LAGUNA NIGUEL : Boy Testifies Driver Used Racial Slur

A 12-year-old black boy testified Thursday in the trial of an El Toro man, who is accused of cursing him before punching and slapping him in a June 30 attack that is being prosecuted as a hate crime.

“He punched me in the ribs, and I fell on the ground,” said Jason Donnell of Mission Viejo. “When I attempted to get up, he slapped me and said, ‘Stay down, nigger.’ ”

The defendant, Paul Richard Klein, 28, admitted during his own testimony that he struck the boy but denied that the attack was racially motivated. Klein said he was angry because he almost struck Donnell when the boy deliberately danced in front of his speeding car.

Klein faces three misdemeanor charges of assault, battery and violating Donnell’s civil rights in the jury trial in South Orange County Municipal Court, which continues today. Klein faces up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine if he is found guilty.

During the prosecution’s case, Donnell testified how he and three 15-year-olds--another black boy and two white girls--had gone to a deli near their home in Mission Viejo. Donnell said he was dancing and skipping across Los Alisos Boulevard on the return trip when a Corvette driven by Klein raced by, almost striking him.

Donnell, a seventh-grader at Los Alisos Intermediate School, said Klein turned his car around and stopped. Klein got out of the car and shouted, according to Donnell’s testimony: “What are you (expletive) niggers doing. . . .”

Under cross-examination, Donnell admitted that he called Klein “honky” but only after the man punched him. He said Klein took off in his car after the assault.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig McKinnon called three corroborating witnesses who disagreed in minor detail with Donnell’s testimony.

Klein, who was the only defense witness Thursday, showed the jury how Donnell had danced in front of his car. He said he had to swerve to avoid the boy, adding that the incident caused him to remember how he had struck another child four years ago in an accident in his native Texas.

“I wouldn’t ever do it again,” he said, describing his slapping of Donnell. “But if he was white, I probably would have done the same thing.

“I have no problem with them at all,” he said, referring to blacks.