Man arrested after hurling boulder through Hemet PD front window
The large hole left by a 7-pound boulder Smith hurled through the front lobby window at the police station. Ricardo Ruelas photo
HEMET – A man was arrested today after he threw a large rock through a window at the Hemet Police Department, nearly injuring a woman who was sitting inside the front office waiting for assistance. The woman sitting in front of the window was not struck by the rock however; she was slightly injured by glass shards that fell all over her.
After the vandalism, officers detained and later arrested Christopher Travis Smith, 23, of Hemet, without incident.
According to a release from the department, business was being conducted in the Hemet Police Department Records lobby “like it is on most Fridays.”
Just before 11 a.m., the man who was later identified as Smith, “approached the front door of the lobby and threw a large rock through one of the windows,” nearly striking the woman waiting in the lobby.
A glass worker begins to remove the shattered window. Ricardo Ruelas photo
“The rock that Smith threw weighed more than seven pounds and he threw it with enough force to go through the reinforced glass and across the lobby,” according to the release.
After he threw the rock, Smith “sauntered away” but was detained nearby by Hemet Police officers who heard the window shatter.
When the officers detained Smith, he reportedly made statements about how he did not like the Hemet Police Department.
Smith was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility on suspicion of felony vandalism and violation of parole. He is being held without bail.
Eddie George from Hemet News interviews Hemet Police Lt. Dickson about the vandalism.
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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, Personnel and Background Investigations and he finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator.
Trevor has been married for more than 26 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and has 13 children and 10 (soon to be 12) grandchildren.