By Maxwell C. Myrhum
WOODLAND – A man is being accused of throwing a rock through the window of a Davis Joint Unified School District building after police analyzed security footage.
In a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Bruce Carpenter was accused of felony vandalism after he allegedly smashed a window of a DJUSD building in downtown Davis on Dec. 18, 2019. The incident in question resulted after the building’s staff allegedly removed his bike, with prior warning, some days earlier. As a result, the police responded to the scene and arrested the defendant later that day.
Officer Christiana Giannone was dispatched to the building in Davis in the early morning hours of December 18.
Upon arrival, Officer Giannone was met by the janitor on duty, Mr. L, who described how he noticed the window had been smashed. The officer then described to the court how the rock was roughly the same size as a soccer ball and located within the building as a result of being thrown through the window. The complete estimate of damages exceeds $2000.
While investigating the scene, Mr. L told Officer Giannone that the building had experienced issues with Carpenter in the days leading up to the incident. The issue with the defendant stems from the building staff removing his bike from the building’s area. The removal wasn’t without warning, as the staff did warn Carpenter multiple times that it would be taken away.
Officer Giannone also discovered during her investigation that the defendant allegedly cut a fence surrounding the building, causing the structure to fall down in certain areas.
In a continuation of her investigation of the scene, Office Giannone described to the court how she obtained the security footage of the building and analyzed it that early morning.
From the footage, the officer was able to identify a suspect wearing a black sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, and black shoes. In the footage, the suspect paced around the building and surrounding 
parking lot with what appeared to be a baseball bat, with which he allegedly damaged some lights on the exterior of the building.
Not included in the footage, however, was any individual inspecting, carrying, or throwing a rock that is similar to the one suspected to have been used in smashing the window.
The suspect, in the footage, then returned to their red SUV and left the scene. And upon further analysis of the suspect’s physical characteristics, a name acquired from Mr. L, and a corresponding vehicle, Bruce Carpenter was arrested later that day wearing clothes appearing the same as those worn by the individual in the security footage.
Although Officer Giannone did not see the suspect on the security footage use a rock in any way, his clothing and physical appearance, vehicle, and recent grievances with that specific school district building proved to Judge David Reed to be enough evidence to find Bruce Carpenter answerable for vandalism in a trial.
The court has arranged for another meeting for this case to occur on March 4, 2020, at 10 a.m. in Department 14.
