By Lookout Staff
April 9, 2024 -- After a tense hour-and-a-half standoff, Santa Monica police on Monday arrested a homeless man who threatened a beach lifeguard with a metallic rod then ran into the bluffs above PCH.
Michael Vincent Parrett (Courtesy SMPD) |
The incident began at around 11 a.m. when the suspect -- identified as Michael Vincent Parrett, 38, -- jumped from the roof of a Lifeguard Tower on the 1200 block of the beach, police said.
Parrett approached the lifeguard with the rod and thrust the weapon towards him several times, but the victim dodged out of the way and was not injured, police said.
Officers responding to the scene located Parrett in the 400 block of Palisades Beach Road, said Myesha Morrison, the Police Department's public information coordinator. |
"He ignored the officers’ commands and began running on the sidewalk, approaching multiple bystanders, while still holding the rod," Morrison said.
The officers intervened, and Parrett ran into the bluffs. Fearing he could fall onto PCH traffic, CHP helped close the northbound and southbound lanes.
SMPD's Crisis Negotiations Team arrived at the scene after Parrett "made multiple statements threatening that he would not give up without a fight," Morrison said.
The crisis team talked with Parrett for more than an hour and half but he "made statements indicating that officers would need to shoot him before he would give up.
"Officers attempted to use less than lethal means to have the suspect drop the rod and surrender," Morrison said, but "he continued to maintain control of the weapon, refusing to drop it."
Parrett was taken into custody with the assistance of a department K9 and taken to a local area hospital for evaluation, police said.
He was transported to the Santa Monica Jail and booked for assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to inflict great bodily injury.
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