VISTA — A San Diego County Superior Court judge has approved the release of surveillance video in an alleged felony assault case against Encinitas Councilmember Luke Shaffer.
At a Wednesday preliminary readiness hearing, Judge Daniel Segura ordered the release of the video that captured some of the July 5 interaction outside an Encinitas resident’s home at the center of the case. The decision came after several media outlets requested copies of the video.
“After the arraignment, there were several media outlets that requested permission from the court to review or copy that surveillance video. The judge reached out to the parties to get our opinions on it, and both sides are not opposed to the release of that video as long as third-party faces are blurred in it,” said Deputy District Attorney Chandelle Boyce.
The video was not made immediately available on Wednesday, but may be available later this week, according to the court.
Shaffer, who was elected to the council last year, was charged in August with one count of felony assault, one misdemeanor count of hit-and-run driving, and one misdemeanor count of willful omission to perform the duty of a public officer. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, Shaffer got into an argument with the resident after attempting to move some of the man’s garbage bins so that he could park in front of the house.
During that interaction, he allegedly shoved a bin at the resident, got into his truck and backed over and crushed one of the bins under his tire, and hit the upraised hands of the resident and pushed him back several feet, per the DA’s Office.
He is also accused of shouting intimidating statements, including stating that he is a council member, that he would call law enforcement, and that the individual would never get a permit in the city again.
The judge ordered that the faces of other individuals in the video be blurred because several people were working on the home that day.
“I did see the video itself unredacted. There are a number of different individuals in the video. There [is] at least one minor, but I don’t know if you can see him in the video,” Segura said.
Defense attorney Isaac Blumberg said the video does not support many of the claims by the DA’s Office.
“A video of the incident has now been filed with the court and is part of the public record. It speaks for itself. The footage shows exactly what we’ve said from the start, this was a minor parking dispute, not a violent or criminal act,” Blumberg said.
He also characterized the incident as a “misunderstanding over a public parking space on a busy holiday weekend.”
“The homeowner had placed trash bins in a public parking space to reserve it for his construction crew. When Councilman Shaffer went to park, he moved the bins from the parking space to the designated spot for trash pickup and then tried to reverse into the space he cleared. The homeowner attempted to push the bins back into the space as Councilman Shaffer backed in, resulting in the trash can being hit,” Blumberg said.
The preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Nov. 13 in Vista Superior Court. Several individuals who were at the residence that day are expected to testify, according to Segura.
