Homeless incident leads to a cough-off on aisle six at Vons
DOWNTOWN A trip to the neighborhood grocery store turned into a cough session for several shoppers here on Thursday afternoon after a security guard pepper sprayed a homeless man.
At approximately 4:10 p.m., a Vons security guard sprayed a homeless man outside of the store at the corner of Lincoln Boulevard and Broadway after an altercation between the two, said Lt. Padilla of the Santa Monica Police Department.
The security guard reportedly approached the homeless man who had laid out several of his belongings outside of the store entrance.
When the security guard ordered the man to remove his belongings, he reportedly became angry and swung at the guard. It was then when the security guard pepper sprayed the suspect, according to an anonymous source at Vons.
One person who exited the store immediately following the confrontation smelled the spray and experienced breathing problems.
An ambulance was called and the customer was treated and released at the scene. Police received no other complaints of injury.
The store decided not to press charges against the homeless man, Padilla said.
Inside the store, Maria Sirotti of Santa Monica was shopping near the milk department when she noticed she was experiencing breathing problems.
“I started at the vegetable (department) and by the time I go to the milk (department), my eyes started to tear,” Sirotti said. “I went out and saw all these people and asked what happened. They were all coughing.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 2, 2007. Read the original PDF.