A 21-year-old homeless man was arrested on Friday, Oct. 2, after beating another man sleeping on the beach near Santa Monica Pier.
At 10:50 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to the area of the 1500 block of Santa Monica Beach after they had received reports of a man who was apparently bleeding from the head. When the officers arrived they spotted a man who was bleeding from what appeared to be lacerations on his head, chin, and cheek.
The officers spoke with this man and he told them that he had been sleeping on the beach next to the stairs to the pier when he was suddenly awakened by a man who was yelling at him while simultaneously punching him in the head.
The man added that although he did not personally know his assailant he was sure that the assailant was also using a bat with which to attack him.
As the officers were attending to this man they received notice via their radios that other officers on the Santa Monica Pier were detaining a possible suspect in the attack.
The victim was taken to the pier whereupon he positively identified the man being detained as being the same man who had attacked him. This man was then arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Bail was set at $30,000.
