A suspected drunk driver, who was caught on video drinking a bottle of Modelo beer while behind the wheel, was arrested after slamming into a pedestrian on the Venice Beach boardwalk earlier this week.
Multiple people tried to stop the driver as he drove slowly on Ocean Front Walk on Monday around 10 a.m., said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Jader Chaves.
A video posted online to the Youtube account @VeniceEveryday showed the driver drinking a bottle of Modelo as he was confronted by a person recording him on their phone. The driver, later identified by the LAPD as Israel DeAvila, asked the person recording him, in slurred speech, “What’s the point?”
Before police arrived, a pedestrian confronted DeAvila as he revved his car and he struck the person with the front of his car, according to Chaves. Video from the scene showed damage to the front windshield of the Hyundai Elantra.
Police received a call that DeAvila was driving on the basketball courts. When officers arrived, he refused to get out of the car, Chaves said. In a separate video posted to Instagram, a pedestrian jumped into the car and tried to kick DeAvila out as he struggled with police officers.
DeAvila was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, according to the LAPD, and is being held at Men’s Central Jail on $120,000 bail, according to jail records.
The Los Angeles Fire Department did not disclose information about the pedestrian but a video of the scene showed that he seemed to suffer no serious injuries.
Nathan Solis
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