Unhoused SLO man beat another with a metal pipe, then fled on a bus, police say
An unhoused San Luis Obispo man was arrested after he allegedly beat another homeless person with a metal pipe and then fled the scene on a bus.
According to the San Luis Obispo Police Department, 45-year-old Robert Torres attacked a 57-year-old unhoused man “unprovoked,” striking him with a 4-foot metal pipe several times at the city Transit Center on Palm and Osos streets in downtown San Luis Obispo at around 8 a.m. on Saturday.
Torres allegedly fled the scene on a San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority bus, police said.
Officers worked with the Transit Authority to trace Torres to Pismo Beach, police said on social media.
The Grover Beach Police Department took Torres into custody around 11 a.m., police said, and the San Luis Obispo Police Department confirmed his identity.
Torres was arrested on Saturday and booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail, where he remained in custody without bail as of Tuesday, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office inmate database.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office filed a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge against Torres on Tuesday, court records show.
