Man in Custody in ’98 Assault on Newport Cop

A 31-year-old Irvine man who fled to Italy after being charged with assaulting a police officer arrived back in the United States after almost two years as a fugitive, prosecutors said.

Jeffrey Wayne Minor was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, but the hearing was postponed until Nov. 13. Minor has already been charged with felony driving under the influence, assault on a police officer, failure to appear in court and fleeing the country, officials said.

Minor eluded U.S. authorities since dragging a Newport Beach police officer 77 feet during a traffic stop at Fashion Island shortly before Christmas in 1998, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman.

Before the assault, Minor had been charged with felony drunk driving in Irvine and was on probation for a drunk driving manslaughter conviction in Riverside, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Geller.

“I’m glad they finally got him,” Geller said. Minor had fought extradition for more than a year.

Minor’s attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

On Dec. 20, 1998, Officer Kristen O’Donnell stopped him for driving recklessly in his red Porsche on MacArthur Boulevard, Shulman said. O’Donnell suspected Minor had been drinking, but when she asked him to take a DUI test, he got back into his car and tried to speed away.

O’Donnell jumped into the front seat of the car as he tried to flee, wrestling with him in the moving car. When the Porsche swerved into a parked car in the crowded Fashion Island parking lot, O’Donnell was thrown from the car. She suffered some bruises but was otherwise unhurt, Shulman said.

Minor, who was scheduled to appear at a probation hearing in Riverside and at court in Orange County after the incident, went into hiding. Investigators first believed he had gone to Mexico, but Minor fled to Italy in February 1999, Shulman said.

After a year of legal wrangling, Italian authorities released him to U.S. marshals Tuesday night.

Minor is being held at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana until his Nov. 13 arraignment.