A 26-year-old homeless man was arrested on Saturday, Nov. 1 after vandalizing a section of the Expo Line construction site and then becoming aggressive toward police.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a report of a man who had been vandalizing part of the light rail construction site in the 1100 block of Colorado Avenue at 10:40 am on this day.
A Traffic Service Officer had apparently witnessed this man ripping up train tracks, removing other items from the construction site, and throwing them into the street, thus causing a hazard.
When the officers arrived they spotted this man walking northbound on Euclid while tossing dirt into the street, so the officers asked him to stop.
The man refused, muttering inaudible words to himself under his breath. The officers asked this man to stop again and the man responded by throwing a rock at the officers.
The rock missed the officers, and the man continued walking, by now veering into oncoming traffic.
One of the officers attempted to place the man under arrest but the man resisted and fought back.
Other officers soon arrived and this man was overpowered and taken into custody.
The man was initially booked into jail as a John Doe because he refused to give any information pertaining to his true identity.
The officers later discovered who he was however.
This man was charged with obstruction and jaywalking. Bail was set at $10,000.
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.
