Briefly In Public Safety

A person or persons threw a bottle through the window at the Laguna Beach Conference and Visitor’s Center in the 200 block of Broadway, Kravetz said.

The window sustained $200 in damage, but no entry was made into the business.

Homeless man jailed after alleged assault of woman

A homeless man was jailed after he allegedly punched a homeless woman who complained that he was using her sleeping bag at 2:59 a.m. Monday in the 100 block of Main Beach, Kravetz said.

The woman had left her belongings on Main Beach, and returned to find James Louis Durand, 50, asleep in her sleeping bag.

When she woke him up, he allegedly punched her in the face and knocked her down. He then ran off, and the woman called police.

When police arrested Durand on the battery, they discovered he had five warrants out for his arrest. Four of them were $500 each and the last one was $15,000. Durand was booked and taken to Orange County Jail.

Man accused of setting pallet on fire at park

A homeless man was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor arson after he allegedly set a wooden pallet on fire at Heisler Park at 2:06 p.m. Monday, Kravetz said.

Curtis Abbott, 44, had apparently taken the pallet to the park in order to set it on fire. The blaze then spread to a nearby palm tree. Abbott fled in a city bus, but a witness got the bus number and police stopped it. Abbott had soot on his face when police contacted him, Kravetz said. An hour earlier, officers said they had encountered Abbott at North Coast Highway and High Drive with the pallet, and told him not to take it to Heisler and burn it.