Author Topic: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder  (Read 8569 times)

Tom

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Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« on: April 13, 2019, 07:42:35 AM »
‘Bully on the beach’ trial begins
Paddleboarder charged with assault off Sunset Cliffs
By Pauline Repard
SAN DIEGO
An Ocean Beach paddleboarder charged with assaulting a surfer in a dispute over waves off Sunset Cliffs was the “bully on the beach” last summer, a prosecutor said in San Diego Superior Court on Friday.
But Paul Taylor Konen’s defense lawyer told a jury it was the other way around.
Surfer Kevin Eslinger was paddling after Konen, scolding him, when Konen — the paddleboarder — tried to swing away, attorney Brian McCarthy said.
“My client was trying to get away,” McCarthy said. “A wave comes, (Eslinger) doesn’t know what happens. The next thing he knows, he comes to.”
The two points of view were offered in opening statements in a trial before a jury of seven men and five women. Konen, 34, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon on Eslinger, with an allegation of causing great bodily injury.
He is suspected of using his paddle to whack Eslinger in the head, splitting open his scalp and causing brain damage that has left the popular East County swim coach with a slight speech impediment.
“The question in this case, is: Did my client deliberately assault Mr. Eslinger? Or was there a collision as a wave was coming, and he got hurt?” McCarthy told jurors. “I will ask you — who was the bully on the beach that day?”
Eslinger, a 56-year-old Point Loma resident, has been a swimming coach for El Cajon Valley High School for 32 years and with Heartland Swimming Association for 28 years. He testified that he grew up swimming and surfing off San Diego, mainly at Sunset Cliffs.
He made news in 2005 when he paddled a 19-foot board 120 miles nonstop from Santa Barbara to Ocean Beach in 29 hours, 31 minutes. Three years earlier, he had paddled 73 miles from San Clemente Island to Ocean Beach.
Eslinger testified that he and his wife, Janae Kelley-Eslinger, went surfing on June 26 at a popular spot known as The Boil, near the foot of Ladera Street. Three-foot waves were breaking and several other surfers were there.
He said he caught one wave and found himself blocked by a large paddleboard coming at him from one side.
“It surprised me,” Eslinger said. “I asked him what he was doing. Surfing relies a lot on etiquette. If a surfer is riding a wave, you don’t interfere with that. (For Konen) to come from that side had a sense of blatant interference.”
He said he had to duck out of the way as one end of the paddleboard swung over his head. Then, he said, he saw the same paddleboarder cut off his wife’s ride, and she fell off her surfboard.
Eslinger said he used his hands to paddle his board toward the offender, to “have a conversation” about his behavior. While Eslinger was lying flat on his board, the paddleboard cut across his path and the back end of the larger board came toward his head, he said.
“The last thing I remember is my hands in front of me, and blackness,” Eslinger said. He came to several seconds later.
His wife got him to an emergency room, where eight staples closed a long gash from the top of his head toward his left ear.
“I wasn’t sure what hit me — not until I saw the shape of the wound,” Eslinger said.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco told jurors that hair was found clinging to a dent in the paddle, but no DNA could be extracted to prove whether the hair was Eslinger’s.
pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com

Bean

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2019, 07:48:15 AM »
This will be interesting to say the least.

Sup-position

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2019, 09:18:22 AM »
Hey Tom
Do you know any of these guys ?
Ralph
Sup-position
(714) 899-3020 call, Text or Message

Tom

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2019, 11:49:43 AM »
Here is another article.

https://timesofsandiego.com/crime/2019/04/12/trial-begins-for-man-accused-of-assaulting-popular-local-surfer/?fbclid=IwAR0H9KgCM9_3FINDLUoSKaXBGPvVude_7Whvsu9YJYDYRQIxnzfL9XqeLQQ

SUP-position, Kevin is a friend and hero of mine that I have know for 20 years. I do not know Paul but have seen him surfing long boards, fish, and occasionally SUPs at the same breaks I usually surf. Some of the surfers from the area know him but few seem to be friends of him.

surfercook

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2019, 06:17:38 PM »
''His wife got him to an emergency room, where eight staples closed a long gash from the top of his head toward his left ear.''
That made me empathy cringe big time!  :o :'( Glad I wasn't out there that day!
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Billekrub

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2019, 04:42:34 PM »
Surfers are so obnoxious to paddlers, and sometimes to each other.
Rarely hear of sup'ers bashing each other.
Without being there, would assume the surfer was quite threatening.
And whether or not the whole thing was simply a collision rather than a strike?

He1 said, He2 said with no video.

Pick a friend and vote innocent, and vice versa.

It all depends on the lawyer quality.

surf4food

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2019, 05:04:36 PM »
Surfers are so obnoxious to paddlers, and sometimes to each other.
Rarely hear of sup'ers bashing each other.
Without being there, would assume the surfer was quite threatening.
And whether or not the whole thing was simply a collision rather than a strike?

He1 said, He2 said with no video.

Pick a friend and vote innocent, and vice versa.

It all depends on the lawyer quality.

I wasn't there either, but the surfer IS a pretty well known guy around San Diego, or at least where he normally surfs.  From all the articles I've read and other threads about this case here on the zone, it looks like the paddler was the agitator.  We'll all find out more at the case unfolds.  And BTW, I have seen some pretty dick head SUP surfers.  Most (in the surf anyway) come from a traditional surfing background so they run the full gamut from mellow yellow to Lunada style local and any variation in between.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2019, 05:06:23 PM by surf4food »

Dusk Patrol

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2019, 06:04:45 PM »
The thing that bugs me is that the violent dude surfs prone and standup, but the media latches on to stand up and perpetuates SUP v surfer for the sensational aspect. 
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Tom

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2019, 06:59:22 PM »
Kevin was riding a small board that barely floats him. Paul was standing on a very large old school SUP.  There is no way that Kevin could  be threatening to Paul.

The closing arguments were today (Tuesday) it it is now in the hands of the jury.

Dusk Patrol

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2019, 07:03:47 PM »
I’m referring to the paddle swinger as the violent one, who surfs prone and SUP, but is focused on by the media as a SUP guy.
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eastbound

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2019, 07:15:13 AM »
i hear you dusk--and i know well the bias against sup, and how the media, witting or not, reinforces all this---but this guy was on a huge sup, and alleged to have actually assaulted/injured the proner with a paddle/weapon--so the guy being on a sup is actually important to the story

and i dont buy that a wave came along and mixed these guys up, causing the injury

seems to me the perp thought he had a "stand your ground" defense teed up, and then realized he needed a better story, given he injured an unarmed guy---so he went with "the wave did it"

im just guessing and, hopefully, the jury has good knowledge of reality---which we'll all have to accept

if this guy did this he shd spend some time in a cage--effing brain-damaged a healthy human--im a progressive, but ive got no patience with people who do violence/damage to others
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Bean

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2019, 01:06:56 PM »
No "stand your ground" defense in Cali (only if you are in your home).
I'm aftraid we will all feel the ill effect of this regardless of the outcome.  More important than ever to paddle with Aloha...


surfsupla

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2019, 01:33:12 PM »
Years of good aloha down the tube because of one idiot. I dont know all the facts. But it seems the dude who was on a SUP at the time is very guilty.

SlatchJim

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2019, 03:30:59 PM »
Jackasses come in all varieties and riding all manner of mounts.  Too bad this couldn't be settled by a dance-off  :-\

OkiWild

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Re: Start of trial of Surfer assaulted by paddle boarder
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2019, 06:03:48 PM »
Would really suck if the guy in the SUP was railroaded...

Just some observations from the bench... The article is severely biased, painting the surfer as a local sweetheart, and not a word about the guy on the SUP. At several points it also goes out of the way to make a distinction between SUP and prone... e.g. "used his hands to paddle his board towards the offender." Also note the use of the word "offender." Hyperbole abounds: "While Eslinger was lying flat on his board, the paddleboard cut across his path and the back end of the larger board came toward his head, he said." Please... It goes on and on; utter trash that casts doubt on the whole thing.

An entire article written from the words of only one of the two parties. Once we remove the obvious bias, the he-said, she-said, and land on the facts, only one person was injured, and only after admittedly seeking confrontation.

In my experience, confrontation that escalates to violence (and I've seen my share) is almost never one sided. There's a very good chance that the guy on the SUP was being an ass, but don't ask me to believe that the surfer paddled towards the SUP to have a calm, polite discussion about manners in the line up. Even in well mannered, polite Japan, that's a laugh.   

 


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