Three say they were assaulted during June political rally
Criminal complaints filed against assemblywoman's chief-of-staff
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

Three people who were allegedly "body checked" by a local politician's top aide at a protest last month say sheriff's deputies are investigating the incident and criminal charges may be filed.

Thursday afternoon, Sandy Quiring, John Phillips and Louis Pandolfi filed complaints with sheriffs at the East Valley Station in Thousand Oaks against Joel Angeles, chief-of-staff to Assemblymember Audra Strickland.

They maintain that on June 17, Angeles attempted to prevent a peaceful protest against the tobacco industry, using both verbal and physical threats, during a fundraising event for Strickland's husband, state Senate candidate Tony Strickland.

Audra Strickland (RMoorpark) placed Angeles on an unpaid one-month leave for showing "poor judgement," according to a written statement from her office. He is to return to work Aug. 3.

About 55 people gathered at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel in Thousand Oaks- where Tony Strickland was inside with former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for a fundraising event- to draw attention and publicly decry the $50,000 contribution that the Ventura County Republican Central Committee received from the tobacco industry to assist with Tony Strickland's campaign for state Senate.

Pandolfi, the organizer of the protest, said the group was entering the only public access to the protected area along Westlake Boulevard when Angeles confronted them. Angeles called the protestors "atheists," Pandolfi said.

"He shouted, 'You are not Americans- you are cowards,'" Pandolfi said. "And then came the ultimate threat: 'If you step foot on this curb, you will go down.'"

Pandolfi said he continued onto the sidewalk and was promptly knocked to the ground by Angeles, as was Quiring, an 18-year-old from Simi Valley, and Phillips, a minister, senior citizen and Vietnam veteran from Camarillo.

"I've never seen anything like it," Pandolfi said. "These aren't left-wing nuts. This is a war hero and a girl barely out of high school. He body slammed me. I don't think he was trying to hurt anyone, just trying to keep us away by any means. It doesn't make any sense to let him get away with it."

Phillips agreed.

"My wife and I have been active in protests," Phillips said. "We were active in the farm worker movement in the 70s, we've confronted union thugs . . . Nothing like this has ever happened. It was completely out of the blue."

Phillips said he suffered a rotator cuff injury, and Quiring sustained minor cuts to her arms. Pandolfi called 911 and deputies responded, but no arrests were made.

Quiring graduated from Royal High School in June and will be attending University of California, Santa Cruz to study political science.

"This is the first protest I've ever been to," Quiring said. "I was so shocked when I saw (Angeles) yelling at us, calling us traitors and unAmerican I guess because we were Democrats. When I saw Jack go down, I was in shock. I didn't make eye contact and just tried to go by. He kind of just body checked me into the bushes. I was just in shock."

Pandolfi, Phillips and Quiring spoke to sheriff's deputies Thursday at the East Country Sheriff's Station in Thousand Oaks, providing their three victim statements and declarations from 11 witnesses.

"The wheels of justice are going," Phillips said. "It's a slow process, but hopefully we'll have some justice done."

Sheriff 's deputies weren't available for comment.

Strickland's office released the following statement:

"The matter has already been dealt with. Audra has no further comment on the issue."

But Pandolfi said he's hopeful that Angeles will be charged.

"The sheriff 's department will do an investigation and send it to the district attorney to see if there are criminal charges," Pandolfi said. "I would think that when you have 11 witnesses who all saw basically the same things, they'd believe a crime had been committed."