Driver Who Dumped Out Paint Sought

Authorities said Tuesday that they are searching for a pickup truck driver who dumped more than 180 cans of paint in a parking lot and drove off, leaving a huge mess but no injuries.

The motorist took a ferry Monday evening from the Newport Peninsula to Balboa Island, where he dumped the toxic solvents, varnishes and paints in a private parking lot at Agate and Park avenues, Newport Fire and Marine Lt. John Blauer said.

Hazardous materials crews worked for about two hours in intermittent rain with sandbags and plastic tarps to keep the contents of 186 cans from washing into a residential neighborhood and Newport Bay.

A boat operator for the Balboa Island ferry had smelled the leaking chemicals on the bed of a white Ford pickup truck earlier that evening and confronted the driver, who, upon docking at the island about 9 p.m., drove to the parking lot, authorities said.

“In the darkness of night, he dumped all this stuff all over the place and then split,” Blauer said. “Now they’ve got a whole mess sitting in a parking lot.”