RB bar fight suspect in custody
A San Pedro man was arrested and is facing attempted murder charges for a fight at a Redondo Beach bar last week that left a 23-year-old man in a coma.
John Penna, 30, was arrested Wednesday and charged Friday with assault and attempted murder, according to Redondo Beach police Sgt. Shawn Freeman. He's scheduled to make his first appearance today made his first court apperance today in Torrance Superior Court, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. He is being held on $30,000 $750,000 bail. He has a criminal record, but Freeman declined to comment on it's details.
Freeman said witnesses picked Penna out of photographic line-ups. Police believe Penna is the man who threw one punch at Matthew Klaus just before 1 a.m. on Sept. 12 during an argument at Brixton on the Redondo Beach pier. The hit threw Klaus, a Lawndale man, backward down several flights of stairs. He hit the back of his head and suffered multiple skull fractures and bleeding in the brain. He remains in a medication-induced coma at the intensive care unit of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, according to family members.
It's still not known what the fight was about, Freeman said. Police plan to post fliers around the pier this weekend, hoping more people will come forward to talk about the incident, he added. Anyone with information about it is urged to call Detective Fabian Saucedo at (310) 379-2477, ext. 2481.
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Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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Now he's out on no bail $0 while the paper work is being doctored by the police cause he was not they guy who did it! now thats a story that should be in the paper