LAGUNA BEACH : Rock Hit Truck Near Protest Site, Man Says

An Aliso Viejo man told police a tollway protester hurled a potato-sized rock at his pickup Tuesday night, cracking his windshield, as he drove along Laguna Canyon Road.

It is the first report of violence by opponents of the San Joaquin Hills toll road, police said. Protesters lined Laguna Canyon Road last week after court-allowed grading began Dec. 20, only to be halted Friday by a second injunction.

“So far, (violence) hasn’t been a trend,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. William Francis, adding that he knows of no other reports of similar trouble in the area. “Sounds like an aberration.”

Laguna Canyon Conservancy director Michael Phillips said Wednesday he was unaware of the police report, adding that he strongly denounces such tactics.

“Anyone who did do something as stupid as that deserves to have the law come down on them with both feet,” Phillips said. “That’s not at all what we’re about. We’re trying to save the canyon.”

Diamond J. Price, a cabinet restorer, said the rock was thrown at his truck about 7:45 p.m. as he was driving south on the curvy road. It did not go through the windshield, he said.

Price, 42, said he saw two men in their 20s holding a sign saying “It’s a Sin,” but when he pulled over to see why they threw the rock, they drove off in a white Mercedes toward the San Diego Freeway. They were the only people at the site, he said.

Price said the men may have mistaken his truck for one driven by tollway work crews, since it was dark. He said he did nothing to provoke the attack and even supports tollway demonstrators.

“I understand their feelings. I don’t particularly want a freeway going through there, either,” he said.

Opponents of the 17-mile road, which would cut through Laguna Canyon as it links Newport Beach and San Juan Capistrano, staged four days of protests last week before Friday’s injunction. Twenty-one people were arrested, including some who locked themselves by the neck to bulldozers.

Phillips said he is not aware of any protests the past few days.

“Most times they cooperate and they just try to get their message across in a peaceful manner,” Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Jim White said Wednesday about the road’s opponents.

Sometimes, however, tempers flare.

During anti-tollway demonstrations in June, Phillips said, he was hit in the leg when a passing motorist threw a full plastic water bottle as he stood along Laguna Canyon Road.

A new ruling on tollway construction is expected Jan. 5.