The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office filed charges on Thursday of last week against Malibu City Councilman Skylar Peak stemming from a Christmas Day crash.
Peak, 28, faces three misdemeanor charges of hit-and-run, vandalism and reckless driving, according to the DA’s official complaint. On Dec. 25 of last year, Peak allegedly drove his pickup truck over more than 400 feet of road delineators on Pacific Coast Highway near Zuma Beach. Investigators believe he abandoned the damaged truck near Westward Beach.
Peak declined to comment on the charges on Monday, and he has not made any public statements addressing the allegations since news first surfaced. However, in an interview with The Malibu Times in January, Peak called the crash a “total accident” and said he had intended to return for the pickup truck.
The DA’s complaint claims Peak “unlawfully [drove] a vehicle upon a highway in willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.” He also, according to the complaint, “unlawfully and maliciously [damaged] and [destroyed] real and personal property” when he allegedly drove over more than 400 feet of Caltrans road barriers known as “Quick Kurb.”
The complaint states that he caused more than $400 in damage. In January, a Caltrans spokeswoman told The Malibu Times the 23 damaged barriers cost between $3,000 and $4,000 to replace.
The councilman, who was elected last April, is scheduled to be arraigned March 27 at the Malibu Courthouse. Because it is a misdemeanor he can appear personally or through an attorney.
Peak’s attorney, Michael Schwimer, did not return several phone calls requesting a comment for The Malibu Times.
When asked whether misdemeanor charges could affect Peak’s position as a city councilman, City Attorney Christi Hogin said Peak’s job is safe unless he is convicted. And even if convicted on misdemeanor counts, his job is not at risk so long as he was not in violation of his public duty when the crash occurred.
“If it involves violating his or her official duties, then it could affect his office,” she said. “Whether or not any of these charges are associated with his office, it doesn’t sound like it.”
The City of Malibu contracts $6.3 million annually for police services with the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department, which investigated the alleged hitand- run, and also deals regularly with Caltrans and other agencies of the state. However, the charges do not appear to require Peak to recuse himself on future City Council votes, according to Jonathan Lowell, the former president of the City Attorney Dept. in the California League of Cities, as long as he does not show bias against those agencies.
The charges come several months after the DA’s office declined to press charges on an assault investigation involving the freshman councilmember.
In July, Point Dume Village security guards alleged Peak threatened them with a scissor blade after they confronted him for yelling and tossing chairs in the shopping center’s patio area. He was taken into police custody that evening and spent five days at a county hospital while undergoing an involuntary 72-hour psychological evaluation following the incident.
The incident sparked a months-long sheriff ’s department investigation. In August, the Malibu City Council split 3-2 to appoint Joan House as mayor pro tem instead of Peak. Traditionally, the person who receives the highest number of votes in the City Council election is chosen for the job. Peak received more than 1,400 votes in April while House received 1,067 votes. The majority in the vote—Lou La Monte, Laura Rosenthal and House—cited concerns about the ongoing investigation among the reasons for delaying Peak’s appointment.
In September, prosecutors cited insufficient evidence and opted not to press assault charges against Peak.
In 2010, a jury also deadlocked on a case involving Peak and another individual who allegedly assaulted a paparazzo. The case was eventually dismissed by the judge.