Assault charges filed against Fallbrook man after brief altercation

By: TOM PFINGSTEN - Staff Writer

VISTA -- A Fallbrook resident accused of assaulting a member of a Minuteman group protesting outside St. Peter's Catholic Church on July 14 will be arraigned on one count of misdemeanor battery Thursday, court records show.

According to a court filing by the district attorney's office, Fernando Guardado used "force and violence" during a brief altercation with Vista resident Cedric Garcia during a protest at a day-laborer hiring site in Fallbrook.

On July 14, a Saturday, Minutemen were protesting a hiring site at St. Peter's that was the focus of several similar protests during the summer.

Attempts to reach Guardado at a phone number connected with the address listed for him in court records Friday were unsuccessful.

A North County Times reporter who witnessed the incident said it appeared that Guardado thought Garcia had said something rude to his wife, who was in an SUV with him while the couple passed the church.

He then got out of the car and confronted Garcia, the reporter said.

San Diego Minuteman organizer Jeff Schwilk said Friday that he is anxious to see what happens at the arraignment next week, but said he was pleased that action was being taken in the case.

"We're all waiting to see what charges he's actually going to be charged with," Schwilk said. "The wheels of justice are starting to turn on this vicious attack on one of our members during a peaceful rally at St. Peter's."

A YouTube video of the incident begins with Guardado apparently confronting Garcia, then shows Guardado grabbing the other man's camera and throwing it to the pavement while Garcia shoots Mace at Guardado.

In July, immigrant rights activists said they had photos that indicated Garcia may have sprayed Mace at Guardado before he grabbed Garcia's camera.

The last image in the video shows Guardado being driven away in the SUV, grimacing.

Minutemen have staged several protests in the Fallbrook area over the last few years, targeting hiring sites at a gas station in Bonsall and one on the corner of Stage Coach Lane and Alvarado Street.

At that site, a chain-link fence was erected around the property shortly after the Minutemen brought attention to the corner.

Shortly after that series of events last year, the Minutemen began focusing on St. Peter's, where laborers have for years gathered in the morning to make themselves available for day jobs.

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.

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