Alleged ‘bath salts’ attacker ordered to stay away from Glendale woman
A 20-year-old Glendale man on Wednesday was ordered to stay away from the 77-year-old woman he allegedly attacked with a shovel while high on the synthetic drug known as “bath salts.”
Robert White, who was released from jail on a bond, appeared in a Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom in Burbank clean-shaven and in business attire as the judge signed off on the protective order forbidding him from contacting the woman was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the alleged attack on June 21.
White has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly entered the woman’s apartment and threatened to kill her.
After White allegedly attacked and struck the woman on her head with the shovel, he barricaded himself inside his apartment on the 1000 block of Spazier Avenue.
White had been swinging a shovel at birds when the woman approached and told him to stop, police said.
After the brief stand-off, officers eventually fired a rubber bullet and Taser to finally subdue him. He was carried out of the apartment complex — handcuffed to a chair — by police officers and paramedics as he yelled “God loves all of you” to bystanders.
At the hospital, he allegedly told police that he drank a combination of soda and “bath salts” earlier that day.
“Bath salts” contain psychoactive chemicals that “cause chest pains, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
White is due back court on Aug. 28.
-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News