SLO prosecutor slams no-jail request for motorcyclist who hit BLM protester
A San Luis Obispo County prosecutor argued against a leniency request for a motorcyclist who struck a Black Lives Matter protester who was crossing the street during a march, telling a judge the man made a choice to endanger several people.
Deputy district attorney Amy Fitzpatrick also said the District Attorney’s Office is seeking a 30-day jail sentence for David Medzyk, who Fitzpatrick said also made a report to San Luis Obispo police that “is untrue.”
Medzyk has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, one count of which alleges injury to the victim. Reckless driving is defined under state law as “driving a vehicle with a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of others.”
The 59-year-old San Luis Obispo resident abruptly revved his bike through an occupied crosswalk at the intersection of Higuera and Osos streets and struck protester LeiYahna Jefferson, who was crossing the street southward. Jefferson previously told The Tribune that Medzyk made contact with her body but she was not seriously injured.
Fitzpatrick says another protester is also being considered a victim in the case because the woman would have been hit had she not been “pulled out of the way.”
“There is no reason the defendant should have been driving in that way,” the prosecutor said.
Medzyk appeared before San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Hernaldo Baltodano via Zoom conference Wednesday to ask the judge for pre-trial diversion, which would ultimately result in the charges being dismissed.
If agreed upon by a judge and defendant, the court’s misdemeanor diversion program allows a defendant to participate in some type of community service, classes or restorative justice option, based on the charge, rather than suffer a criminal conviction and serve jail time.
The program, created under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September, allows for all records of the person’s arrest to disappear from a defendant’s criminal record after successful completion of the terms.
Otherwise, misdemeanor charges each carry a maximum penalty of six months in County Jail and a $1,000 fine.
Video shows motorcyclist driving through protesters
Cell phone video captured the Sept. 2 incident at the intersection of Higuera and Osos streets in which Medzyk is seen idling his bike as he waited to turn left onto Higuera while protesters were crossing the street, heading south.
After leaving the frame, Medzyk’s bike suddenly accelerates into the scene, forcing a protester to leap out of the way just in time to avoid being directly hit. The woman was slightly struck in the leg and is seen bracing herself for impact with her arm as Medzyk speeds through.
After the incident, Medzyk posted on social media that he immediately drove to the police station and filed a report claiming those in the crosswalk attempted to knock his motorcycle down.
“SLOPD reviewed videos of the incident taken by bystanders and concluded that the videos and other evidence do not depict any physical interaction between the pedestrians and the motorcycle, other than when Mr. Medzyk’s motorcycle hit (the protester) as Mr. Medzyck accelerated around the corner and through the crosswalk,” a police news release later said.
Police did not recommend a charge of filing a false police report, but recommended that the District Attorney’s Office file the reckless driving charge. The DA’s Office initially charged one count of reckless driving, then added a second charge reckless driving resulting in injury after further review.
Two protesters who were crossing the street but not hit by Medzyk were also cited by the city with administrative infractions for allegedly walking outside the crosswalk.
Defendant ‘made the choice to endanger everybody,’ DDA says
The District Attorney’s Office’s case against Medzyk is significant due to criticism the agency has taken over its decision to criminally charge eight Black Lives Matter activists, including organizer Tianna Arata, related to a July 21 protest in which demonstrators marched on Highway 101 and blocked traffic.
The bulk of those protesters are being charged with falsely imprisoning motorists, including two who struck protesters with their vehicles. Protesters have called for the District Attorney’s Office to file charges against at least one of those motorists.
During Medzyk’s hearing on Wednesday, Baltodano said he’s read 126 pages of police reports in the case and had already determined that the defendant was eligible for pre-trial diversion, but that he needed to determine “suitability.”
Fitzpatrick said she has offered Medzyk a plea agreement to plead no contest to a single count of reckless driving in exchange for a 30-day County Jail sentence (he would likely serve less than half that time), a fine of $1,150, and 80 hours of community service, she said.
Paul Phillips, Medzyk’s defense attorney, argued in favor of diversion, telling Baltodano that his client is a military veteran and a life-long resident of the county with a clean criminal record.
He said that the case came down to a matter of “how would anybody likely act under the same circumstances?”
“Fortunately no one was hurt,” Phillips said.
Phillips said that if granted, Medzyk’s diversion program should include community service and, if reasonable, restitution.
Fitzpatrick said that both victims in the case opposed diversion for Medzyk, though they have not returned the agency’s calls since the beginning of proceedings.
A 14-second video of the incident was played twice for Baltodano. Fitzpatrick then argued that Medzyk’s statement to police that protesters were “coming at” him “is untrue.”
She said that because Medzyk was first to make a report to SLOPD, that agency first considered him a victim in their investigation, and the protesters as suspects.
“In watching the video, it was apparent to me that was not the case,” Fitzpatrick said. “There was no reason for him to turn left.”
She said that, unseen in the video, Medzyk actually cut off the truck waiting at the intersection in front of him in an effort to get through the crosswalk.
Fitzpatrick also told Baltodano that Jefferson reported seeing “a racist look in his eyes” and that he intended to hit her.
While there was an argument to be made Medzyk didn’t plan the event, the prosecutor said, she presumed his actions were “out of anger and out of dislike.”
“The defendant did not want to be held up at an intersection and inconvenienced,” Fitzpatrick said.
She said Jefferson suffered a bruise to the leg and two broken fingernails.
“You can see that Ms. Jefferson has to jump out of the way,” Fitzpatrick explained. “He would have hit her dead-on had she not jumped out of the way.”
Lastly, the prosecutor said there was no reason the motorcyclist had to accelerate at all, and that he “made the choice to endanger everybody when he clearly had other choices.”
“There was a lot of anger and grief and other emotions at the time this happened,” she said. “I don’t think that justifies the defendant’s actions in this case. It concerns me.”
Asked by Baltodano whether she thinks Medzyk meant to “make contact” with the protesters, Fitzpatrick said, “I think that’s a reasonable assumption.”
Asked why the DA’s Office isn’t charging Medzyk with assault with a deadly weapon, Fitzpatrick said she was “not part of the original filing decision.”
Due to a scheduling conflict, Baltodano had to cut the hearing short and said he would issue a ruling at a hearing May 5.
Diversion offered in protester cases
Last month, a county prosecutor assigned to the cases of Arata and the other San Luis Obispo Black Lives Matter protesters from the July protest told a judge that the DA’s Office now supports diversion rather than taking the cases to trial.
But the offer didn’t apply to Arata — who faces 13 misdemeanors — or to Robert Lastra, who is accused of breaking a car’s back window with a skateboard and is the only defendant among the seven facing a felony.
None of Lastra and Arata’s co-defendants took the deal, and the cases remain stalled in appellate court.
A few days later, a Superior Court judge granted diversion for three of five protesters facing misdemeanor charges for allegedly failing to disperse a June 1 demonstration in which San Luis Obispo police officers fired tear gas and pepper bullets to break up the crowd at the intersection of Santa Rosa and Walnut streets.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 6:50 PM.
