Transient Held in Rape of Palsy Victim

A homeless cerebral palsy victim who is unable to walk without crutches was raped near the Santa Monica Pier early Tuesday by a transient she had met hours earlier, police said.

Police arrested Antonio Allen Lawton, 27, and booked him on suspicion of rape after the woman was able to point him out as officers drove her through the area, investigators said.

The woman was found crying in a bathroom on the pier shortly before 11 a.m., officers said.

Police said the woman reported that she had fallen asleep after drinking. She said she awakened to find the man raping her, investigators said.

The incident is the second such case involving a homeless suspect in Santa Monica in two months. A 48-year-old resident of a home for the mentally retarded was raped and severely beaten in broad daylight across the street from Santa Monica College. Chester Runions, 38, a transient, was arrested and booked for investigation of felonious attack, mayhem, rape and rape with an instrument.

The latest incident comes as Santa Monica is doing some civic soul-searching about whether the city’s policies make it a magnet for homeless people, including some with violent tendencies and criminal pasts.

“The homeless, the rest of the residents and visitors are all suffering because of the large concentration of homeless people in Santa Monica,” City Councilman Robert Holbrook said Tuesday. “It’s a time bomb ready to explode.”

He pointed out that there are 1,500 to 3,000 homeless people in the eight-square-mile city. Efforts to break up the concentration of homeless will benefit everyone, he said, including the homeless.

Santa Monica’s concerns about crimes committed by the homeless were aired Monday night when more than 200 people showed up at City Hall to express their views to the Santa Monica Homeless Task Force at a public forum.

Crime in the city’s parks, especially Palisades Park, is a chief concern of residents.

Suggestions ranged from keeping homeless people from sleeping in the park at night to actually closing the parks and beaches to everyone because they are unsafe--for the homeless as well as everyone else.

But Tuesday’s incident also highlights a point made by homeless advocates, who say that most of the victims of homeless crime are homeless themselves. Therefore, they argue, the public safety threat to the community at large is being exaggerated.