Newspaper reporter cited at crime scene by officer
By Daily Press staff
DOWNTOWN — A homeless man was found dead early Wednesday, lying on the ground near the entrance to the YMCA parking garage on Sixth Street.
Police are providing few details surrounding the suspected murder of the man, who is described as a 35-year-old transient. The man has been identified, but the Daily Press is waiting until his family has been notified before publishing his name.
David Campbell, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner, said the man suffered lacerations to his head, adding an autopsy will be conducted in the next few days.
Santa Monica Police were called to the area at 5:52 a.m., with the caller reporting “suspicious circumstances,” police said. The man was dead when police arrived, and detectives noted that the man was an apparent victim of an assault.
The man’s death marks the third homicide in Santa Monica this year. The first death is classified by the Los Angeles Police Department as a “justifiable homicide,” after its officers shot a Malibu man on Pico Boulevard near Santa Monica High School. The victim, who apparently robbed a gas station, led officers on a high speed chase throughout the LA area. The second homicide occurred on March 7, when Gabriel Edward Becerrada, 38, was shot in front of his girlfriend’s apartment near Lincoln Boulevard and Ashland Avenue.
Detectives and police officers were surrounding the scene on Sixth Street mid-morning on Wednesday, as the coroner removed the man’s body.
Santa Monica Police Officer Crafton, who was guarding the area behind police tape, issued a traffic ticket to a Daily Press reporter attempting to take photos of the scene. The reporter, who was standing about one foot from the curb between two parked police cars and not near moving traffic, snapped a Cell phone users should mind their manners this month, an etiquette expert says. photo while walking away, after being told to leave the street.
Officer Crafton issued a ticket to the reporter for violating penal code 21954 (a), a pedestrian in the roadway. According to the California Penal Code, 21954 (a) states that “Every pedestrian upon a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway so near as to constitute an immediate hazard.”
Anyone with information regarding the homicide is encouraged to call the SMPD at (310) 458-8451 or (310) 458-8426. Callers who wish to remain anonymous, yet still become eligible for a reward, may call the We Tip national hotline at 1-800- 78-CRIME (27463).
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 1, 2004. Read the original PDF.