Transportation
Monday, April 9 at 7:45 p.m. –1626 Wilshire Boulevard – Officers responded to W. I. Simonson Mercedes-Benz regarding an individual who refused to leave the showroom. It seems the man had been looking at cars and wanted to buy a Mercedes but was unable to do so for financial reasons. [Have no fear – there’s more; if that alone were a crime, we’d all be in trouble.] After the man’s credit failed to qualify, he stayed in the showroom, looking, and eventually wandered into a restricted area. When asked to leave, he refused and continued to loiter about the rear of the showroom. Police were summoned. At the request of a Simonson sales representative, the officers asked the man to leave and told him that if he returned he would be arrested for trespass. He left. Fifteen minutes later he returned and once again refused to leave. Police were again summoned. He was arrested, as promised, taken to jail and booked for misdemeanor trespassing.
Housing
Tuesday, April 10 at 11:25 p.m. – 2102 Lincoln Boulevard – Officers on routine patrol were checking on the Santa Monica Motel when they saw a group of persons talking among themselves. The officers recognized one of the group as a man with whom the police had prior contact and who was presently on parole, and they went over to talk to him. When they searched the gentleman (with his consent, and he was on parole anyway) the police found a prescription bottle in his pocket and what proved to be a small amount of crack cocaine in the bottle. He was arrested for possession of narcotics and parole violation.
Communication
Monday, April 9 at 5:00 p.m. – 1300 block of Third Street Promenade – A woman was approached by a fellow who asked if he could use her cell phone. When she hesitated and asked why, he grabbed the phone, walked away, and made as though he were making a call. She called after him to come back, which he did not do. Witnesses followed him and called the police. Responding officers detained two suspects at Broadway and Second Street, and the woman and the witnesses made a positive I.D. of the fellow who took the cell phone and his associate who had been standing nearby and who had walked away with him (“the Lookout”). Both were arrested for Grand Theft Person, and the $400 cell phone was recovered. Both of the arrestees, being juveniles, were cited and released to their parents.
