DANVILLE, Calif. (KRON) – The Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges in a case involving a Danville man who said he was attacked over a parking spot. It happened outside of Costco Sunday morning.
An official with the Town of Danville told KRON4 that the DA’s office reviewed the case which involved battery between two men that took place in the Danville Costco parking lot last Sunday.
One of the men, Craig Blackburn said he spent six hours in the hospital after he says a man beat him in the Costco parking lot. He needed X-rays and a CAT scan, and he’s being monitored for concussion symptoms.
It all started as a normal Sunday morning for Blackburn. He did his shopping at the Costco at 3150 Fostoria Way and grabbed a hot dog on his way out.
He was eating it while loading his car when a man pulled up in a white Toyota Corolla, put his turn signal on, and waited for the parking spot. But Blackburn says that man quickly got impatient and started hurling insults.
“He wasn’t happy with how long it was taking me to load my groceries, so he said, ‘Hope you’re enjoying that hotdog, fat***,’” Blackburn said.
A spot opened next to Blackburn’s, but the man insisted on taking Blackburn’s spot. Other drivers soon started honking, and the man eventually gave up and parked elsewhere.
But that wasn’t the end. Blackburn says when he finally started driving away, the man was still walking in the parking lot nearby and said something to him.
When Blackburn stopped to ask what he said, the man ripped his glasses off his face. Blackburn says he then got out of his car, and the man went “ballistic” on him.
“I was on the ground and he was just wailing on my head,” he said. “My face was covered with blood. I didn’t even know it. I looked at the mirror in my car and it was covered with blood.”
A crowd gathered and someone called 9-1-1. The man then took off running.
Blackburn was treated at the scene and taken to the hospital. In addition to the damage done to his face, he also has pain in his knee and shoulder from the attack.
KRON4 reached out to a spokesperson for the town of Danville who says officers arrived on scene and started a criminal investigation.
“The case is currently under investigation and will be sent to the district attorney’s office for review once the investigation is complete,” the Danville Police Department said.
Blackburn says he hopes his attacker is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He says he is reaching out to a lawyer himself and plans to bring a civil case against his attacker.
“After reviewing the case and the evidence provided as a result of an investigation by the Danville Police Department, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges,” a Danville official told KRON4.
