A 29-year-old San Juan Capistrano man faces attempted murder and other felony charges for allegedly attacking a man and woman in their backyard and then biting the chin of an Orange County sheriff’s deputy who responded to the assaults, sheriff’s officials said Thursday.
Cole Richard Altuzarra is charged with two counts each of attempted murder, inflicting injury on an elder adult and resisting arrest and one count each of aggravated mayhem, resisting police with an attempt to take a service weapon and assault with a weapon on a peace officer.
Orange County sheriff’s deputies were called at 6:40 p.m. Friday to a home in the 26000 block of Via Arboleda in San Juan Capistrano, said Orange County sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Breckner.
“When deputies arrived on scene, they saw a violent struggle still under way” between the defendant and the two victims, who are in their 60s, Breckner alleged.
When deputies intervened, the “violent struggle continued,” he said, adding that one of the victim’s ears was severely damaged when the defendant allegedly bit the victim before biting the chin of one of the deputies.
They had to use a stun gun to help subdue Altuzarra and three deputies sustained minor injuries in the struggle, Breckner said.
It was not clear what motivated the attack on the two residents, he said.
Altuzarra pleaded not guilty Tuesday and was ordered to return to court Oct. 29 for a pretrial hearing in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.
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