A 32-year-old homeless man was arrested on Friday, Dec. 26, after punching another man in the face for no apparent inside a Santa Monica coffee shop.
Officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were dispatched to the area of 212 Pier Avenue at 6:51 pm in order to investigate an assault report.
Upon arrival the officers spotted the suspect walking along the street, and also the victim who was at the time following the suspect.
The victim was bleeding from a cut on his face.
The officers detained the suspect and conversed with the victim who told them what had allegedly happened.
The victim said that he had been sitting inside a nearby coffee shop when he heard someone approach him from behind.
The approaching individual was muttering unintelligible sounds that the victim presumed to be attempts at constructing sentences in some form of language.
The victim, intrigued by the sounds, turned in order to discover what was making the noises and was immediately struck in the face by the suspect using a closed fist.
The punch caused a laceration that bled noticeably.
The victim stated that he had attempted to detain the suspect but the suspect had broken free and fled.
The victim also said that he had never seen this person before in his life.
Based upon the evidence the officers arrested the suspect, aged 32, and homeless, and he was charged with assault and a violation of probation.
Bail was granted in the amount of $20,000.
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.
