A 48-year-old Santa Monica resident was arrested Wednesday, March 13 for threatening to kill a man who refused to pay him back a debt that he claimed had matured from $20 to $200.
At 7 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC), located in the 500 block of Olympic Boulevard, in order to investigate an assault after the victim had shown up at the Santa Monica Police Headquarters to report an incident.
The victim told the officer at the front desk of the Police Headquarters that there had been an altercation over the ownership of a $20 bill.
The victim alleged that he had been standing on the north side of Olympic Boulevard, just outside the OPCC, when the suspect approached him and without any warning, suddenly punched him in the face.
The suspect then informed the victim he had landed this punch because the $20 the victim had previously borrowed had now matured into a debt of $200 (an exorbitant interest rate that it is difficult to imagine anyone agreeing to?).
The suspect then, after announcing the current size of the debt, began to yell at the victim telling him that unless this evidently inflated amount was paid then the cost was not going to be $200, but the very life of the victim.
The suspect then left the scene, but after walking a short distance, he came running back and yelled loudly that he was “going to kill” the victim.
The victim, upon hearing this less than appealing announcement, began to run away, hotly pursued by the suspect.
The victim, perhaps adrenalized by the incentive of not losing his life, outpaced the suspect and arrived at the police station.
After telling the officers the details of the incident, the victim then furnished the police with the name of the suspect, as well as the names of some witnesses to the incident.
Officers then went in search of the suspect and found him at 10:30 am the same morning standing in the 1600 block of Alley Number Nine.
This Santa Monica resident was arrested and charged with criminal threats and a violation of probation.
Bail was not granted.
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.
