Police briefs

Detectives from the Huntington Beach Police Department are still

trying to draw up a composite of a robber suspected in an armed heist

that occurred at 2 p.m. July 25 at the Rite Aid drug store in the 21000

block of Beach Boulevard.

There were no injuries, but the pharmacy manager was traumatized, said

Sgt. Janet Perez.

Perez said the robber took bottles of the painkiller Oxycontin, worth

several hundred dollars, which has become a more popular drug to abuse.

Perez said the robber initially confronted a clerk in the store and

when the clerk walked behind the counter the suspect encountered the

store’s manager.

Bill Peterson, a lieutenant with the Huntington Beach Police

Department said, “The suspect walked into the pharmacist-area and placed

a semiautomatic black handgun to the victim’s neck, requested the

narcotics and took them without injuring the victim.”

Peterson said after taking the drugs, the robber walked south through

the parking lot, through a fence and then through a condominium complex.

Woman safe after early morning fire

A 40-year-old woman has the Huntington Beach Fire Department to thank

for saving her from a fire in her home at 4:35 a.m. July 19 in the 15200

block of Columbia Lane.

Firefighter/Paramedic Andre Clarizio and Engineer Mike Perry sprayed

water on the fire, and Captain Rick Grunbaum and Firefighter/Paramedic

Darin Maresh walked into the smoke-filled residence and lifted the woman

to safety. She was treated for smoke inhalation at UCI Medical Center and

released later that day. No one else was injured.

Two other adults in the home at the time of the fire were able to get

out, said Huntington Beach Fire Department Public Information Officer Bob

Culhane.

“The fire appears to be electrical in nature, but it was accidental.

We can’t say whether a short occurred before or after the fire,” Culhane

said. “The fire appears to have started around the television, VCR and

cable box area.”

The smoke detector’s battery was dead at the time of the fire.

Culhane said the smoke detector would have alerted the residents of

the fire before the house filled up with smoke.

Authorities received the call at 4:35 a.m. July 19 and were on scene

within six minutes. The victim, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was

trapped in a room without her wheelchair, which was located in the living

room.

Culhane said she was lethargic from the carbon monoxide buildup in the

house and was unable to talk by the time firefighters attended to her.

“The sister was with the mom but had to get out due to the smoke,”

Culhane said.

Damage estimates were unavailable.

Officers halt attempted suicide on Beach Boulevard

Officers with the Huntington Beach Police Department, Westminster

Police Department and California Highway Patrol thwarted an attempted

suicide Monday when a man threatened to jump from the Beach Boulevard

overpass of the San Diego Freeway.

A 20-year-old man from Fountain Valley was about to jump from an

overpass at 11:40 a.m. when officers arrived and eventually talked him

out of jumping.

Lieutenant with the Huntington Beach Police Department Luis Ochoa said

15 officers were on scene at one point.

“The responding officers said [the man] told them he was despondent

due to ongoing family matters,” Ochoa said.

Officers were on scene for more than an hour trying to convince him to

move away from the railing to a nearby ambulance, which he eventually

did.

The man was transported to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital

complaining of stomach pain. The Beach Boulevard offramp and the freeway

were partially shut down.

Ochoa said the traffic eased after an hour.

Man arrested after waving knife on pier

Huntington Beach Police officers arrested a man who was waving a knife

and threatening to kill himself on the Huntington Beach Pier on July 23.

Joseph Silva, a 26-year-old Fountain Valley resident, surrendered

without incident and was arrested without bail on charges of being

mentally unstable, and was later booked at a Santa Ana mental

institution, said Lieutenant Chuck Thomas.

No one was injured.

Thomas said officers received the call at 11:02 a.m. and were on scene

by 11:08 a.m. By that time Silva had thrown the knife into the ocean.

“Silva was standing over the railing threatening to kill himself, but

the lifeguards came over and talked him out of it. He threw the knife

into the ocean and surrendered to the officers,” Thomas said. “Suspects

arrested for being mentally unstable usually pose a danger to themselves

or others.”

Silva will be evaluated by doctors at the Santa Ana facility.