S.D. Officer Will Stand Trial on Assault Charge

A San Diego police officer who is the son of a department captain was ordered to stand trial Wednesday on one felony charge of head-butting a transient and breaking the man’s nose.

Municipal Judge Lillian Y. Lim ordered three-year veteran Michael A. Moller to stand trial on charges of assault and battery by an officer. Moller, who is free on his own recognizance, was ordered to appear in Superior Court on Aug. 18, when a trial date will be set.

According to testimony Tuesday at his preliminary hearing, Moller, 31, smashed his head into the face of Michael Carvajal as Carvajal approached three officers in a parking lot at 3rd Avenue and Elm Street early March 13.

Carvajal testified that the attack was unprovoked. But an investigator with the Police Department’s Internal Affairs division indicated that Carvajal may have been causing a ruckus before the incident. Sgt. Ted Mims reported that one officer said Carvajal “got into (Moller’s) face” just before the officer struck him.

Moller’s attorney, Everett Bobbitt, said the officer’s actions were appropriate because Carvajal had approached in a threatening manner with clenched fists.

“An officer has a right to defend himself,” Bobbitt said.

The defense attorney also said Carvajal knew where Moller lived and had threatened Moller’s life a month before the incident.

Bobbitt accused Carvajal of filing false police reports, having nearly a dozen aliases and being an alcoholic.

The prosecutor in the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Luis Aragon, discounted Bobbitt’s claim.

If convicted, Moller could be sentenced to three years in state prison.

Aragon said after Wednesday’s hearing that he is considering charging Moller with one count of assault along with a related allegation of serious bodily injury. That charge carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.