Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

"Beat down" confused as "frolic"

Lawyer for assault suspect corrected by judge

Dash Walter pleads not guilty to all charges. Photo by Eva
Dash Walter pleads not guilty to all charges. Photo by Eva

“The first thing he said was, 'You been talking a lot of shit I heard,' then the second thing he said was, 'Get your arm off my girl,'” a taxi driver said during more than an hour of testimony on January 20.

He was one of two witnesses at a hearing for Dash Simmons Walter, 29, who is accused of beating and robbing the driver two months ago, in the early-morning hours of November 13, 2014.

Jenna Gamble

The taxi driver testified that Jenna Lee Gamble, 28, had phoned to ask for a ride from her home in the 4900 block of Concho Place in Oceanside. Gamble was the girlfriend of Walter, and both were regular customers, according to the taxi driver. “They called me a lot.”

The driver said he arrived at about 1 a.m. and Jenna came out and directed him to park closer to her home. She then allegedly asked him to step out of his cab to have a cigarette. The driver said he was only out of his car a couple minutes, just long enough to light a cigarette, when Walter and another man came out of bushes around the home and attacked him.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Kevin Moore

The driver said he could see Walter was holding a long stick but “when he got closer I could see it was a piece of rebar.” The man held the metal bar with both hands and swung at him, the witness claimed. “He was saying something like, ‘Fuck you, you asshole,’ something like that.” The victim was allegedly struck in the head several times.

The first attacker was immediately followed by another man, a stranger to the driver, who was identified in court as defendant Kevin Lee Moore, 32. “Yes, I did see something in Mr. Moore’s hand,” the victim testified. “It was like a crowbar, like a nail picker, with a screwdriver handle.” The stranger struck him across his forehead, the witness said.

After he was knocked down, he received more blows, he said. “I might have passed out on the ground, I don’t really remember…. I can’t really tell who exactly was doing what,” the witness told a judge. “They both kicked me.” And “Dash hit me in the back with the rebar, three or four times.”

The taxi driver and Judge Bowman

Prosecutor Jack Wong showed the witness evidence photos of bloody injuries. “Yeah, I got nine stitches to the side of my head,” the witness confirmed. “I got a broken nose. Both of my front teeth are chipped.”

The victim said the woman who phoned him made a dash for the door of her home. “She ran right when it happened, I saw when that happened, she ran inside and turned off all the lights.” He claimed that Gamble did not seem surprised by the violence. “No, she wasn’t startled at all.”

The victim said that while he was on the ground, Walter robbed him. “He started saying, ‘Empty your pockets, give me everything you’ve got.’ He was saying that a lot — ‘Give me everything you’ve got.’” Because he was face down, the driver said he wasn’t sure if both men went through his clothing. “They checked all of my pockets.” He was robbed of 50 dollars, a small baggie of marijuana, and his work badge, the driver claimed.

The man he knew as Dash kept demanding more, so “I told him I had 300 dollars in the cab.” When the driver was allowed to get back into his cab he locked the doors and drove off, he said. “I saw a cop driving on the street and flagged him down.”

An Oceanside police officer confirmed that he was contacted near the intersection of College Boulevard and Highway 76 at about 1:15 a.m. “He exited his vehicle and flagged us down.” When police went to the home they found “thirty or forty pieces of rebar” in the backyard, according to Officer Grindley.

Attorney Rick Layon and Officer Grindley

Near the end of the January 20 hearing, defense attorney Rick Layon, who represented Gamble, suggested to the judge: “This was more of a frolic than acting as a taxi driver.”

“This was more of a group beat-down,” judge Blaine K. Bowman corrected the attorney.

The prosecutor alleged that Walter has three prior felony convictions in San Diego County, beginning with grand larceny when he was 20 and then two drug offenses six years later. At the Tuesday hearing, the judge found Walter to be in violation of probation.

The three suspects were all ordered to face felony charges of first-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. All defendants plead not guilty to all charges and are next due in court February 10 to set a date for trial.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Lane Field Park Market & Live Music, Windansea: Life. Death. Resurrection

Events January 5-January 8, 2024
Next Article

Two poems for Christmas by Joseph Brodsky

Star of the Nativity and Nativity Poem
Dash Walter pleads not guilty to all charges. Photo by Eva
Dash Walter pleads not guilty to all charges. Photo by Eva

“The first thing he said was, 'You been talking a lot of shit I heard,' then the second thing he said was, 'Get your arm off my girl,'” a taxi driver said during more than an hour of testimony on January 20.

He was one of two witnesses at a hearing for Dash Simmons Walter, 29, who is accused of beating and robbing the driver two months ago, in the early-morning hours of November 13, 2014.

Jenna Gamble

The taxi driver testified that Jenna Lee Gamble, 28, had phoned to ask for a ride from her home in the 4900 block of Concho Place in Oceanside. Gamble was the girlfriend of Walter, and both were regular customers, according to the taxi driver. “They called me a lot.”

The driver said he arrived at about 1 a.m. and Jenna came out and directed him to park closer to her home. She then allegedly asked him to step out of his cab to have a cigarette. The driver said he was only out of his car a couple minutes, just long enough to light a cigarette, when Walter and another man came out of bushes around the home and attacked him.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Kevin Moore

The driver said he could see Walter was holding a long stick but “when he got closer I could see it was a piece of rebar.” The man held the metal bar with both hands and swung at him, the witness claimed. “He was saying something like, ‘Fuck you, you asshole,’ something like that.” The victim was allegedly struck in the head several times.

The first attacker was immediately followed by another man, a stranger to the driver, who was identified in court as defendant Kevin Lee Moore, 32. “Yes, I did see something in Mr. Moore’s hand,” the victim testified. “It was like a crowbar, like a nail picker, with a screwdriver handle.” The stranger struck him across his forehead, the witness said.

After he was knocked down, he received more blows, he said. “I might have passed out on the ground, I don’t really remember…. I can’t really tell who exactly was doing what,” the witness told a judge. “They both kicked me.” And “Dash hit me in the back with the rebar, three or four times.”

The taxi driver and Judge Bowman

Prosecutor Jack Wong showed the witness evidence photos of bloody injuries. “Yeah, I got nine stitches to the side of my head,” the witness confirmed. “I got a broken nose. Both of my front teeth are chipped.”

The victim said the woman who phoned him made a dash for the door of her home. “She ran right when it happened, I saw when that happened, she ran inside and turned off all the lights.” He claimed that Gamble did not seem surprised by the violence. “No, she wasn’t startled at all.”

The victim said that while he was on the ground, Walter robbed him. “He started saying, ‘Empty your pockets, give me everything you’ve got.’ He was saying that a lot — ‘Give me everything you’ve got.’” Because he was face down, the driver said he wasn’t sure if both men went through his clothing. “They checked all of my pockets.” He was robbed of 50 dollars, a small baggie of marijuana, and his work badge, the driver claimed.

The man he knew as Dash kept demanding more, so “I told him I had 300 dollars in the cab.” When the driver was allowed to get back into his cab he locked the doors and drove off, he said. “I saw a cop driving on the street and flagged him down.”

An Oceanside police officer confirmed that he was contacted near the intersection of College Boulevard and Highway 76 at about 1:15 a.m. “He exited his vehicle and flagged us down.” When police went to the home they found “thirty or forty pieces of rebar” in the backyard, according to Officer Grindley.

Attorney Rick Layon and Officer Grindley

Near the end of the January 20 hearing, defense attorney Rick Layon, who represented Gamble, suggested to the judge: “This was more of a frolic than acting as a taxi driver.”

“This was more of a group beat-down,” judge Blaine K. Bowman corrected the attorney.

The prosecutor alleged that Walter has three prior felony convictions in San Diego County, beginning with grand larceny when he was 20 and then two drug offenses six years later. At the Tuesday hearing, the judge found Walter to be in violation of probation.

The three suspects were all ordered to face felony charges of first-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. All defendants plead not guilty to all charges and are next due in court February 10 to set a date for trial.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Brian Ellis says no to sampling for Campus Christy collab

“Someone 30 years from now could sample it, knowing it’s purely original”
Next Article

San Diego’s Poet Laureate puts down his pen

Rhyme Time’s Up
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader