Domestic Quarrel Backs Up PCH Traffic

A bloody argument between husband and wife backed up northbound rush hour traffic on Pacific Coast Highway Thursday evening, as their 5-year-old child sat in the backseat of their stopped vehicle, according to Hermosa Beach police.

Radio traffic broadcasts that night reported that traffic was backed up for about a quarter-mile.

Police said in a statement Friday that the couple stopped their vehicle in the outside lane of the 1700 block of PCH, just north of Pier Avenue, and began to argue.

Passersby tried to stop the quarrel, police said, and the wife kicked and punched two of them.

A witness told police that the wife stabbed her husband with a knife, however, police said no knife was recovered at the scene.

Officers later determined the husband was punched and bitten during the incident.

Police said that when officers arrived at the scene the wife was in the driver’s seat of the car trying to drive away as her husband stood next to the vehicle, bleeding from his arm and face.

The wife was intoxicated, police said, and the husband told officers that she became angry when he would not allow her to drive.

The couple refused to follow officers' commands and had to be physically restrained, according to police. Traffic was shut down as medical teams attended to the husband's wounds and officers continued an investigation.

Police arrested the wife on suspicion of battery and spousal battery.

The names of the couple and child were not released by police.

Police released the child to the custody of the father and notified the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, which is conducting an investigation.