Dennis RomeroThis tagger must have the worst luck ever.
Sheriff's officials said today they nabbed three spray-can artists after they were allegedly caught in the act over the weekend at Veterans Memorial Park in Sylmar, which was being patrolled by all-seeing deputies on horseback.
That's not the bad-luck part, however. Turns out one of the suspects initially got away, until he ran into …
… a house party filled with off-duty LAPD officers, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
Credit: LASD
Yep. The kid actually asked partygoers for help because, he said, he was being chased by “cops,” according to sheriff's officials.
They helped him alright. They helped him stay put until deputies with handcuffs arrived, according to the statement.
These guys can see you tagging, allegedly.; Credit: LASD
It all started at the park at 13000 Sayre Street in Sylmar Saturday at 3:30 p.m., deputies say. The county park is patrolled by the sheriff's department even though the streets of Sylmar are in LAPD's jurisdiction.
According to the sheriff's department:
The deputies came upon three juveniles who were spray painting (criminal graffiti vandalism “tagging”) the water tower. Two of the juveniles were detained immediately but a third suspect was able to successfully elude the deputies by running across a narrow trail (approximately three feet wide) with 100 foot drops on either side of it.
Not long afterward, however, deputies got a call from the LAPD stating that some off-duty cops had a teenager detained at a nearby house party.
Deputies say the suspects got 4 foot letters up on a water tower, alleged tags containing their street monikers. Damage was estimated at $2,500.
The suspects each had a black backpack filled with cans of spray paint and spray tips, according to the sheriff's department.
Two of the suspects is 14; the third is 16 (and thus the department is not releasing their names — because they are underage).
The teens were taken to the Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station, booked on suspicion of vandalism, cited and released, deputies said.
[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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