No Arrest Angers Protester Hit by Driver

An anti-war demonstrator expressed outrage Wednesday that the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department did not arrest a driver who fled the scene after hitting her with his pickup truck during a protest involving about 30 people in Thousand Oaks.

“I think that’s outrageous,” said Ali Dempsey, 25, of Thousand Oaks. “He hit me, and he did it on purpose. Even if he claimed not to, he left the scene.”

Dempsey said she suffered back and leg injuries in the accident.

Driver Glenn Gazdik, 22, could not be reached for comment, but authorities said he left the scene because he was frightened of what he believed was a potentially explosive situation.

Sheriff’s Lt. Geoff Dean said Gazdik technically had committed a crime by leaving before authorities arrived but will not be arrested because he did not violate “the spirit of the law.”

“He is a real nice guy who got really scared and left,” Dean said.

Dean said Gazdik, an Agoura resident, lived up to the spirit of the law by calling authorities to report the accident as soon as he reached home. Gazdik said he was making a right turn and accidentally drove onto the curb and hit a protester, Dean related.

“If we felt there was a hit-and-run, we’d be right on top of it to arrest him,” Dean said.

The incident occurred about 4 p.m. Tuesday as Gazdik, who had been traveling south on Moorpark Road, stopped at the intersection with Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Dean said.

Gazdik became involved in a verbal confrontation with anti-war protesters who were on the corner, Dean said. It was unclear how the incident started, but protesters said Gazdik yelled obscenities at them before driving onto the sidewalk and hitting Dempsey.

Dean said Gazdik told authorities that he turned too sharply and hit Dempsey after becoming frightened of protesters who were leaning toward the passenger side of his 1988 Ford pickup truck. His vehicle was traveling at less than 5 m.p.h., authorities said.

Dempsey remembers the accident differently. “He was the one harassing us,” she said.

Dempsey said she had been at the protest about 20 minutes when she saw a man drive the front wheels of his truck onto the curb about 20 feet away. She said he was shouting obscenities at her and the other demonstrators, who carried signs with messages such as “Peace” and “No blood for oil.”

Suddenly, she said, she saw the truck coming toward her and tried to get out of the way.

“He just stepped on the gas and he went right for me,” Dempsey said. “I know he did it--he was looking right at me.”

Dempsey, a homemaker and data processor, said the truck hit her right leg, and she “flew” into the street. The driver then sped away, she said.

Some of the other protesters called an ambulance for her, she said. She was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center where she was treated for a bruised thigh, a sprained knee, bruises to her wrist and a sprained back.

Dempsey, who last attended an anti-war protest with her parents when she was 7 years old, said she will have second thoughts about demonstrating in the future.

Terri Grando, 74, a protester who witnessed part of the incident, said the pickup truck pulled up to the group and the driver and protesters began a verbal dispute.

One of the other protesters went to talk to the driver, who tried to run the man down. The pickup driver then drove onto the curb, Grando said.

Moments later, Grando said, the driver gunned his engine and the truck headed toward her. She said she was able to move out of the way, but Dempsey was hit.

The protesters have demonstrated at the corner periodically for the past two weeks.

“It’s just scary that something like that could happen,” Grando said.