Brawl at Santa Monica Pier started after vendor ‘sexually assaulted’ women, police say

Four people have been charged in connection with a brawl last month near the Santa Monica Pier. The brawl began when a store clerk began sexually assaulting several women, authorities said.

Santa Monica police announced over the weekend that prosecutors have filed assault charges against four men and sexual assault charges against one of them. Authorities are still seeking more information about the incident.

On the afternoon of June 29, police responded to a 911 call that several men were fighting near the pier. There were also reports that one person had been stabbed, police said.

Before officers arrived on the scene, a Santa Monica Police Department drone confirmed there was a fight in progress. Police told the Times It was a “mutual combat situation” on the sand, near lifeguard tower 14.

But police have since said the brawl began when a vendor – whom authorities identified as 30-year-old Efigenio Tacuba – allegedly approached a group of beachgoers and “sexually assaulted several women.” After other people in the group confronted him, Tacuba asked other vendors for help. The other vendors then armed themselves with umbrella poles, belts and at least one knife.

During the ensuing altercation, one person was stabbed and another broke his ankle. Both were taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.

At the time, police said in a social media post that five people had been arrested. On Saturday, police said four people had been charged. Three of them – Jorge Cruz Murcia, Samuel Manzanarez Hernandez and Oscar Samuel Hernandez – are each charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The fourth, Tacuba, is charged with those charges as well as three counts of sexual assault.

Under California law, the sexual assault charge against Tacuba is defined as touching “an intimate part of the body of another person” against that person’s will for the purpose of sexual arousal.

In their latest press release, authorities stated that “additional arrests are likely to follow.” Anyone with information or video related to the incident is asked to contact Det. Jacob Holloway via email or call the on-duty watch commander at (310) 458-8427.

The incident occurred several weeks after Two German tourists were stabbed to death and a third person was injured in apparently unprovoked attacks near the Santa Monica Pier. A suspect was arrested in that case in late May.

Three days before the altercation, a Santa Monica man allegedly attacked three women on the beach. He attempted to strangle a 17-year-old before attacking and biting a woman who tried to help her. He also allegedly dragged a 72-year-old woman into the ocean and held her underwater.

This man, Jawann Dwayne Garnett32, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and a number of other crimes.