By FRANKLIN SMITH Special to the Daily Press
An unidentified man was taken into police custody Saturday after he allegedly kicked a street performer’s dog and pulled a knife on him.
At about 7:30 p.m., about a half-dozen Santa Monica police officers responded to the Third Street Promenade, where an altercation had grown to a full-blown knife fight in the midst of hundreds of people under a full moon.
Mikel Proudlock, a street performer selling bamboo flower sculptures, said a very big man approached him and kicked his dog. When Proudlock told the man to stop, the man threatened to stab him. So to protect himself, Proudlock reached into his bag and pulled out his own knife.
A tense moment ensued and once it was clear that the police had arrived, Proudlock put his knife away.
There were no injuries during the incident and police arrested the man after interviewing several witnesses. While he was being handcuffed, the man screamed that it was a false arrest and he would be out of jail that night.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 29, 2002. Read the original PDF.