VISTA — Encinitas City Councilmember Luke Shaffer pleaded not guilty to felony assault and other misdemeanor charges during an arraignment on Tuesday in Vista Superior Court, in front of a crowd of residents and family members present in the courtroom to support him.
The arraignment comes nearly a month after the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against Shaffer, who has represented District 1 on the City Council since January.
The Aug. 12 complaint charged Shaffer with one felony count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily harm; one misdemeanor count of hit-and-run driving damaging property; and one misdemeanor count of willful omission to perform the duty of a public officer.
Deputy District Attorney Schandelle Boyce laid out the alleged series of events in court, stating that the incident arose after Shaffer attempted to move a resident’s trash cans from a space on the street where he wanted to park on July 5.
Isaac Blumberg, defense attorney for Shaffer, vehemently denied the allegations against the councilman.
“It is outrageous that the District Attorney would elevate a parking dispute into a felony assault case. These charges are a drastic overreach, and we are confident that when the facts are presented, Councilmember Shaffer will be fully vindicated,” Blumberg said.
According to Boyce, alleged victim Declan Caulfield was doing work outside of his home and had placed some trash and recycling bins along the curb line, as it was trash day and he wanted to reserve a space for workers to do trash runs.
Shaffer pulled onto the street, got out of the car, and began moving the bins in order to park his truck in the same spot so that he could go surfing, Boyce said. When Caulfield asked him not to move the bins and told him it was trash day, the two began to argue, and Shaffer allegedly stated that he was an Encinitas City Councilmember.
Caulfield started to push the bins back into place, and Shaffer pushed one of the bins that was in his hands, causing it to fall to the ground. He also threw a piece of styrofoam trash in Caulfield’s face, Boyce said.
Shaffer then allegedly got into his truck and reversed it by around 15 feet to where Caulfield was standing, crushing one of the recycling bins with his rear right tire and also striking Caulfield’s outstretched palms with his rear tailgate, causing him to stumble backward several feet.
A stoneworker in the yard then yelled at Shaffer and asked what he was doing, and while they exchanged words, Shaffer told him he was going to “call the deputy that works for him,” according to Boyce.
Before leaving the scene, Shaffer told Caulfield that he would never be able to get a permit in the city again, Boyce said. Caulfield reported the incident to law enforcement that same day.
The incident was captured on video, but some parts of the video lack clear audio, attorneys said. Shaffer and Caulfield were believed to be strangers at the time of the incident, and Caulfield was not harmed but did experience pain in his hands and arms, Boyce said.
Shaffer’s alleged remarks about his position on the council, calling a deputy, and denying permits are the basis of the misdemeanor charge for willful omission to perform the duty of a public officer.
An elected official has a “duty not to use their position to willfully make unlawful threats of retaliatory action against members of the public, including threats to deny or obstruct lawful permits or other lawful entitlements,” per the complaint.
“They were all remarks that were reasonably calculated to intimidate the victim, and to dissuade any people from cooperating with the criminal justice process, let alone report the matter … These statements suggested that the victim would suffer negative consequences due to this interaction,” Boyce said in court.
Caulfield has requested and obtained permits from the city of Encinitas in the past few years, the city confirmed to The Coast News.
The DA’s Office requested a criminal protective order for Caulfield and his son, claiming that he was fearful of further encounters with Shaffer.
Defense attorney Isaac Blumberg said the request for a criminal protective order was a “far reach,” and instead asked the judge for a no-negative-contact order.
Judge Valerie Summers adopted a modified order requiring Shaffer to stay 100 feet from Caulfield’s home, place of work, and vehicle, as well as from his son’s school.
Blumberg strongly criticized the DA’s Office for moving forward with criminal charges and described Shaffer as a decorated Marine, father, and high school lacrosse coach with no criminal background and strong support from his constituents.
“As a criminal defense attorney here in San Diego [for] more than 21 years, handling hundreds if not thousands of these types of cases, I remain shocked that the District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges in this case, and then elevated those to a felony as opposed to a misdemeanor,” Blumberg stated.
Blumberg said that while he has seen the video that captured the incident, he denied hearing Shaffer make any of the alleged statements about his position as a council member. He said he also has not seen any other evidence obtained by the DA’s Office.
Boyce said the DA’s Office only files charges where there is clear supporting evidence.
“Our focus is on making sure we’re doing our job correctly and ethically. The standard that our office has to abide by is that, at the time we’re reviewing a case, of all the available evidence we have, if it supports beyond a reasonable doubt the charges, then it is appropriate for us to file the charges,” Boyce said.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 22 in Vista Superior Court.
While the complaint filed by the DA’s Office indicated that the hit-and-run involved another car — stating that Shaffer failed to “locate and notify the owner and person in charge of such vehicle involved” — the DA’s Office did not make any mention of a vehicle being hit in court on Tuesday.
