Police Blotter: 11-26-21

Tuesday, November 16
Claremont Police Department dispatch received a 12:52 p.m. call about a fight in progress in one of the motel rooms at the Knight’s Inn, 721 S. Indian Hill Blvd. Responding officers arrived and say they heard loud arguing and baby screaming in the room. Inside was a 20-year-old Pomona woman with injuries to her upper torso, a 21-year-old man, also from Pomona, and an 18-month-old boy. Police also allegedly found marijuana, a large quantity of an unidentified controlled substance in pill form, cash and scales, indicating the drugs were being packaged for sale. The pills were sent off to the lab for identification. The toddler was taken into the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. The man, the child’s father, was arrested on three felony counts of domestic violence, child abuse and possession of narcotics for sale. The woman, his mother, was arrested on felony child abuse and possession of narcotics for sale. The man and woman were booked and held in the Claremont jail before appearing November 18 for arraignment in Pomona Superior Court.

Wednesday, November 17
Police were called to the Claremont Colleges to take a report from a student who said her cell phone and backpack had been stolen from an athletic field at Pomona College by a man on a bicycle. The woman was able to find her phone using a tracking app, which showed it moving near Harrison Ave. and California St. Cops then made contact with a local 35-year-old unhoused man whom they say was riding a bike while steering a second bicycle to the side of him. They stopped him, and a search allegedly turned up the victim’s phone and the backpack with her property inside it. One of the bikes was determined to have been stolen, and police suspect the second was hot as well. He was arrested and charged with petty theft and possession of stolen property, both misdemeanors, and released with a citation to appear in Pomona court. The woman’s property was returned.

Thursday, November 18
Claremont cops responded to a 2:19 a.m. call from Sirius XM Radio advising police dispatch that one if its subscribers had been in an accident with airbags deployed near Indian Hill Blvd. and Auto Center Dr. Arriving officers were at first unable to locate the black 2017 Honda Civic, but eventually found it parked nearby at Sanamlua Thai restaurant, 710 S. Indian Hill Blvd. The driver, 29-year-old Claremont resident Tanner Blank-Stevens, was allegedly sitting in the driver’s seat. The airbags on the front passenger side of the Honda were said to have been deployed, and police say they also saw body damage consistent with an accident on the passenger side. Blank-Stevens was reportedly uncooperative with police who were trying to get him to submit to a field sobriety test, and was arrested for misdemeanor DUI, booked, and spent six hours detoxing in the Claremont jail before being released in the morning with a headache and a ticket.

Friday, November 19
A 47-year-old woman working out at Fitness 19, in the Pepper Tree Square shopping center at 364 S. Indian Hill Blvd., had the passenger window of her 2017 BMW X3 shattered sometime between 3 and 3:30 p.m. Thieves made off with a backpack and other items valued at about $1,000 from the car. Police have no suspects, but urge anyone who may have seen anything to call them at (909) 399-5411.

Sunday, November 21
A violent assault could have easily been a lot worse when a 67-year-old unhoused man was allegedly pistol-whipped after a confrontation with an unknown suspect at 3:15 a.m. near the public restroom outside city hall, 207 Harvard Ave. The man said a white man wearing a white shirt and Levi’s jeans, about 68 years old, five-feet-nine inches tall and weighing approximately 250 pounds approached him near the restroom and asked him about two women, unrelated to either man, who had reportedly just entered the restroom. The victim told the man he didn’t know the women, which apparently enraged him, because he is said to have pulled a handgun and pointed it at the victim’s head. The victim then attempted to turn around and leave, and the other man then allegedly struck him on the side of his head with what he assumed was the gun, causing a cut to his forehead. The alleged assailant then left on foot. The victim’s injuries were not serious enough to warrant transport to the hospital. Again, police have no suspects, but encourage anyone who may have been in the area at the time to call them with any information they may have at (909) 399-5411.