Transient attacks SMC officer after series of campus disturbances
According to Santa Monica College Police Sergeant Jere Romano, a man is in custody in the Santa Monica City Jail for assaulting an SMC police officer after attempting to flee from custody. The suspect, identified by Romano as 22-year-old Rogelio Cabrera, is being held in custody for "battery on a peace officer, resisting arrest and an outstanding arrest warrant originated by the Los Angeles Police Department," according to an email from Romano.
At 2 p.m. on Monday, SMC police received reports of a man, Cabrera who is not an SMC student, suspiciously wandering outside of the SMC Theatre Arts Complex.
When confronted by an officer outside of the theater, Cabrera became "uncooperative and continued to refuse to identify himself," and tried to escape, according to Romano. The officer on-call attempted to restrain Cabrera, at which point he struggled, became belligerent, and struck the officer in the head.
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The officer then subdued and arrested him. Though Romano would not disclose who the officer was, he explained that the officer was not seriously injured.
According to Romano, Cabrera was wanted for questioning regarding an incident that occurred on Sunday night, in which he entered a vehicle of a female, a former SMC student who was visiting the campus, without her permission and made an implied threat at her.
At an SMC theater student adaptation of Shakespeare's "Richard III," entitled “Richard the II (Plus I)," Cabrera interrupted the end of the production, according to an SMC student who attended the show, Joi Saulsberry. At the end of the play, Saulsberry explained that Cabrera stepped up on stage and began dancing alongside the cast members while holding up a skateboard.
According Saulsberry, she heard Cabrera ask the show's director, Terrin Adair-Lynch, if he could keep the prop of a corpse used in the production. "He asked the director if he could take the dead body and like, chop it up and eat it...He's like 'it's different from all the other dead bodies I've ever seen,'" said Saulsberry. The Corsair attempted to contact Lynch for a comment, but did not receive a response.
Saulsberry, the girlfriend of SMC student Zeno Robinson, who performed as the friar in the production, waited for Robinson outside the theater with his mother and sister when Cabrera approached them.
According to Saulsberry, Cabrera approached Robinson’s mother and called her "a spider," and then introduced himself as “Tito.” He then walked away and proceeded to get into the car of 20-year-old SMC student, Isabel Alfaro who was parked in the campus lot two on Pico Boulevard. Alfaro, friend of Saulsberry, was sitting in the car with 17-year-old Sade Gabb, Saulsberry's cousin, when Cabrera jumped into the passenger seat.
Gabb immediately fled the vehicle. Alfaro later told Saulsberry that Cabrera yelled at her, claiming that she was supposed to pick him up. Brought to tears, Alfaro explained to Cabrera that she did not know him and told him to get out of her car.
As he exited the car, Saulsberry noticed that his attitude rapidly changed from angry to calm. "It’s almost like he woke up,” Saulsberry said.
Saulsberry recalled Cabrera then asked them (herself, Gabb, and Robinson's mother) if he scared them, blaming his breath and his clothes. He then yelled at the group, “Remember my face! Remember who I am! You're gonna see me again.” Cabrera then crossed Pico Boulevard and yelled at another person.
According to Sergeant Romano, Cabrera has had no previous contact with the SMC Police, nor do they have any information regarding his mental wellness, but he is being held on multiple charges.