Santa Monica police arrested a 45-year-old man on Friday, Oct. 23 – about a week after trying to attack a man on the beach with a bicycle chain.
This story began on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 5 pm when officers of the Santa Monica Police Department were called out to the 1600 block of Ocean Front Walk regarding a report of an assault.
When the officers arrived they spoke with the victim who told them that he had been involved in an altercation with the suspect. He said that he had been on the phone calling the police when the suspect had attacked him by hitting him several times with his clenched fists.
The victim added that the suspect had then produced a bicycle chain and had swung it at him with the clear intent of striking him with said chain.
The victim told the officers that he had reported the incident in real time with dispatch. He said that the suspect had fled the scene.
The officers took a report but were unable to locate the suspect on that day. However, on 6:45 pm on Friday, Oct. 23, a Public Service Officer had spotted the suspect (from the description given to the attending officers on Oct. 18) in the 2000 block of the beach.
Officers rushed to the location and detained this man of an unknown place of residence and discovered that he was carrying a bicycle chain.
This man was later arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Bail was set at $30,000.
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.