Police Beat: e-bike batteries, drug related deaths, and e-bike seminar

by Liz Mullen

E-bike batteries targeted in Hermosa

“The biggest crime trend involves property crimes,” Hermosa Beach Police Chief LeBaron said in a recent interview.
“We see a lot of bicycles stolen from garages,” LeBaron said. “People have got to realize, those e-bikes are worth a couple of thousand dollars a piece.” 

“One crime we are seeing that is a little frustrating is the theft of e-bike batteries,” LeBaron said. “Someone parks a bike and goes indoors and someone steals the battery from it. They are really not secure. We are seeing a lot of juveniles doing this because they can resell those batteries for a little bit of money.”

An e-bike battery was stolen from a bike on the 700 block of Pier Avenue on March 17. Another e-bike battery was stolen from a locked bicycle on the 1600 block of PCH on March 20.

On March 16, a female victim was exiting a business on Pier Avenue when three people attacked her. The attackers punched her repeatedly and pulled her hair.

On March 18, a suspect with a shopping cart lit a pallet on fire on the beach on the 1200 block on The Strand. The alleged fire-starter gave a false name to officers and resisted arrest.

On March 23, a person on the Hermosa Pier fell into the ocean. The person was not injured.

Last week, HBPD officers found and returned to owners: a license plate, a bicycle and a cell phone. Additionally, a missing person was located.

Manhattan Beach deaths drug related

A woman found dead on the beach in January, a block north of the Manhattan Beach Pier, was under the influence of ethanol, ketamine and cocaine and accidentally drowned, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined.

Jennifer Hanie, a 31-year-old woman from Los Angeles, was staying with two male friends at a home they had rented on The Strand when the three went out walking on the beach at about 3 a.m. on Jan. 26. Hanie was found after the men called in a missing person’s report about 6 a.m.

The surf was dangerous that day with an unusually high tide.

Hanie was the second person this year the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on after being found dead in the surf off the Beach Cities this past winter.

The coroner also ruled that Ryan Martin, a 42-year-old transient, died of accidental drowning. Martin’s body was found in the surf in Hermosa Beach at 22nd Street the morning after Thanksgiving. Martin had methamphetamine in his system when he died.

Douglas Aziz, a Manhattan Beach resident who was found dead in his hot tub on the same block where a Torrance man was fatally shot a few weeks earlier, died of accidental drowning, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled.

Aziz, 67, who lived on the 1400 block of 11th Street, had methamphetamine and phencyclidine (which is also known by the street names PCP and angel dust) in his system when he died, according to the coroner. Aziz was found dead on Jan. 19, less than three weeks after Andrei Gianan, 24, of Torrance, was fatally shot in the head on the same block. There is no update on Gianan, who was shot at about 1 a.m. Jan. 1.

The Manhattan Beach Police Department is reminding residents that they can request extra patrols when they leave town. Two unoccupied homes were hit by burglars the week of March 21 to March 27.

Sometime between March 17 to March 23 a home on the 1600 block of 10th was ransacked. The homeowner was out of town. The house sitter found all the lights on and found computers, antique jewelry and camera lenses were stolen.

A home that is under construction on the 300 block of Elm Street was also burglarized. A neighbor notified the homeowner that the home’s fence was unlatched.

The interior and exterior of the residence was damaged and the garage was ransacked. 

“Residents can call the front desk and request extra patrols when they are out of town,” MBPD Sgt. Andy Abreu told the Easy Reader in an email. The MBPD business phone is (310) 545-4566.

On March 25, MBPD officers responded to a burglary that occurred at the Auto Check Center at 2909 Sepulveda Blvd.

Video surveillance showed a suspect wearing a dark, hooded sweater smash a side entrance door. The suspect took a credit card machine and left.

MBPD took  43 crime reports for the week of March 21 through March 27, including 13 thefts, one assault, one vandalism report, two residential burglaries and one commercial burglary.

RBPD to hold e-bike seminar

The Redondo Beach Police Department will host a seminar on electric bicycle safety on Thursday, April 4 at the Redondo Union High School auditorium at 1 Sea Hawk Way from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.