MONDAY * San Nicholas Court: A resident...

MONDAY

* San Nicholas Court: A resident reported that a $5,000 painting

was stolen from his garage between Friday and Monday. The victim said

the he saw the painting in the garage July 18 and that workers were

in his garage over the weekend. He reported the grand theft at 8:58

p.m. Police are investigating.

SUNDAY

* North Coast Highway: Police arrested a local transient for

assault with a deadly weapon after he reportedly chased beachgoers

wielding a large piece of wood at Crescent Bay Beach.

* Alta Laguna Park: Police cited a 17-year-old Huntington Beach

resident for possession of methamphetamine, intent to sell

methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and violation of

curfew at around 2 a.m. The suspect also had an air pistol in his

wasteband. He was at the park with six other juveniles, none of whom

were cited.

* South Coast Highway: Police arrested a resident for driving

under the influence after he reportedly backed into a car at Jack in

the Box and tried to flee the scene. The victim then grabbed the

suspect and pinned him down until police arrived at about 2 a.m.

* South Coast Highway: Police responded to a report of fireworks

at Thousand Steps Beach and found a 17- and 18-year-old girl, one of

whom lied about her age. The 17-year-old told police she was 18 but

didn’t have identification. When the officer asked to call her

parents, she said she lived on her own. After threatening to take her

in for questioning, she admitted she was 17 and her parents picked

her up at around 4 a.m.

SATURDAY

* Ocean Front: A contractor called police at 5:13 p.m. saying

someone had put a T-shirt on a telephone pole and written “No

Parking” on it in the 1200 block. A woman in the neighborhood

reportedly posted the T-shirt because she was upset with

construction’s impact on parking in the area.

* South Coast Highway: A 63-year-old resident died while on her

way back home from the hospital in an ambulance at around 1:45 p.m.

She said she was having difficulty breathing. The victim had cancer

in her liver, lungs and kidneys, police said.

JULY 11

* North Coast Highway: A visitor told police he brought his wife

and three children to Laguna Beach because he heard it was one of the

most beautiful places in the world, and that he was shocked to find a

naked man lying in the grass at 3:24 p.m. at Main Beach. Officers

cited the bather for nudity in public.

* Park Avenue: A truck driver had to veer off the road while

driving downhill and applying the brakes, saying he would have lost

control if he’d stayed on the road. The truck hit the hillside and

fell on its side. The driver was uninjured.

JULY 10

* Glenneyre Street: An officer chased a 26-year-old on foot and

caught him after a witness had seen the suspect inside a Mercedes

that wasn’t his. The witness said he saw the suspect rummaging

through the front and back seat of the car, and the suspect was still

there when police arrived. The officer yelled and the suspect fled.

In the middle of the chase, the suspect reportedly stopped, yelled “I

didn’t do anything wrong,” then kept running. The officer caught him

in the 1100 block of South Coast Highway.

* Glenneyre Street: Police arrested a 29-year-old for burglary,

writing fictitious checks, providing false information and identity

theft at 11:51 a.m. The arrest came after the suspect tried to

withdraw $5,000 from California National Bank. Police later found the

suspect had made a total of $26,500 in withdrawals from banks in Lake

Forest, Orange, Irvine and Huntington Beach in addition to Laguna. He

was using a driver’s license with a false name but his picture.

Officer Matt August said he had used more than one fake license.

* The Police Log is compiled and written by Mike Swanson from oral

and written reports from the Laguna Beach Police Department and other

sources. Not all police activity is included. Arrests indicate

suspicion of violations, not charges filed nor the results of court

action unless noted.