Man Accused of Hitting Officer With Skateboard

A man who allegedly attacked a police officer with his skateboard was captured moments later by two other law enforcement officials and arrested on suspicion of assault, authorities said Wednesday.

The officer, whose name was not released, had just stepped out of his patrol car about 9 p.m. Tuesday to check on a disturbance at a gas station in the 21500 block of Brookhurst Street when a man hit him in the face with a skateboard and began pummeling him, Lt. Dan Johnson said.

The man “knocked him to the ground and then kicked and punched the officer repeatedly in the face and body,” Johnson said. “The officer used pepper spray, but it didn’t work. He used up half a can.”

The officer, who fired his gun at the assailant but missed, was “bleeding profusely from the face” when an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer and an Orange County marshal ran to assist him. They detained Shane Cole, 21, of Huntington Beach.

“It took five people to hold [Cole] down long enough to be handcuffed,” Johnson said.

The police officer, who suffered minor injuries, was summoned to the Mobil service station after Cole allegedly caused problems for the station’s attendant. Police said Cole had swaggered into the station shouting profanities and had thrown the skateboard at an attendant. He also jumped over the counter and took a swing at the employee, they said.

“He was aiming at the station attendant, but he missed,” Johnson said. “He told the attendant, ‘Give me your money and give me a job,’ and then left without taking any money.”

Cole, who suffered minor facial cuts, was taken to the jail ward at Western Medical Center-Anaheim because authorities suspected he was intoxicated. He was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail on suspicion of assault on a police officer and attempted robbery.

The injured officer was treated at Pacifica Hospital in Huntington Beach and released. The station attendant was not injured.