Hermosa Beach Public Intoxication Arrest, Case Not Filed

Our client, age 43, went to Hermosa Beach with three other friends during a heat wave in November. 

His friends were in from out of town and the group even made it a weekend by checking into a hotel up on Pacific Coast Highway nearby.  The group then walked to the Pier Plaza area from their hotel, enjoying dinner in one of the restaurants along Pier Avenue.

The group had dinner and each person had a beer with dinner.  The group then walked down to the Hermosa Pier to soak in the warm weather and just get some exercise after dinner. 

After walking out on the pier, the group then decided to go into one of the bars along Pier Plaza.  There was a college football game being shown on one of the bar’s many flat screen televisions.

The group decided to have a round of beer, then two, then three.  They then walked to another bar, which our client believes was Tower 12, a newer bar on the Pier Plaza.

At some point, the group decided to walk back to the hotel, which was about a half mile away. 

Along the way, our client somehow got separated from the group and realized he lost his cell phone, so he walked back to Tower 12 to ask if it had been found.  He also asked to look around near the table the group was sitting at, now occupied by another group.

Our client could not find his phone, so he decided to just walk back to the hotel and meet up with the others there.  As he was walking to the hotel, he passed the Hermosa Beach Police Department station and decided to walk in to request assistance in calling a cab because, he explained, he lost his phone.  The police officer he spoke with was extremely rude to him and our client was shocked at her demeanor.  He never was given the chance to call for a cab (or Uber or Lyft).

Instead, he was arrested for public intoxication, a violation of Penal Code § 647(b). 

He was released in the morning after a signing a promise to appear in the Torrance Superior Court on February 15, 2023.

Our client had no prior criminal history and a good job, so he was quite concerned what effect such a criminal case, and a conviction, would have on his career.

The client called Greg Hill & Associates and explained what happened.  Greg was shocked that the Hermosa Beach Police Department would arrest someone for public intoxication while that person was requesting assistance to simply make it back to his hotel to rest for the evening. 

After all, Greg explained to the client that an arrest for public intoxication (and a conviction) is proper when a person is so impaired by alcohol or drugs, or the combination thereof, that he or she obstructs a public thoroughfare (i.e., sleeps on a sidewalk, walks down the middle of a street, or lays on stairs and obstructs those trying to use the public thoroughfare) or is so impaired by alcohol or drugs, or a combination thereof, that he or she cannot care for his or her own well-being, i.e. he or she vomits on himself, soils his own clothes, or wanders around drunk, mumbling to others.

Here, our client lost his cellphone, so he requested help in hailing a taxi to get back to the hotel.  While our client may have been intoxicated by alcohol, he was not so intoxicated as to be unable to care for his own well-being.  His requesting assistance to get a cab because he lost his phone, showed he was still capable of caring for his own well-being.

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates and Greg wrote a letter to the Redondo Beach City Prosecutor’s Office, requesting the police report and any videos from the police station showing our client’s arrest and explaining the case facts and how such conduct certainly was not public intoxication.

The Redondo Beach City Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to the letter, so Greg went to the Torrance Courthouse for the arraignment on the client’s behalf.  No case had been filed, so Greg asked the Redondo Beach City Prosecutor’s Office to double-check on whether the case had been filed, perhaps late.

Greg then very briefly discussed the facts of the case with the Redondo Beach City Prosecutor and left the courthouse, explaining to the client that the case had not been filed yet.

About two weeks letter, the Redondo Beach City Prosecutor texted Greg, explaining that she had looked at the police report and declined to file the case. 

Greg shared this good news with the client, who was very happy.

For more information about public intoxication, please click on the following articles: