Police Blotter: June 17, 2022
Wednesday, June 1
Claremont Police Department officers responded to a 7:07 p.m. 911 call from a neighbor who reportedly witnessed 27-year-old Claremont resident Andrew Guerra strike a 49-year-old man with a baseball bat, causing wounds to his head and upper torso. The genesis of the attack stemmed from the victim allegedly yelling at Guerra after allegedly witnessing him urinating behind LA West Liquor, 333 E. Arrow Hwy. A verbal argument ensued, during which Guerra, who is Black, alleges the victim directed multiple racial slurs at him. The victim then made his way to his nearby home as the argument with Guerra continued. Once there, the victim went inside his home and retrieved a baseball bat, police said. Guerra then armed himself with his skateboard, and at some point disarmed the victim and struck him with his own bat. Guerra then fled in his car. Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics arrived and transported the victim to a local hospital for treatment. Police could not say whether his injuries were life-threatening. Meanwhile, the witness had written down the alleged assailant’s license plate number, and after a records check, police went to Guerra’s home in the 400 block of Elder Dr., where he reportedly confirmed the details of the incident. He was then arrested on one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury. After booking Guerra posted a $30,000 bond and was released with a citation and a court date.
Friday, June 3
Police were called to Wine and Liquor, 750 S. Indian Hill Blvd., at 11:40 p.m., regarding an apparently intoxicated man yelling at customers both inside the store and in the parking lot. Arriving officers found Carson resident Christopher Campbell, 33, and immediately suspected he was drunk, primarily because they say he was holding himself up by leaning against a car, was stumbling and couldn’t walk, and very argumentative.
He was then arrested on one misdemeanor count of drunk in public, booked, and spent the night detoxing in the Claremont jail before being released in the wee hours with a ticket and a court date.
Wednesday, June 8
Officers on patrol at 1:10 a.m. near the San Antonio Dam turnout area noticed a car parked there with several people inside. Police then approached the car and say an occupant threw an open beer bottle from an open window. Once they got a view inside the car, cops say they saw several full multicolor balloons, and a nitrous oxide tank.
The driver, 21-year-old Pomona resident Jessica Valencia, was arrested for possession of a nitrous oxide tank with the intent to inhale, a misdemeanor. She was transported to CPD headquarters, booked, and released with a citation.
Thursday, June 9
A 29-year-old Pomona man who led police on a brief high-speed chase in March after bolting during a traffic stop was finally taken into custody after police stopped him on his bicycle for driving at night without a headlight. Leroi Edwards, 29, from Pomona, was originally pulled over — this time in a car — March 14 in the Vons parking lot for the same thing: driving without headlights. When officers took his driver’s license and headed back to their car to run his ID, Edwards allegedly put the car in gear and took off, heading west on Base Line Road at a high rate of speed. Officers pursued for a time, but called off the chase for safety reasons as Edwards pulled on to the 210 Freeway at Towne Avenue heading west. Cut to June 10, and Edwards was stopped on a bicycle at 10:28 p.m. near Foothill Blvd. and Mountain Ave. for his latest headlight violation. A records check turned up a “want” in the system, a type of “pre warrant,” police said, stemming from the March 14 incident. He was arrested for evading a police officer, a felony, and providing false ID to a police officer and driving on a suspended license, both misdemeanors. All charges related to the March 14 incident. Edwards was transported to CPD headquarters, booked, and held in the Claremont jail in front of his June 13 arraignment in Pomona Superior Court.
Friday, June 10
Claremont police on patrol near Claremont and Foothill boulevards reportedly noticed a tan 2006 Mercury straddling lanes at 2:02 a.m., and made a traffic stop. A records check of the driver, 29-year-old Fontana resident Justin Murphy, revealed an active arrest warrant out of San Bernardino County for a felony DUI conviction. Murphy was arrested, booked, and then transported to West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, where he was held in front of a date with a judge.
Saturday, June 11
A man wanted for allegedly assaulting a police officer was taken into custody after police responded to a 4:21 a.m. Claremont Village commercial burglary alarm activation and noticed him walking south on Indian Hill Blvd. wearing dark clothing, a hoodie and carrying a backpack. Police moved to question him and say as they approached the 36-year-old unhoused man he fled south on Indian Hill. They chased him for about a block before the man apparently gave up and laid down in the parking lot of a law office on the east side of Indian Hill. It turned out he wasn’t connected to the burglary alarm, but a records check revealed he had two outstanding no-bail felony warrants, one for a probation violation, the other for allegedly assaulting a La Verne police officer. He was arrested without incident, booked, and issued a citation for resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. La Verne cops then picked him up in Claremont and took him into custody on their warrant.
