Guilty Plea For Driver Of Crashed Stolen Car in Dana Point

DANA POINT, CA — A guilty plea earned this 29-year-old man to six years and four months in prison for ramming a stolen vehicle into a CHP patrol car in Dana Point. Charles Lawson, the man behind the wheel, injured one officer and provoking another to shoot him as he tried to get away.

Lawson, who accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Greg Jones, entered his plea to two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer and single counts of evading while driving recklessly and car theft.

He would have faced up to seven years and eight months in prison if convicted at trial, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jason Baez said.

The officer-involved shooting happened about 1:30 a.m. Jan. 28 in the Dana Strand beach parking lot near Pacific Coast Highway. Lawson was driving a stolen 2014 Ford Flex when he led California Highway Patrol officers on a chase that at times exceeding 80 mph through Dana Point, Baez said.

At some point, the chase led to a dead-end street where Lawson rammed the stolen vehicle into a patrol car, knocking one officer into the back of the vehicle and resulting in minor injuries, he said.

As Lawson tried to drive away again from his pursuers he punched the gas and drove toward another officer, who stepped aside and shot the suspect, who was taken into custody later that day at a nearby hotel, Baez said.

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