A Los Angeles County surf spot has become a hangout for a group of rowdy, long-in-the-tooth surfers – known to verbally harass, flash, and throw rocks at visitors.
The group being branded the ‘Bay Boys’ has also been known to vandalize cars, a lawsuit alleges – one that claims the crew has been at it for decades, and points to a crudely built fort built under the Lunada Bay cliffs as their base of operations.
The federal class-action has been underway for decades, and claims the surfers’ alleged antics come in violation of the California Coastal Act.
The law demands that members of the public have access to sites along the state’s coast, which apparently has not been the case at the bottom of this bluff set along the cusp of the wealthy city of Palos Verdes Estates.
So far, 12 members of the group have settled out of court – leaving behind just two to fight back claims from two surfers who say they were harassed. A hearing was held this past Tuesday – the latest in the long-running proceedings.
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‘I was really just frozen in fear, unable to do anything,’ alleged victim Diana Reed told KTLA of her supposed encounter with the ‘Bay Boys’, when she was 29 and paid a visit to the surf spot in 2016.
‘They were screaming profanities at me, making fun of my wetsuit because it was purple – just treating me in a very rude and very threatening manner,’ she said.
The Malibu resident went on to file a police report, before returning to the stretch of coast a second time, where she said she was met with an even worse reception – two of the men approaching her right off the batt.
‘One of them rushed towards me immediately, with a can of beer, shook the can vigorously, and sprayed the can of beer on my arm and my camera,’ she recalled.
‘The other man, she said, went on to ‘flash her’ – all while allegedly rubbing his private parts in a sexual manner.
‘They said they were filming me because they thought I was sexy and that I, you know, excite them,’ she told the station, growing emotional.
‘All kinds of vulgar things I’m trying to get past.’
On Tuesday, another plaintiff, retired El Segundo police Officer Cory Spencer, described his ordeal with the beach bums, which he said consisted of him being bombarded with taunts from the group from a hangout built at the base of the cliffs.
‘What the f**k are you doing here?’ and ‘why do you come to surf here?’ were among the jabs he said he was met with upon arrival, he said – with the harassment only worsening after he entered the water.
At that point, he told Justice Laurence Rubin of the California Court of Appeal Second Appellate District, that one of the men, riding the next wave, steered his board directly at him while he was still paddling away.
He recalled how he had to roll off his board to protect himself, and how the back of his wrist still got cut by the other man’s board.
Spencer also produced text messages sent by members of the Bay Boys in his portion of the lawsuit, in which the local surfers appears to relish at the chance to bother him and an acquaintance as they learned the two would be visiting.
‘There are two kooks,’ one of the texts that referred to Spencer reportedly read.
‘[H]e’s got a little bald headed white guy with them
‘[H]e looks like a boogie board or to f**k [sic] what a joke!’
One of the elitist group went on to allegedly confront Spencer’s friend by their car on the bluff where the pair had parked, asking why they kept coming back.
‘We’re going to make it hard on you every time,’ the man, one of the defendants who have since settled, said, according to Spencer.
‘This is what we do. It’s not going to get better for you.’
A lifelong surfer who also worked as a police officer in LA, Spencer felt the need to file the lawsuit, he said – paving the way for Reed to join as well.
They both claim Palos Verdes Estates, a city of about 13,000, has shied away from cracking down on the longstanding group, who have built a ‘Rock Fort’ on the beach to hang out, the lawsuit alleges.
They say the city protects the band as locals, while also appreciating the fact they keep outsiders out of town.
If found guilty of violating the California Coastal Act, the two last-standing surfers, identified in documents as David Melo and Alan Johnston, could face penalties in the tens of millions of dollars.
That’s because the penalty of impeding another’s access to the publicly owned water being between $1,000 and $15,000 per day – a charge that adds up even with the three-year statute of limitation from the start of the trial in 2016 until now.
‘If you harass somebody with the intent to impede their access to the water, that’s a Coastal Act violation,’ Kurt Franklin, one of the prosecution’s lawyers, told The Inertia last week, claiming the activity is still going on.
A California Court of Appeals last year reinstated the lawsuit, finding the city, as landowner, violated the federal law by allowing the unpermitted rock fort on its property for decades.
As for the harassment, the court said that it may qualify as going against the Coastal Act as well.
The case continues to make its way through the California Court of Appeals court.
Lunada Bay, meanwhile, is set just south of Los Angeles within the wealthy Palos Verdes Estates. It is known for breathtaking views and amazing surf.