Encinitas council member facing felony assault charge

An Encinitas council member has been charged with felony assault associated with an alleged incident that occurred over the Fourth of July weekend, court documents show.

The District Attorney’s Office filed the complaint against Councilmember Luke Shaffer earlier this month. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Vista Superior Court on Sept. 9.

Shaffer, 45, did not respond to requests for comment Friday, and it was not immediately clear whether he had hired an attorney. The criminal filing was first reported by Voice of San Diego.

No details regarding the incident behind the charges were available in court documents, although the complaint indicates the incident happened July 5, the Saturday of the holiday weekend.

He is accused of assault likely to produce great bodily injury. The complaint also charges Shaffer with misdemeanor hit-and-run driving involving “an accident resulting in damage to property.”

Additionally, he is charged with “willful omission to perform duty.” In alleging that charge, the complaint notes that a council member “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 permits.

Attorney Marco Gonzalez represents the alleged victim, and he said in an email that his client “had no relationship with and did not know Mr. Shaffer before this incident.”

“That he tried to utilize his position as a city council member to bully and intimidate my client and ultimately made threats of utilizing his position to harm my client is unacceptable,” Gonzalez said in an interview.

Mayor Bruce Ehlers on Friday said: “I think that we’ll get the facts, and then we will learn whether this is a political hatchet job or a real issue. Time will tell.”

Shaffer is relatively new to the council, first elected last fall. He represents the coastal Leucadia region and also areas around Quail Gardens Drive and part of northwestern Village Park.

An Encinitas native, he graduated from La Costa Canyon High School in 1998. After graduating from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Shaffer joined the Marine Corps and became an F/A-18 pilot. He spent 12 years in the Marines on active duty, including three tours to Iraq. He told the Union-Tribune last year that he also spent three years in the Marine Reserves.

Staff writer Caleb Lunetta contributed to this report.