Tim Broughton
Mirror Contributor
Not Music To His Ears.
On Wednesday, February 22, at 9:22 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to Star Liquor, located at 1929 Main Street after dispatch had received a 9-1-1 hang up call. When the officers arrived at the scene they were met by a victim of an assault who told them what had happened. The victim, an employee of the store, had been walking towards the rear of the store when his attention had been drawn to the suspect. The victim told the officers that the suspect had been parked in the rear parking lot and had been performing some mechanical repairs to his vehicle. The suspect was playing music in his car at great volume and the victim he had asked the suspect if he could kindly reduce the volume as it was disturbing the neighborhood. The suspect had appeared to have become disturbed by this suggestion and had attacked the victim, striking him several times in the face with a stool. The victim told the officers that the suspect had then left the scene in his vehicle. The officers were unable to locate the suspect on that day but the following day spotted this man at the corner of Main Street and Bay Street. The officers arrested this man and he was later charged with assault with a deadly weapon and a violation of probation. Bail was denied for this 49-year-old homeless man.
Alternative Money.
On Monday, February 20, at 4:23 p.m. officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the Bloomingdale’s Department Store, located at 315 Colorado Boulevard in order to investigate a report of counterfeit bills. When the officers arrived they detained the suspect (who had been in the custody of Bloomingdale’s staff) and began to investigate. The officers learned that the suspect had selected numerous items of clothing, including jackets and jeans, and had taken these items to the checkout counter and produced $560 in cash with which to pay for said items. The officers were told that the sales associate had looked at the banknotes and had become suspicious as to the validity of the money. The sales associate summoned a loss prevention agent (who had been trained in the art of banknote identification) and the loss prevention agent deemed these banknotes to be fake, or as is the contemporary term for things that are not real, alternative. The loss prevention agents had detained the suspect until the police arrived at the location. The officers examined the banknotes and decided that they did indeed look counterfeit so they arrested the female suspect, aged 21 and from Tujunga, and she was later charged with forgery. Bail was set at $5,000.
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.
