Petrocelli

This is a proceeding to review a decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Appeals Board denying compensation upon the ground that the injury was not work-related.

The evidentiary facts are not in dispute.. The applicant is a police officer of the City of Hermosa Beach. November 26, 1973, was his usual day off, but, because a motion picture company was working in that city, he was assigned to direct traffic, in uniform. For this assignment he received overtime pay from the city. About 3 p.m. it appeared his services were no longer needed so he was relieved. He’then went to a theatre in the adjacent city of Redondo Beach to see a motion picture. When he left the theatre at about 6:10 p.m. it was dark. As he walked to his automobile in the parking lot, still in uniform, he noticed a parked vehicle with five young men in it huddled together. He was aware there had been a lot of tampering with cars in that lot, and these men “just didn’t look right,” so the applicant decided to walk by them to have a closer view. As he walked, he tripped over a divider on the pavement and fell, breaking his left arm.

The referee concluded that this evidence did not show that the applicant’s…