One arrest, further leads in late-night fracas on Hermosa Beach’s Pier Avenue
Hermosa Beach’s Pier Avenue. File photo
City police said they have made one arrest, and identified further possible suspects, in a late night fracas involving about 20 people near downtown Hermosa that saw one young man hospitalized for dental surgery.
Police expect to ask the city prosecutor for charges in the incident in about a week.
Hermosa police received a call about 1:10 a.m. Saturday, reporting about 20 people fighting at the Strand and 10th Street. A group of people fled the scene on skateboards, Lt. Tom Thompson said.
A man was taken by friends to an area hospital for “surgery on his teeth,” Thompson said.
Officers arrested Heather Elizabeth Sudduth, 21, of Rancho Palos Verdes at the scene, and were investigating a Torrance man whose wallet was recovered at the scene, Thompson said. Additional possible suspects were also under investigation.
The mother of two young adults described as victims in the attack addressed the City Council on Tuesday, asking for stepped-up security around Hermosa’s weekend nightlife, perhaps with additional policing and security cameras.
Her sentiments were echoed by two others, one telling the council, “If the people who live here and visit here are not safe, you have nothing.”
Police currently monitor one security camera aimed at the Pier Plaza and a second camera aimed at the beach bathrooms near the pier. Police plan to approach the council in November with a plan for additional security camera coverage, although they were not expected to ask for coverage as far as 10th Street.
In a letter to city officials, the parent, Alisa Stein of Redondo Beach, said her kids “now fear for their own safety.”
“On Saturday morning, Oct. 11 at 12:30 a.m. my two children, 22 and 21 years of age, and their five friends ranging in ages from 23 to 25 years old, were leaving the pier in Hermosa Beach after a night of fun at Waterman’s [on the Pier Plaza],” she wrote.
“They were walking down the Strand toward 10th Street to pick up a ride from Uber [ride service]. As they were walking toward the Uber pick up area, where they had been dropped off earlier that evening, they were approached by a girl on a bicycle who had lost her purse.
“She appeared to be highly intoxicated. The kids described her as around 24 years old. The girl on the bike started giving my daughter’s girlfriend a hard time by calling her names, and hassling her for no apparent reason.
“As the girl on the bike came closer to my daughter’s friend, one of the boys put his hand out to stop her from getting any closer. Within seconds, 20 boys came out from behind the alley around 10th Street and proceeded to punch, kick and jump on the boys with my daughter.
“They came from behind my son, put him in a headlock, threw him to the ground and proceeded to kick him. My daughter and one of the other girls called 911 and stayed on the phone with the police until they arrived.
“…Most of the boys suffered bruises and lacerations, some of which required stitches, however, one of the boys was taken to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for emergency surgery for his teeth.
“Seven of these kids live in Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes. My daughter lives in Berkeley, where she recently graduated, but was home visiting family and friends to celebrate her 23rd birthday. Six of these kids have graduated college and are working professionals, while two are in their final year of college,” she wrote.
“The girl on the bike came back to the crime scene when the police were there, looking for her lost purse. She denied her involvement, but all eight kids identified her as the antagonist and perpetrator. She was arrested and taken into custody…One of the other ‘thugs’ dropped his wallet while attacking my son. The police were able to get his name and information,” Stein wrote.
She wrote that police were “less than surprised. They told the father of one of the kids that ‘this stuff happens all the time down here,’ and were unfazed by the gravity and severity of what happened.”
Thompson, responding to a question from Councilwoman Nanette Barragan, told the council that officers on the scene did not recall such a comment. Thompson said the comment has not surfaced on officers’ audio recordings of the incident, but further recordings still awaited review.
Stein wrote that her kids and their friends “were out for a night of fun, and left the pier with complete responsibility and common sense, by getting a ride home from Uber, so they did not have to drive back to their perspective homes, under the influence of alcohol.”
“I am asking and demanding the residents, business owners and Police Department to seriously address this problem before someone else’s child is attacked, or worse yet, stabbed or killed,” she wrote. “For the record, my kids as well as their friends, will never be going out for a ‘night out’ in Hermosa Beach, for they now fear their own safety.”
Councilman Hany Fangary said a friend’s son was hospitalized following an incident last year involving about 20 young people in the Pier Plaza area, and asked police to report to the council about steps to prevent such incidents.
“I’m not saying police aren’t doing their job. They are,” Fangary said.