Police Capture Manhattan Beach Pier Lights Grinches, Really!

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Manhattan Beach Police officers did not let the Grinches steal Christmas, at least according to the department's Facebook post. In the early morning hours of Tuesday, Dec. 8, officers responded to a call of people tampering with the Manhattan Beach Pier lights in an attempt to steal them.

MBPD officers "initially caught two of the suspects still on the pier" around 1:50 a.m., said MBPD's Officer Chris Ineguez, community affairs and public information officer for the department. "After further investigation, we discovered there were two more suspects, which we later located in the immediate area."

Officer Ineguez told Manhattan Beach Patch the attempt was not a prank and the pier gate was not closed. The "subjects did not run and ultimately were cooperative," he noted. "As far as personal information, all I can say is they were not locals, there were three males and one female; three of which were adults."

Ever the creative group, the department wrote on its FB post, in which the four were photographed standing at the base of the pier with Grinch faces blocking out their real faces, "2020 has been very interesting, and even with everything going on, do you believe these grinches tried to steal Christmas in MB the other night by trying to steal some Christmas lights from our pier . Luckily graveyard officers were there to arrest these grinches and save Christmas.

"Unfortunately due to $0 bail, these vandals were ultimately released."

Check out the clever post here.