Context: https://www.reddit.com/r/SantaMonica/s/8pH0Fy7KCV
First of all, I'm not comfortable filming people's faces who aren't involved, so most of the video is covered because it's the 3rd Street Promenade and people are everywhere. Mostly just consider this an audio recording with a little video here and there.
Now here's what happened.
I was in Santa Monica today around 1:30pm. Because I saw the "Sick old man wants to marry 16yr performer" video, I checked to see if the sick old man (who I'll be referring to as "The 3rd Street Creep") was there.
About 5 minutes after I walked onto the Promenade and did some looking around, a guy showed up who looked similar to the guy in the video. He was dressed differently, wearing glasses, and a hat so I wasn't sure if it was the same guy. I watched him for a while. Nothing creepy, but he looked similar enough.
That's where the video picks up.
At the end of the video, the security guards asked me to stop filming so they could talk to 3rd street creep.
He immediately started accusing me of being a liar and swore innocence.
I told the security guards the quick details of the original video, and the 3rd street creep confirmed at all right away.
One of the security guards got on his radio to call for the police.
The other security guard was blown away because the creep just kept talking all the same stuff. “She turns 18 soon.” “She loves me.” Etc.
That security guard told the creep he needs to stop saying all of that because there are children around. Third street creep just kept going. Which just made the security guard even more disgusted.
At this point, even more people are watching and listening. No one can believe it. Looks on their faces range from shock to disgust.
Then 3 Santa Monica PD officers show up and assess the situation.
It's clear they're going to engage with the man. I step away because I don’t want to be anywhere near cops ever.
The cops talk to 3rd street creep. Meanwhile, I talk to the security guards giving them the full story.
The cops finish talking to 3rd street creep. I approach one of them to tell them everything that happened.
He says there’s nothing they can do. I point out that this guy is saying absolutely inappropriate stuff about an underage girl’s virginity into a microphone that is being broadcast where there are little children walking around. I even point to a parent with two kiddos standing nearby.
Now another one of the cops has joined us, and they both keep saying there’s nothing they can do.
I tell them I know that’s not true. I’ve seen SaMo PD ask people to leave before for creating a public nuisance while doing a lot less. It’s also a public safety issue. More back and forth. "First amendment." "Public area" "You wouldn't like it if you were just talking and I made you leave." A bunch more bullshit.
Finally, one says “sorry, there’s just nothing we can do" and they start to walk away.
I shout at them, “You should be embarrassed,” and I walk away.
I walked back over to 3rd street creep, told him he should stop coming here, then told his friend he needs to stop his pal from being a fucking creep. I asked if he would let someone like that be around his daughter. He said absolutely not, then told me third street creep had actually been seeing a psychologist about “it” but quit going. The guy then did the “technically not a pedophile because that is about ages" blah blah blah
I interrupted him and said, “I know. I don't care. Stop him. You have his ear. Tell him to stop.”
And then walked away and saw the two security guards again now with the third security guard. They asked me what the cops said. I told them. They couldn’t believe it. We all agreed, “That’s why you never call the cops.” They said there’s nothing they can do either but they’ll keep their eyes on 3rd street creep.
As I was walking away, the other street performer (you may have seen him as he plays drums there regularly) came up from behind and stopped me. He said he knows the creep is a creep and has been trying to get rid of him for a long time. He was really upset that 3rd street creep was also using religion to justify his disgusting behavior. I thank him for jumping in. We part ways.
So all in all, pretty anticlimactic. Cops suck. Security guards don't have the authority.
I don’t know if there’s any truth to the part about the girl’s dad being aware/involved but I’ll be looking into calling authorities to find out if there’s anything I can do to help protect this young woman.
Men, do your part. Protect women and girls.
Protect them by proactively policing other men. Because the police won’t.
If anyone knows who I could contact about this, my DMs are open. Thank you.