Police: Man in Body Armor Smashes Vehicle Through Gate in Pasadena

PASADENA (CBSLA) - A 27-year-old man, at one point clad in full body armor and a Kevlar helmet, drove a Jeep through the front gate of a Pasadena auto body shop Sunday and hid from arriving officers, police said.

"Officers said he wasn't high, (but) methamphetamine was found inside his car and a pipe," Pasadena Police Lt. Anthony Burgess said.

Officers were dispatched 2:26 a.m. to the 500 block of North Lake Avenue, where the Jeep driven by Peter Julian Brody of Altadena caused about $2,000 worth of damage to the front gate of the shop, Burgess said.

When officers arrived they found Brody hiding in the back lot of the facility with a "compound bow" and a large axe nearby him, Burgess said.

"He said he was the owner of the shop, which he wasn't," the lieutenant added.

Brody, who was taken into custody without incident, was arrested on suspicion of felony vandalism, Burgess said.