Dead Homeless Person Found at Park, 4th Street and Strand Avenue in Santa Monica, 90405

The Santa Monica Fire Department recovered the body of an apparently homeless man at Mary Hotchkiss Park near 4th and Strand. The SMFD confirmed the person was dead on arrival .

In a separate incident, someone deployed pepper spray in the alley at 620 Santa Monica Blvd, after one person punched another in the face. One person was pepper sprayed, and one was punched in the face. Unknown if the pepper spray was from the SMPD or suspect.

Assault confirmed, both Assailant and victim had medical complaints and received attention from paramedics. It's called Monday afternoon in Santa Monica, folks.

There are about 5,000 homeless people in and around Santa Monica on any given day (the official count is half that many, but it seems likely to be an undercount). In a population of 5000 people who often have addiction and other health issues, one would expect 3 or 4 deaths a week on average. Santa Monica is experiencing about that many deaths among its homeless population.

Those of you with the Citizen App may watch a video of the Mary Hotchkiss incident, at https://citizen.com/-NR0nxhJIgCtjJ7w4Km1?media=mux:8u01IWr9lCilhDx3Fga3NRRrj01w01WpOYZZ45Ee00IxF5g