An unhinged diner who skipped out on his bill at a Hermosa Beach restaurant returned to the eatery on a rampage — bizarrely breaking in to smash dozens of bottles while also stopping to sip some booze.
Surveillance video captured the man chucking — and chugging — various bottles of alcohol at Playa Hermosa Fish & Oyster Co. on Wednesday about 1:45 a.m.
He tossed a chair through the restaurant’s window before going on the smashing spree, while also flipping planters and throwing chairs in an outdoor section, KTLA reported.
Restaurant owner Levi Lupercio told KTLA that the suspect caused about $100,000 in damage.
Earlier in the month, the man had dined and dashed at the restaurant but was tracked down by Lupercio, who declined to press charges because he thought it would be a waste of time.
He thinks the suspect is suffering from a mental illness. “It’s a very aggressive and strange situation,” Lupercio told KTLA.
Then this week, the man returned to the restaurant to rip it apart.
“He went back behind the bar, found a bottle, had a drink of it, put the cap back on and threw it. Then he grabbed another bottle — I don’t know if he drank that one — and threw it again,” Lupercio told KTLA.
“He came around and found my wine fridge, which is just in front of the bar, and opened that up and started again,” he added. “I counted on video camera like 31 bottles that he threw… a couple he slammed on the bar and they wouldn’t break, so he just threw them.”
Officers from the Hermosa Beach Police Department eventually caught the man trying to leave tthrough the back and arrested him.
He remains in custody, and police believe they can tie him to more crimes in the community.
They are also seeking a magistrate review to keep him in custody until he can be arraigned.
