A tourist from Reno, Nevada, visiting Santa Monica for "a few days" had the windscreen of his white 2023 Honda Passport smashed as the result of a homeless man hurling his backpack at the vehicle as it attempted to join 5th Street from the 10 freeway exit ramp.
Fernando Hernandez had his family in the vehicle, including his wife and child and immediately after the incident, which thankfully could’ve been significantly worse, he pulled over and called 911.
"I was getting off this highway right here … I was about to turn right into 5th Street, but before that, I heard a loud bang and my windshield shattered. As soon as I look, there’s a bag, a backpack, which rolled off the hood to the left. I looked around to see if I could see anyone and to my right was a wall and above that a street, so I turned right and parked here on 5th Street," Hernandez told the Daily Press.
"I walked over to the corner and sure enough where that came from, that area, there's a bunch of homeless people. I want to say there were maybe five or six of them at the time. Couple of minutes after I walked down there to see if I could see the bag and already they’re shit-talking me. They're like, ‘Hey, what are you doing? Hey, what do you want?’ I just came right back, called the cops and reported it. And now I'm having to fix my windshield, even though I'm here on vacation," he added.
Hernandez said that officers from the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) took all the necessary information and instructed him to be "on standby in case they need to reach out for anything."
"To be honest, I didn't expect much, I just wanted to make sure it was reported. Because I'm sure it's gonna happen more, right? Stuff being launched from over that little bridge, like more cars are gonna get damaged," Hernandez said.
Staff at the Daily Press witnessed the two SMPD officers driving northbound, away from the scene.
The intersection of Olympic Blvd, the 10 freeway and 5th Street is a favorite hang out for many of the city’s homeless, largely because the Samoshel (SAnta MOnica SHELter) is located here, at 500 Olympic Blvd. The offices of the Daily Press are also located just across from the shelter, on 5th Street and within the last three months alone, a homeless man tried to set fire to the building and it was broken into with a number of offices being ransacked.
John Maceri, CEO of The People Concern, the non-profit organization that operates Samoshel, said, "It's horrible that anybody would be driving along and have a backpack or anything else thrown in their car. And I hope the incident was reported to the police and I hope the person was arrested."
SMPD said they were investigating the incident, but no arrests have been made at this time.
In the May 14, 2024 City Council meeting, councilmembers voted unanimously 7-0 to extend the local emergency status of the current homeless crisis for another 12 months. The results of the 2024 homeless count have still not yet been released by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and while they’re due any time now, data from the 2023 count showed that homelessness in Santa Monica had increased by 15% from 2022.
During that meeting, Councilmember Christine Parra asked why the Samoshel shelter was only at 50% occupancy, to which City staff replied that there were likely a couple of reasons for the low occupancy rate including the quality of the interior space. They said it is a typical kind of a congregate shelter with pretty basic furnishings. They also said there are efforts underway to offer people more privacy, provide walls, power outlets and lights to give them a sense of privacy and dignity. The shelter recently expanded operations to take in clients 24-hours a day.
scott.snowden@smdp.com
