When Homeless Don’t Go by the Book

By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

March 28 -- When a homeless man assaulted local librarian Celia Carroll, she was just trying to get him to follow the rules.

Carroll, who returned to work Monday, told The Lookout she had repeatedly confronted her assailant, a regular patron of the Ocean Park Branch whom she described as “a problem person” who had “a history of being belligerent.”

His bizarre and threatening behavior led her to threaten to call the police more than once to make him leave, she said.

The assault highlights an ongoing debate over city policies created to govern the behavior of the homeless, many of who are mentally ill.

The soft-spoken, upbeat Texas native said the incident “gives us a pointer” that might lead to making minor changes in the library rules. Carroll expressed confidence that the City will handle her case well.

And her boss, City Librarian Greg Mullen, has faith in the “Rules of Conduct” the Library Board and the City Attorney have crafted, largely to control the behavior of those for whom the library is their only home.

“I feel pretty confident about the rules we have,” Mullen said. “Things like that happen from time to time... we don’t know why.”

Carroll said her alleged assailant, who police identified as Melvin Winston Hardy, a 39-year old black man, drew her attention by breaking various rules on repeated visits to the library.

The first time Carroll noticed him, Hardy was trying to get the printer to work and burst out in a torrent of profanity, Carroll said.

She said she could tell he was “physically angry” and had to threaten to call the police to get him to leave, Carroll said.

Another time, Carroll became aware that Hardy was smoking in the restroom. When she told him he had to leave, she said, “he stormed out.”

And yet another time, Carroll said a patron told her that Hardy was “pulling all the paper out of the bathroom.”

“He stalked out of there” when Carroll told him again she’d have to call the police.

The day Hardy attacked her, Carroll had insisted he leave the library, she said. After he did, she walked outside, thinking about what to say to him.

“He was watching for me,” she said.

When Carroll turned away to walk back into the library, “he ran up quietly behind me and just smacked me on the back,” she said.

Carroll fell, cutting her face. Her husband had just arrived to pick her up from work, and with the help of some bystanders, they restrained Hardy, preventing him from getting on a bus, she said.

“That’s a dangerous man,” Carroll said of Hardy.

Police were called and they arrested Hardy on charges of assault and battery, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, the police department spokesman.

Hardy is being held on $20,000 bail, Fabrega said.

Meanwhile, Carroll’s friends and neighbors have expressed their shock and frustration in a series of emails.

“I've known Celia for many years through PTA, and to me she is like an angel on earth,” wrote Friends of Sunset Park President Zina Josephs.

“It's very disturbing to see librarians and library patrons, especially children, put in harm's way by having to deal with mentally ill people who, while living on our streets, spend their days in and around our local libraries,” Josephs wrote.

One writer, a self-described “very unhappy Amiga of the Santa Monica Library,” suggested a systemic whitewash of similar incidents, though most emails were confined to sympathy and surprise that someone of Carroll’s character would be attacked.

For her part, Carroll is happy to be back at work, and grateful for “so many cards and flowers” that have reminded her of the friends she’s made in the community.