minutes and then kill myself after I blow up like 25 other people.” The officers then arrested this 23-year-old Santa Monica resident and he was charged with making threats. In addition this man was considered for psychiatric evaluation. Bail was set at $50,000.
Anti-Social Media.
In the early part of this year officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were tipped off that a homeless man (who was known to the police department) had been making threats against Santa Monica Police Department officers as well as the City government. The tip came from an out-of- state relative who said that the individual concerned had posted on social media sites (Facebook and Instagram) that he desired to shoot and kill Santa Monica police officers. The Santa Monica Police Department initiated an investigation and discovered that this man had indeed made such threats, many of which were accompanied by photographs of this individual holding various firearms. The investigating officers obtained search warrants that allowed them to discover that this man had been making these postings via his cell phone from public places that included a library and a coffee shop. The officers conducted surveillance at these locations and on Tuesday, April 5, at 5:30pm officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) located the suspect near the Mann’s Chinese Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. The man admitted to officers that he had made the threats. He was not armed at the time of the arrest. The officers took this 42-year-old homeless man to jail and he was later charged with making criminal threats. Bail was set at $50,000.
Passion Play.
On Tuesday, April 5, in the early morning hours, officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to an apartment located in the 400 block of Washington Avenue in order to investigate a report of domestic violence. The 911 Operator who took the call told the responding officers that she had heard the sounds of hitting, slapping and thumping during the call and that she believed that someone was being assaulted. The officers arrived at the scene and entered the apartment whereupon it was immediately apparent to them that something was awry, due to the overturned furniture, broken items and blood drops on the ground. The officers then separated the male/female couple that was present in the apartment and began to talk with them individually. Both of these people displayed visible injuries. The male half of the couple said that everything was absolutely fine and that the couple was partial to indulging in aggressive and rough sex acts and that they had lost control of this particular copulative session. The officers noted that as this man was telling them this story he was bleeding from his nose, head and hand. The man’s wife told the officers told the officers that they were newlyweds and had been arguing about relationship issues. She said that her husband had thrown her to the ground several times and that she had defended herself by punching him and scratching him. She could not explain why her husband was bleeding so profusely and why there was so much broken glass in the apartment. The officers asked both of these individuals some more probing questions and determined that the wife was the primary aggressor so they arrested this 29-year-old resident of Santa Monica and she was charged with domestic violence. Bail was set at $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.
