{"id":214355,"date":"2025-09-10T02:20:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214355\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T02:20:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T02:20:14","slug":"what-led-to-encinitas-councilmembers-assault-charge-a-dispute-over-parking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/214355\/","title":{"rendered":"What Led to Encinitas Councilmember\u2019s Assault Charge? A Dispute Over Parking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Encinitas Councilmember Luke Shaffer stood in front of a judge Tuesday for his criminal arraignment and entered a not guilty plea to charges the District Attorney\u2019s office filed against him<\/a> last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And for the first time, details of the incident that led to the charges were revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Tuesday\u2019s arraignment Shaffer pleaded not guilty to one charge of felony assault and two misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run driving and willful omission to perform duty, which means a public official knowingly failed to do something they were legally required to do as part of their job.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

The courtroom was packed with Shaffer\u2019s family, friends and more than a dozen Encinitas residents who said they were there to support him. Murmurs of the charges being baseless and politically motivated filled the hallway in front of the courtroom as Shaffer\u2019s supporters waited to be let inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once there, Deputy District Attorney Chandelle Boyce detailed the incident that occurred on July 5 between Shaffer and Encinitas resident Declan Caulfield, which started because of trash bins. The entire altercation was caught on video, but not all the words that were spoken by the two parties are audible, Boyce said. The video footage has not been made public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Deputy District Attorney Chandelle Boyce talks to members of the media at Superior Court North County Division in Vista on Sept. 9, 2025. \/ Ariana Drehsler for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n

On the day of the incident, Caulfield was doing work outside of his home in Encinitas with his son and some hired mason workers, and because it was trash day, his trash bins were on the street near the curb. Shaffer then arrived in his truck looking for a parking space, intending to go to the beach, Boyce said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaffer allegedly got out of his truck and started moving Caulfield\u2019s trash bins to clear a space to park. Caulfield approached Shaffer and explained that it was trash day, but Shaffer told Caulfield that he was an Encinitas councilmember and argued that it wasn\u2019t trash day. The day prior was a holiday, so July 5 was, in fact, trash day, Boyce confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Caulfield started to put his trash bins back before Shaffer allegedly knocked one of the trash bins out of Caulfield\u2019s hands, Boyce said. Shaffer also allegedly took a piece of Styrofoam trash and threw it in Caulfield\u2019s face, Boyce said. He then got back into his truck and allegedly reversed it about 15 feet in the direction of the trash bins and Caulfield, crushing one of the recycle bins with his right rear tire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The car also allegedly hit Caulfield\u2019s outstretched palms, Boyce said, pushing him back several feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the mason workers saw the incident and allegedly yelled at Shaffer, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaffer then allegedly said he would call the Sheriff\u2019s deputies that work for him, Boyce said. He then got out of his truck, removed the recycle bin from underneath his truck and allegedly told Caulfield that he\u2019d never get a permit from the city of Encinitas again. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Caulfield took a photograph of Shaffer removing the recycle bin from under his truck, also capturing Shaffer\u2019s license plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the arraignment, Judge Valerie Summers granted a modified criminal protective order for Caulfield, which says Shaffer cannot go within 100 yards of Caulfield\u2019s home, job or vehicle, as well as Caulfield\u2019s son\u2019s school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A readiness hearing is scheduled for Oct. 22, followed by a preliminary hearing in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus is on making sure we\u2019re doing our job correctly and ethically,\u201d Boyce said after the arraignment. \u201cThe standard that our office has to abide by is that, at the time we are reviewing a case, of all the available evidence that we have \u2013 if it supports beyond a reasonable doubt the charges, then it is appropriate to file the charges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaffer\u2019s defense attorney, Isaac Blumberg, said Shaffer adamantly denies the allegations and called it a \u201cfar reach of the District Attorney\u201d to say that Caulfield needs protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the arraignment, Blumberg touted Shaffer\u2019s military records and lack of any previous criminal record.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remain shocked that the District Attorney\u2019s office filed criminal charges in this case and then elevated those to a felony as opposed to a misdemeanor,\u201d Blumberg said after the arraignment. \u201cI\u2019ve seen the video and I think it\u2019s an outrageous overreach and an exhaust of resources of the District Attorney\u2019s office.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s really simple, this is a parking dispute on the 5th of July outside of the alleged victim\u2019s home who was trying to reserve the parking spot and did not want anybody parking there,\u201d Blumberg continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Encinitas Councilmember Luke Shaffer at Superior Court North County Division in Vista on Sept. 9, 2025. \/ Ariana Drehsler for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n

He added that they haven\u2019t seen any other evidence aside from the video, but Shaffer is looking forward to his day in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked about the allegation that Shaffer referenced his position with the City Council and allegedly threatened Caulfield\u2019s future ability to get permits from the city, Blumberg reiterated that he watched the video, but he \u201cdidn\u2019t hear any of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If convicted, Shaffer faces up to four years in prison on the felony count. The hit-and-run charge carries up to six months in jail or a fine and the omission charge carries up to one year in jail, according to the complaint.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under state law, a criminal charge alone does not remove a city councilmember from office. An elected official would need to be convicted of a specific crime related to giving or receiving bribes to or from other local or state elected officials.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, if Shaffer\u202fis convicted, it would not automatically disqualify him from serving. He can remain in his seat unless he resigns or there is a special recall election to remove him from office.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shaffer was elected to the Encinitas District 1 City Council seat last November.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Encinitas Councilmember Luke Shaffer stood in front of a judge Tuesday for his criminal arraignment and entered a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":214356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,8738,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-214355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-north-county","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115177614497514253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}