Crime Blotter: Attempted Burglary, Domestic Violence and Drug Possession

Domestic Violence

At 3:22 p.m. on Nov. 7, officers responded to an address in the 1500 block of Berkeley Avenue regarding a domestic violence call. The victim told the officers that her estranged husband was in her house and demanded the keys to her car. When she would not give them to her, he started throwing items around in her residence and threw her clothes out of her dresser and on to the ground telling the victim that she would have to deal with this if she did not give up her car keys. The victim put her car keys in her pants pocket to keep the suspect from them. The subject dragged the woman from her bed that she was sitting on and pulled her onto the floor. When a witness inside of the residence threatened to call the police, the suspect stopped what he was doing. According to the witness, the suspect tried to choke her the night before until others interceded to stop him. In this instance the police were called and responded while the suspect was still in the residence. The victim was issued an emergency protective order and the suspect was arrested.

Sleeping in Public

At approximately 5:24 a.m. on Nov. 8, officers found a 22-year-old homeless man sleeping in the rear entranceway of a business in the 1300 block of the Third Street Promenade next to a clearly marked sign prohibiting such activity. When advised by the police as to the fact that he was in violation of the municipal code prohibiting the sleeping, the man yelled an expletive at the officer and told him to go bother someone else. When the officer attempted to issue him a citation, the homeless man gave the officer a false identity. He was later found to have a different name. He was booked and released on a citation for the encampment statute and for giving a false identification to a police officer.

Domestic Violence

At approximately 10:10 p.m. on Nov. 8, officers responded a domestic violence call at the 700 block of Palisades Beach Road. A woman reported that she had been choked by her ex-boyfriend. When the officers arrived she told them that her ex-boyfriend climbed onto her balcony to enter her residence. The two got into an argument regarding the way that the ex-boyfriend was treating his dog. According to the victim, the argument resulted in the ex-boyfriend putting his hands around the victim’s throat, choking her, and telling her that he was going to kill her. She was able to fight him off and the ex-boyfriend ran out of the residence. The suspect also called the police from his residence to report the incident and officers responded there. Their investigation led to the arrest of the ex-boyfriend.

Bike Theft & Drug Possession

At about 1:20 p.m. on Nov. 9, an officer watched as a 42-year-old white man on a bike riding around the main library and acted in a manner that the officer thought that he may be attempting to steal a bicycle. The officer approached the man and saw, in plain view, a pair of bolt cutters in the suspects backpack. The officer engaged the man in conversation and asked if he could search the man’s backpack. The man allowed the officer to search it. In the backpack, the officer found tools commonly associated with bicycle burglary. In addition to the tools, the officer found two pipes commonly used to smoke methamphetamine and a small amount of methamphetamine. The man was arrested.

Attempted Burglary 

At 4:45 p.m. on Nov. 10, officers responded to the 1200 block of Princeton Street regarding someone attempting to break into a car parked in a carport. Officers were given a description of the suspect and when they arrived, they contacted a suspect in the carport who did not live at the residence. A witness said that she saw the suspect attempting to pry open a carport storage locker when she called the police. When the suspect saw her, he attempted to open the car door of a car in the carport. When asked what he was doing by the witness, he said that he just bought the car from the owner for $500. The witness knew the owner of the car and did not believe the suspect so she called the police. The police found evidence in which it appeared that a storage locker’s hasp had been tampered with. Based on the totality of the circumstances, officers arrested the suspect for attempted burglary.