Beggars, Transients and Hitchhikers Get Cantankerous

At 12:35 a.m. Tuesday Dec. 17, someone reported a stubborn hitchhiker in the road at the Avenida Pico-Calle Del Cerro intersection. The caller said he had to swerve around the man to avoid hitting him. The would-be hitchhiker only stared at the driver and refused to get out of the roadway.

Also:

At 8:12 p.m. Monday Dec. 16, deputies were asked to assist a man down, lying on the sidewalk near the intersection of N. La Esperanza and El Levante. Firefighters were called to help the disoriented man.

 At 11:58 p.m. Monday Dec. 16, a caller reported a disturbance in the 900 block of Avenida Pico. The caller said a transient asked him for a ride, and when he refused, the transient started to get aggressively verbal with him.

At 8:07 a.m. Tuesday Dec. 17, deputies received a report that a man in his 50s was asking customers at a center near Avenida Pico and Avenida La Pata for food. When they declined, he began to argue with them.

These are selected reports from the San Clemente Police Dispatch Services log throughout the past few days. The calls represent what was told to a sheriff's deputy in the field by the radio dispatcher. No presumption of criminal guilt or affiliation should be drawn from the information provided.