PUBLIC SAFETY FACILITY — A Santa Monica police officer was punched in the face and broke her finger while trying to arrest a homeless parolee considered to be “armed and dangerous,” authorities said Tuesday.
Police were on routine patrol Monday night near the corner of 20th Street and Pico Boulevard when they saw a man riding his bicycle on the wrong side of the street in violation of the vehicle code, said SMPD Sgt. Richard Lewis.
Officers ordered the cyclist to stop. While talking with him, the suspect told officers that he was on parole for various drug offenses. Officers searched a computer database and learned that the suspect was a parolee at large who should be considered armed and dangerous.
As one of the officers was in the process of putting handcuffs on the suspect, he allegedly turned and struck her in the face before running east on Pico Boulevard. Officers followed on foot but lost sight of the suspect after he ran in between several homes.
Lewis said officers set up a perimeter and with the help of several law enforcement agencies, including the Santa Monica College Police Department, and K-9 units, the suspect was located at approximately 11:30 p.m. Police said he was hiding underneath a house in the 2200 block of 21st Street.
The suspect was taken into custody and booked for assaulting a police officer causing injury, being a parolee at large and for riding his bicycle on the wrong side of the street. He was being held at the Santa Monica Jail without bail, Lewis said.
The officer who was struck in the face also suffered a broken finger when she tried to take the suspect to the ground before he fled. She was treated at a local hospital and released.
The suspect was identified as Randall Terale Meloncon, 36, a transient.
kevinh@www.smdp.com
