Riot Count in Beach Melee Dismissed : Yucca Valley Man Still Charged With Felony Assault on Policeman

An Orange County judge Thursday dismissed a charge of inciting a riot against a Yucca Valley man who was arrested last Labor Day weekend during a melee near the Huntington Beach Pier.

But after the prosecution rested its case Thursday in the trial of Sean Clark Boles, 19, Superior Court Judge Robert C. Todd refused a defense request to dismiss a more serious charge of felony assault on a police officer.

Prosecutors have never said Boles was in any way responsible for the Aug. 31 riot, which led to 13 arrests, at least a dozen injuries and the destruction of five police cars and some other city property. But they did accuse Boles of keeping the melee stirred up by encouraging people in the crowd to throw bottles at police.

As testimony began Thursday in Boles’ trial, witnesses offered sharply conflicting views of Boles’ actions and what went on between police and beachgoers that day.

Some Praised Police

More than 75,000 people, by police estimate, were at the city beach in Huntington Beach that Sunday in August, many of them for the final day of the Ocean Pacific Pro Surfing Championships.

Trouble broke out shortly after 2 p.m., when two or more men reportedly tried to remove the bathing suits of two young women near the bleachers set up for the contest audience.

Some witnesses said police began clubbing beachgoers indiscriminately, but others who were there later praised police for using restraint in trying to control an unruly crowd.

Boles was accused of throwing a bottle at police after the riot had begun.

Lt. Charles Poe of the Huntington Beach police, who arrested Boles, was the prosecution’s first witness.

Poe, an undercover narcotics officer, said he was off duty and at home when he got a call to go to the beach. Poe said he and another officer in street clothes, Sgt. Patrick Gildea, were told to go into the crowd undercover.

Poe testified that he saw Boles throw the bottle, which shattered near the feet of Officer John Kenney.

Wore White Leg Brace

Kenney testified Thursday that he suffered a minor cut from the flying glass. That injury led to the felony assault charge against Boles.

Boles was easy to spot in the crowd because of a white leg brace he was wearing from an earlier injury. Poe said he watched Boles yell “Kill the pigs!” and make obscene gestures at the police, then rummage around trying to find something else to throw.

Boles found an old lock, Poe said, and threw that toward Kenney and other uniformed officers.

Poe said he and Gildea did not arrest Boles immediately after he threw the bottle because they feared for their own safety. Poe said he arrested Boles when his finding and throwing the lock separated him by a few feet from the unruly crowd.

Poe admitted on cross-examination Thursday that Boles was injured when he forced the young man to the ground. Boles has said he was seriously injured during the arrest. On Thursday, Poe said that Boles had only some minor bleeding.

“Did you think of walking up to him and saying, ‘Son, why don’t you go home?’ ” Boles’ attorney, Ronald M. Hall, asked the officer.

“No, sir. . . . He wasn’t going home; he was going to go to jail,” Poe answered.

Dozens of Bottles

A friend of Boles, 20-year-old Chris Florer, disputed Poe’s version of what happened. Florer said he, Boles and their friends were too scared after seeing police officers clubbing people to do any fighting back. He also said he didn’t hear Boles yell any obscenities at police.

Poe testified at length about dozens of bottles being thrown at police. Florer agreed that bottles were thrown, but he said it was in response to the police’s terrorizing beachgoers who were only looking for a way to escape.

Boles, who was living with a friend in Anaheim at the time, is now unemployed and living with his family in Yucca Valley. If convicted on the felony assault charge, Boles could face up to five years in prison.

Judge Todd also let stand a misdemeanor assault charge of spitting at Poe but dismissed a similar charge of spitting at Poe’s partner.

Attorneys said Todd dismissed the charge of inciting a riot because it was clear that the riot was already in progress before Boles did anything.