“Vehicle Tampering”
Thursday, December 13 at 7:10 a.m. – 800 block of Santa Monica Boulevard – A Toyota dealership employee saw a man on the lot next to the open door of one of the cars. The police were summoned, but since responding officers could not determine how the man, a transient, had gotten into the car or whether anything had been stolen, they could not charge the crime of burglary. But then there is Vehicle Code section 10852: “No person shall either individually or in association with one or more other persons, willfully injure or tamper with any vehicle or the contents thereof or break or remove any part of a vehicle without the consent of the owner.” He was arrested. (It’s a misdemeanor.)
No License in Sunset Park
Thursday, December 13 at 5:50 p.m. – 900 block of Pier Avenue – Neighbors saw a man jump over a fence separating two front yards and they called the police, particularly in view of the number of burglaries this year in Sunset Park. Responding officers detained the man (who turned out to be from College Park, Georgia). He said he was selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door and jumped the fence to save himself the trouble of walking all the way out to the sidewalk from one front door and then all the way from the sidewalk to the next front door. Trouble was, the man had no city business license and no ID. He was arrested for vending without the required license and taken to jail (which is likely to happen when you have no ID). At the jail, a search of his person turned up a small amount of marijuana wrapped in seven individual packets. In view of the individual wrappings and the fact that he carried $150 in cash, he was charged with possession for sale as well as vending without a license.
Here’s a New Deadly Weapon
Wednesday, December 12 at 12:45 p.m. – Santa Monica Courthouse – A boy going through the metal detectors at the courthouse had a screwdriver in his backpack, was told he could not bring it in, and was escorted out. He later returned on a skateboard, but still had the screwdriver in his backpack and was once again refused entry. An argument ensued with Sheriff’s deputies, who tried to detain the boy. He then tried to push past the deputies and swung his skateboard at them several times, hitting one in the arm. He was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon – the skateboard.
