Zip It Up!
This story began on Monday, August 8 when at about 8 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department received a call in order to investigate some concerns that some individuals had about their roommate. The officers went to the reporting party’s residence in the 2200 block of 28th Street and spoke with the reporting parties. The officers learned that the reporting party’s roommate (who was away at the time) had a duffel bag with two guns inside and so the officers looked inside the bag and checked out the guns. The reporting parties told the officers that the roommate had said that the guns were imitation weapons and could not be fired. The officers, however, discovered otherwise and identified these guns as being what are known as “zip guns.” These “zip guns” are firearms manufactured other than by a firearms manufacturer or a gunsmith, and are typically constructed by adapting existing materials to the purpose. They range in quality from crude weapons that are as much a danger to the user as the target, to high-quality arms produced by cottage industries using salvaged and repurposed materials. The officers asked the reporting parties to inform them when the roommate returned. The officers left and took the guns away with them. The next day the officers received a call from the reporting parties and went back to the location and met with the roommate. This man, a student, confessed to owning the weapons and additionally told the officers that he had a third weapon that he then handed over to the police. This 19-year-old Santa Monica resident was arrested and charged with illegal possession of homemade “zip guns.” Bail was set at $5,000.
Hit, Run And Curse.
On Tuesday, August 9, at 9:30 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 2000 block of The Beach Boardwalk in order to investigate a report of a hit and run accident. When the officers arrived at the location they spoke with the victim who told them that he had been standing next to the parking booth chatting to the parking attendant about the parking rates when he suddenly saw a vehicle approaching at very high speed. The victim said that the vehicle had approached so fast that he had not had time to move out of the way and the car had struck him and had caused him to flip backwards into the air, spin in the air, and land on the asphalt. He added that he had looked up after he had landed on the asphalt and had seen the car speeding away. The parking attendant and some city beach maintenance workers also witnessed the incident and were able to furnish the officers with a description of the driver, the vehicle and the license plate number of the vehicle. The officers traced this vehicle to an address in Santa Monica and went to that address in order to interview the driver. When the officers arrived at the address they knocked on the door but the owner refused to come out. The officers were in the process of impounding the vehicle for investigation when the suspect came out and proceeded to verbally abuse the police and hurl streams of obscene remarks in the direction of the officers. The officers detained this man and following identification of the suspect by the parking attendant arrested this 61-year-old Santa Monica resident and later charged him with felony hit and run. Bail was set at $50,000.
Dog Day Afternoon.
On Thursday, August 11, at 5 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the Santa Monica Animal Shelter, located at 1640 Ninth Street, in order to investigate a report of a wanted felon being on the premises. As the officers were en route to the location they learned that the Animal Shelter officer had recognized this suspect after the man had walked into the shelter in order to claim his dog, or so he had claimed. The Animal Shelter officer had been able to make the connection after he had noticed the similarity between the suspect and an internal police bulletin that had previously been circulated. When the officers arrived at the scene the suspect spotted them and immediately climbed a barbed wire fence, ran down the alley and continued to rapidly traverse Lincoln Boulevard in an effort to escape. The officers gave chase and a few moments later found the man crouching down behind 1660 Lincoln Blvd. The officers took the man into custody and discovered that this man was indeed a parolee-at-large out of Michigan. The man was wanted for failure to appear in court as well as a string of narcotics related offenses. This 32-year-old Michigan resident was booked as an Out of State Fugitive and is awaiting extradition back to Michigan. Bail was obviously not granted.
Foul Play.
On Saturday, August 13, at 7:35 a.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 100 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in order to attend to a suspected burglary that had occurred in the 1300 block of Pacific Coast Highway. When the officers arrived at the location they saw the victim and the suspect outside the residence engaged in a heated argument. The officers separated this pair and began investigating. The officers learned from the victim that he and his brother had been relaxing at his home when they had decided to walk a few steps from the home to the beach in order to set up a volleyball net on the sand. They had intended to enjoy a game of volleyball that morning. The victim said that as they were setting up the volleyball net he had heard a neighbor yelling franticly. He told the officers that he had looked up and had seen a strange man entering the open front door of his abode and had immediately rushed over in order to see what was going on and why this stranger had entered his house. When the victim arrived at the front door the strange man exited and the victim asked him what he wanted and why he had arbitrarily walked into his home. The strange man responded by standing motionless, staring at the victim and yelling insults and expletives towards the victim. It was at that point that the victim had become fearful for his life and had decided to call the police. When the suspect noticed that the victim was calling the police he began to walk away and the victim had followed him, eventually to the 100 block of Santa Monica Boulevard where they met the police. The officers arrested the strange man, aged 24 and from Colorado, and he was later charged with attempted burglary and criminal threats. 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.
