A 69-year-old San Simeon man has been convicted of assault and battery after he choked a state park maintenance worker who caught him disassembling a restroom toilet at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur. A jury found David Carl Goad guilty on September 2 following a two-day trial, convicting him of assault by means likely to cause great bodily injury and misdemeanor battery committed on state park property.
According to the King City Rustler, the confrontation began on May 17 when Goad attempted to fix an issue with a restroom toilet and began taking it apart himself, according to the Monterey County District Attorney's Office. A state parks maintenance employee asked Goad to stop disassembling the toilet and leave the restroom, but prosecutors said Goad became hostile and combative. An SFGATE report noted that the physical altercation began after the employee turned his back on Goad to close and lock the restroom door so official maintenance personnel could handle the repairs, as reported by SFGATE.
Prosecutors said Goad attacked the employee from behind, placing his hands around the worker's neck and applying pressure before the employee broke free after a brief struggle. The employee reported the incident to state parks rangers, who observed visible red marks on the employee's neck, according to the district attorney's office. The Monterey County District Attorney's Office announced the conviction out of Monterey County.
Rangers and Investigators Built the Case
The criminal investigation was conducted jointly by California State Parks Ranger Tyler Dempewolf and Monterey County District Attorney Investigator John Magana, according to the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association. The case was filed under Monterey County Superior Court Case No. 26CR004579, and Goad is scheduled to be sentenced before Superior Court Judge Pamela Butler on October 2. He faces up to three years in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Following the verdict, the union's president, Alan Barcelona, released a statement praising the lead ranger and pointing to what he described as a tremendous need for more rangers to help keep parks and communities safe, given the extensive territory they monitor. Under California Penal Code Section 245(a)(4), assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury is a wobbler offense carrying a statutory felony penalty of two, three, or four years in state prison, according to the DCD Law firm. Penal Code Section 243.2 separately targets battery committed on public park property, imposing enhanced misdemeanor penalties including up to one year in county jail and fines up to $2,000 for attacks on park grounds, per the Shouse Law Group.
A Remote Park Facing Its Own Pressures
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park was established in 1962 along Highway 1 in Big Sur and spans 3,762 acres stretching from the coastal cliffs at McWay Falls into the Santa Lucia Mountains, according to America's State Parks. San Simeon, where Goad lives, sits roughly 60 miles south of the park along the same coastal corridor, per Wikipedia's entry on the park.
In the weeks following the trial, California State Parks announced temporary closures of nearby Big Sur facilities, including Andrew Molera and Pfeiffer Big Sur State Parks, because of the active 25,000-acre Timber Fire and 29,800-acre Plaskett Fire, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation. That backdrop underscores the strained conditions under which Big Sur park staff have been operating this season.
Staffing Gaps Leave Rangers Stretched Thin
Systemwide staffing reports published by Capitol Weekly show that state law enforcement agencies face persistent vacancy rates as high as 20% to 36% across various peace officer classifications, leaving individual rangers responsible for expansive geographic zones. The union's commentary following the verdict explicitly linked worker safety concerns to those ranger shortages across the state park system, framing Goad's conviction as one example of the risks maintenance staff and rangers face while covering vast, often isolated terrain along the Big Sur coast.
