A 19-year-old man was arrested on Saturday, Feb. 14, after failing a field sobriety test on Ocean Ave. after authorities found the suspect slumped over the steering wheel of his car with engine running – beer in hand.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were asked to go to the 1400 block of Ocean Ave. at 8:36 pm in order to investigate a report of a “person down.”
When the officers arrived they discovered a man sitting in the drivers seat and slumped over the steering wheel of a vehicle, with the engine of the vehicle running. The man was also holding an open beer bottle.
The officers then noticed that there was a female sitting in the passenger seat of the vehicle.
The officers looked inside the vehicle and observed several empty beer bottles inside the car.
The officers then woke up this man and asked him to step outside the vehicle.
The officers then him if he had been drinking any alcoholic beverages, to which he responded that he had consumed just a couple of beers and a Xanax tablet (Xanax, or alprazolam, is a prescription medication that belongs to a group of drugs called benzodiazepines. It works by slowing down the movement of chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced. This results in a reduction in nervous tension or anxiety. Xanax is prescribed to treat anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and anxiety caused by depression).
The officers noticed that there was a very strong odor of alcohol emanating from this man’s breath.
The officers also discovered that this man was not in possession of a drivers’ license.
Based upon the aforementioned circumstances, the officers formed the opinion that there was reasonable cause to suspect that this man might have been operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, so the officer conducted a field sobriety test.
The man’s performance during the field sobriety test confirmed the officers’ suspicions, and the man was placed under arrest for DUI.
The officers then discovered this Santa Clarita resident had two outstanding warrants for sexual assault and vehicle theft.
The man was also charged with the two warrants and driving without a license. 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.
