Domestic Violence Victim's Hand Signals Lead To Man's Arrest In LA County, Police Say

ALHAMBRA, CA — A domestic violence victim signaling for help with her hand behind her back got the attention of a bystander who called police, resulting in the arrest of a man on weapons charges, the Alhambra Police Department announced Sunday.

John Palombi of Glendora was arrested and was being held at the Alhambra Police Department jail after the incident that happened at the 7-Eleven on Fremont and Montezuma avenues, police said.

They had been called to the store on a report of "suspicious circumstances," after someone saw the woman making the signals behind her back and recognized what she was doing, police said.

The investigation determined a domestic violence incident had happened, police said.

As police tried to question Palombi outside the store and asked him to stand up for a pat-down, Palombi tried to run, police said, and shared body camera footage of the incident on the department's Facebook page.

"But (he) didn’t even make it out of the parking lot," police said.

Authorities found a stun gun on him, and learned he had an active arrest warrant, police said. The charges were not released and there were no details released about the domestic violence incident.