The driver of a sedan that reportedly hit a protester and an attorney outside a campaign fundraiser for Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was traveling at an unsafe speed, a Costa Mesa police investigation has concluded.
The investigation also determined that the two pedestrians were blocking traffic, Lt. Victor Bakkila said.
The probe did not state a speed for the car.
The findings were sent Wednesday to California Attorney General Xavier Bacerra’s office to determine whether criminal charges will be filed. Bacerra’s office took over the case because Rackauckas had a conflict of interest.
Gary Campbell, whose wife, Collene, co-sponsored the fundraising event, was the driver of the vehicle, which left after reportedly striking the pedestrians on June 6.
Protesters had marched outside the fundraiser, calling for Rackauckas to not seek re-election in 2018 because of the secret use by prosecutors and police of jailhouse informants to illegally garner confessions. A Superior Court judge has booted Rackauckas and his lawyers from the case of the deadliest mass murder in county history, because he feared the defendant wouldn’t receive a fair trial.
Collene Campbell, 84, who was riding in the 2012 Chrysler, told the Register that a protester had jumped onto the hood, frightening her husband, also 84, into going straight home to San Juan Capistrano.
“We were totally stopped when the guy got on the hood,” said Collene Campbell, once San Juan’s mayor, adding the couple hadn’t been notified of the Police Department’s determination. “It was two old people trying to leave the function, and we were blocked.”
A sheriff’s deputy was sent to their home that night to take their statement. No sobriety test was given to Gary Campbell, because the deputy did not notice any evidence of alcohol consumption, Bakkila said. Campbell said the couple had had no alcohol.
Jordan Hoiberg, a 23-year-old from Newport Beach, has said he was off to the side and grazed in the knees but didn’t need medical attention. Brendan Hamme, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, was taken to a nearby hospital and released.
The ACLU has issued a different version of events, saying the Campbells’ car plowed through its picket line.
