On June 20 at approximately 7:15 a.m., Santa Monica police officers responded to a call in the 2700 block of the beach in response to an assault.
When officers arrived on scene, the suspect, later identified as Branden Aguilar, 18, of North Hills, was being helped by a witness to stay on his feet while he was staggering in the sand headed toward the boardwalk.
Officers asked Aguilar to have a seat when the witness stated that the suspect was drunk. Aguilar displayed clear signs of being intoxicated and the officers believed he was unable to care for himself and was a danger to others. While trying to detain Aguilar, he tensed up, clinched his fists and was attempting to free his arms from the grip of the officers.
The witness stated that Aguilar had been drinking since 2 a.m., when they decided to walk to the shoreline. Aguilar continued to drink, became aggressive and stated that he wanted to fight.
Aguilar saw the victim, a female running on the sand, and ran towards her, tackled her to the ground and began yelling incoherent statements. The witness caught up to Aguilar and pulled him away from the victim and told her to run away in order to avoid her from being attacked again. Aguilar was booked for public intoxication and battery. Bail was set at $20,000.
