Anaheim Man Charged With Felony Vandalism, Inciting a Riot Outside Trump Event in Costa Mesa

Someone jumps on a police car at an anti-Trump protest outside a campaign rally in Costa Mesa on April 28, 2016. (Credit: KTLA)

A 19-year-old Anaheim man who allegedly threw an object at a CHP patrol car during a Donald Trump rally in Costa Mesa was charged Monday with felony vandalism and misdemeanor “inciting a riot.”

Luis Fernando Alarcon was arraigned Monday and was being held on $25,000 bail.

He’s the only individual out of 17 arrested who have been charged so far in the April 28 violence outside the GOP frontrunner’s campaign event at the Pacific Amphitheatre on the OC fairgrounds.  Other suspects’ cases have not been submitted to prosecutors by the Costa Mesa Police Department, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Monday in announcing the charges.


A crowded 8,200-person rally at the amphitheater brought some 3,000 more Trump supporters than the venue could hold, as well as hundreds of anti-Trump protesters. Officers in riot gear and mounted deputies responded to the “unruly crowds,” a Costa Mesa Police Department news release said last week.

Alarcon was allegedly in a crowd of protesters that was blocking the street and moving toward State Route 55. He allegedly ran toward a responding California Highway Patrol officer’s vehicle, yelling “f— the police” through the patrol car window.  
                           

An anti-Trump demonstrator lies at the intersection of Fair Drive and Fairview Road near the Pacific Amphitheatre, where the candidate made his first appearance of his California campaign. (Credit: Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

He then reached into his pocket and hurled something at the patrol car, according to the DA’s news release.

“The CHP officer heard a thud and observed an object that looked like a rock or roof tile fall to the ground,” the release stated. “As a result, the vehicle sustained damages over $400.”


Alarcon then returned to the crowd and was not immediately taken into custody because officers were working to close the freeway ramp, the DA’s release stated.

The defendant remained at the front of the crowd, yelling toward CHP officers as rocks were thrown at officers from within the crowd, according to the release. He was later arrested by CHP.

Alarcon was charged with one felony count of vandalism with damage over $400, and one misdemeanor count of inciting a riot.

If convicted, he faces up to three years in jail.