Judge reduces felony charge against Encinitas council member in parking dispute

An Encinitas City Council member accused of assaulting a resident during a parking dispute over the summer no longer faces a felony arising from the incident after a judge on Thursday reduced the charge to a misdemeanor.

Vista Superior Court Judge Saba Sheibani’s ruling capped a day-long preliminary hearing for Councilmember Luke Shaffer, who was criminally charged following a July 5 interaction between Shaffer, 45, and an Encinitas homeowner on a street near Moonlight Beach.

Sheibani allowed a second charge, misdemeanor hit-and-run driving involving property damage, to stand. But she dismissed a misdemeanor charge alleging that Shaffer had willfully failed to perform a duty in his role as a city official. Prosecutors alleged he had threatened to use his position as a city official to deny permits to the homeowner.

The dispute arose over the placement of two trash bins along a curb on Fifth Street. Prosecutors alleged Shaffer stopped and moved the bins to clear a parking spot for his Toyota Tundra. When the homeowner objected, prosecutors alleged, the council member intentionally backed up his pickup into the trash bin, wedging it under his truck and knocking the homeowner back several feet, although he stayed upright.

In explaining her decisions, Sheibani noted testimony alleging that before Shaffer backed up the truck, he had told the homeowner something to the effect of “move out of the way or I will run over you.” She said that, coupled with the circumstances of the incident, was enough to support bringing an assault charge.

However, Sheibani exercised her discretion to reduce it from a felony. She cited case law and said she took into account several factors, including the defendant and his character traits, the public interest, and the nature and circumstances of the case. With that consideration, she said, “the conduct in this case is misdemeanor.”

Shaffer’s attorney, Isaac Blumberg, said after the hearing that he has maintained the encounter was not a criminal act “and certainly not felonious, and so we are very appreciative that the court agreed with that after hearing all the evidence.”

In court, Deputy District Attorney Chandelle Boyce had argued that Shaffer should face a felony charge, saying testimony and video surveillance combined to show that backing the truck into the homeowner was “an intentional act.”

“He was not driving a golf cart, he was not riding a bicycle,” Boyce argued. “He was driving a big Tundra truck. He drove it in an aggressive manner on purpose, and he actually reversed into a human being. That is the reason why we charged this case as a felony.”

The prosecutor also pointed to surveillance video showing that immediately afterward, Shaffer — rather than checking on the welfare of the homeowner — engaged with a construction worker who’d witnessed the incident and confronted Shaffer. She said Shaffer can be heard saying something about calling “the deputies who work for me.”

As to the count alleging Shaffer had failed to perform a duty, the prosecutor said that charge “reflects a real abuse of power that Shaffer displayed that day.”

“All of his actions were because he got angry for a personal reason, not in his capacity as a city council member,” Boyce said. She said Shaffer acted beyond his authority and “abused his official position.”

The judge said she “struggled a lot more” when considering whether Shaffer should face trial as to that charge, noting that the law discusses failure to perform a duty. “That is not what happened in this case,” Sheibani said.

The judge said the law requires action beyond making a statement, and that Shaffer didn’t take action, such writing a citation or taking steps to interfere with the homeowner receiving future permits. “I don’t know if there is some sort of ethical violation,” she said. “That’s beyond my job as a criminal law judge.”

The homeowner testified at the preliminary hearing Thursday that he was outside his Encinitas home when a pickup driver, later identified as Shaffer, moved his trash bins to park his truck.

The homeowner quickly walked over to put the bins back, telling the driver that it was trash pickup day — usually on a Friday, the man testified, but pickup had been bumped a day in observance of the Fourth of July holiday.

“That’s when it started to go south,” the homeowner said. “He got aggressive, pushed over my trash can, which shocked me.”

Encinitas City Manager Jennifer Campbell testified that Shaffer called her that afternoon to ask if trash pickup was scheduled for that day. She said she checked and called him back to let him know that it was.