Police Blotter: Caffeine Crasher, Liquor Looters

Coffee Bean and please leave

Police responded to two reports at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Manhattan Beach Boulevard. On July 15, a Coffee Bean manager told police that she approached the front door when she saw a vagrant walk toward the entrance. After she asked him to leave, the man shoved her in the chest, pushing her to the side, the manager said.

A witness told police that after Coffee Bean employees refused to serve the man, they called police. Officers arrived and arrested the man on suspicion of battery, according to the crime report. Police told the man that he was no longer allowed in the store, and that if he returned, he would be arrested for trespassing.

The next day, the store manager told police that the same man had locked himself in the bathroom and initially refused to exit when asked but later left. When police stopped the man walking near Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Manhattan Avenue, he denied he had earlier been inside Coffee Bean, police said. The man was arrested on suspicion of trespassing.

Wig out

On Aug. 11, police reported that a turquoise beach bag had been stolen from a woman near 15th Street and the waterline. The woman, who told police she is suffering from an illness she declined to specify, said she had left her brown custom-made wig inside her bag before swimming in the ocean. When she returned, the bag was missing. She searched the beach and nearby trash cans but did not find her property.

Crosswalk caper

Police responded to a report of battery Aug. 11. A woman told police that as she drove past 35th Street, she heard someone yell at her. She reported that she thought it was a friend, so she stopped her car in the crosswalk. As the woman lowered her window, the suspect reportedly grabbed the top of it to force it down.

The woman told police that she screamed when the suspect began to shout at her, trying to punch her through the open car window. The suspect reportedly grazed the woman's neck before then walking southbound on Highland Avenue. Police reported no signs of trauma on the woman, and she declined paramedics' care, according to the crime report.

Goose, goose, duck

Police responded to a report of theft at the El Porto Liquor store on Highland Avenue on Aug. 14. The store owner told police that he was manning the registers when two men about 18 years old entered the store.

One of the suspects approached the register, dropped a $20 bill on the counter and said he wanted Grey Goose vodka, the owner said. The suspect reportedly then snatched two 750 ml bottles of Grey Goose and ran for the exit.

As he fled, the suspect reportedly told the owner that he would later return with the rest of the money. The owner said he saw the suspect and his accomplice run south on Highland, enter a gray sedan and head west on 41st Street. The owner told police the theft had been caught on the store's video surveillance.