Drama gripped Venice’s Marina Peninsula on Tuesday night starting at 7 p.m. when a radio call came into LAPD for what was described at the beginning as a “male with mental illness” on Fleet St. The man was on the street throwing items at passers by and screaming in a very agitated manner. Listen to the LAPD scanner radio calls in a condensed timeline below:
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When police arrived, the man fled into his nearby apartment, and started throwing items out his window. He then took his clothes off and was frantically walking back and forth from inside the unit to two different balcony windows. A witness said that the man was the same man who was tazed earlier in the week on Abbot Kinney, for driving his vehicle up onto the sidewalk in front of a liquor store, emerging, taking off his pants and becoming combative with police. This scene underscores the challenge that LAPD has when dealing with violent individuals with possible mental illness who pose a threat to themselves and others, and the impact they have on the community.
As the situation unfolded, police knocked on the door of the apartment and the man opened the door and brandished a knife at police officers, then shut the door. The airship that was circling above alerted officers to the amount of pedestrians that had gathered to witness the event and concern grew that if the man had any other weapons people could get injured so LAPD took every precaution and cleared the area. The man continued to scream out the balcony windows, he threw items out the windows, he then set up his stereo speakers and started blasting music, screaming at police that he was “in control”. Neighbors reported that the man was bi-polar, was apparently not taking his medication because he had recently lost his job and had been served divorce papers. An emotionally tragic situation that would cause anyone a great deal of distress now involved neighbors, LAPD and an entire community as concern grew for the man who was clearly in need of help. Police had to stand by armed with beanbag rifles keeping close eye on all windows to ensure he did not emerge with a weapon or pose a threat to others, underscoring how swiftly police have to react to keep the public safe while preparing to deal with any all all possible violent possibilities.
As the situation progressed, he was guzzling from a bottle of scotch, telling police to go away, and throwing gobs of paper off his balcony. He eventually agreed to come outside. He stood on the front steps and talked to Sergeant Vasquez, who got the man to calm down and agree to be taken into custody to receive medical help. The man continued to be combative as he was placed in a gurney. He spat at police, and was taken to a local medical center for evaluation.
Tony Vera captured the whole event on video.
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