BRIEFLY IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Man arrested for vehicle break-ins

A 32-year-old man was arrested late Sunday on suspicion of using a metal object to break into at least five vehicles to steal money to allegedly support his drug habit, police said.

Matthew Comer was a transient who was residing at the Burbank winter shelter but had missed the bus back to Burbank from the pick up stop location in the National Guard Armory’s parking lot on Colorado Street in Glendale, where the vehicle burglaries occurred Sunday night, Glendale Det. Mauricio Barba said.

A 32-year-old Glendale woman reportedly saw a man searching through her car that was parked on Louise and Colorado streets and asked him, “What are you doing in my car?” according to a police report. The man turned his head toward the woman, grunted and begun walking away, according to the report.

The woman told two men that another man had broken into her car, and they followed and detained him on Elk Avenue just west of Louise Street until police arrived, according to the report.

Comer told police he was breaking into cars in search of money to pay for crack cocaine, which he was addicted to, Barba said. Comer was held without bail at the Glendale Police Department jail.