Police: Newport man wielded nunchucks

A Newport Beach man was arrested over the weekend for allegedly threatening a Laguna Beach store clerk with nunchucks, an illegal martial arts weapon.

Saeeh Pourzandsani, 54, was arrested Sunday outside a Village Mart in Laguna Beach where police said he threatened a clerk with the two-sticked martial arts weapon, when he wasn’t allowed to take his dog inside the store.

Pourzandsani had tried to enter the store with the dog but the clerk said that dogs were not allowed inside and told Pourzandsani he’d have to leave, said Laguna Beach Lt. Jason Kravetz.

Angered, Pourzandsani made some kind of threat and “stormed out,” Kravetz said.

Pourzandsani came back into the store and threatened to hurt the clerk, who called police, officials said. Responding officers found Pourzandsani standing by his car, a 2002 Jaguar model, and nunchucks inside the vehicle. Pourzandsani was arrested for possession of a felony weapon. His dog was taken to a shelter by animal control.

—Joseph Serna