O.C. education official sued over road violence

Board trustee Ken Williams Jr. is accused of choking another driver last year.

An Orange County Board of Education trustee is accused of choking and stepping on a 20-year-old neighbor in the middle of the street during a road rage incident last year, according to a lawsuit.

Dr. Ken Williams Jr., 65, who serves in District 3 and is up for reelection in the March 5 primary, is accused of kicking the man’s car, throwing him on the ground and climbing on top of him before putting his hands around his neck.

The lawsuit by the driver, Caden O’Malley, alleges that Williams left O’Malley “unable to walk” on a 55-mph roadway in Mission Viejo.

“Caden, struggling, somehow crawled to the side of the road to call for emergency medical assistance,” the lawsuit reads.

Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County district attorney’s office, said Williams and O’Malley were cited for assault and battery after they were interviewed by county sheriff ’s deputies.

“Based on the totality of the evidence, our prosecutor determined he was unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt who the primary aggressor was,” Edds wrote in an email, characterizing the incident as “mutual combat with valid self-defense argument by both.”

Phone records obtained by The Times confirmed O’Malley called paramedics on March 11, 2023, at 1:32 p.m. The incident report says a driver “physically assaulted” O’Malley, “stepped on his leg” and “took off.”

O’Malley and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.

In a brief interview with The Times, Williams confirmed the lawsuit Friday, but said he was unable to comment on specifics of the incident on the advice of his attorney. He declined to provide the name of his attorney.

Williams, who was first elected to the Board of Education in 1996, has accused his political opponents of using the filing of the lawsuit against him.

“My political opponents are many,” he said. “My opponents are using this.”

Williams said people have gone after him during his reelection campaign for his stance on “protecting the innocence of children, charter schools and staying away from the woke curriculum such as critical race theory that would harm the parentchild relationship.”

Williams said in a statement that he has faced personal attacks because of his political stance.

Asked if he believed the lawsuit was politically motivated, Williams said he “wasn’t saying that,” but that his opponents were using the information against him and reaching out to political supporters to remove their endorsements.

Williams’ endorsements include those from the Orange County Republican Party, Sheriff Don Barnes and the Orange County Register.

According to his online Board of Education profile, Williams is also a reserve deputy in the Sheriff ’s Department.

Cases involving reserve deputies or other peace officers are normally handled by the district attorney’s Special Prosecutions Unit, but Edds said the initial police report did not make any mention of Williams being a reserve deputy.

“As such, it was reviewed by a line deputy without being further elevated to the district attorney,” Edds wrote in an email.

The lawsuit alleges that the violent encounter began on Crystal Canyon Road when Williams, driving a Cadillac Escalade, saw O’Malley’s Volkswagen Golf TDI stopped and blocking the road.

It’s unclear whether the two knew each other before the encounter, but property records indicate the two lived just a couple of streets from each other.

The two drivers turned into El Toro Road, where Williams allegedly “slammed on his brakes.” O’Malley stopped and tried to pass Williams on the left side and Williams began to speed up and block O’Malley from passing, according to the lawsuit.

Williams “continued to pull his large Escalade in front of Caden and slam on his brakes,” the suit reads.

The two pulled over, and Williams walked over to O’Malley, kicking his Golf and screaming insults while O’Malley remained in the car, the lawsuit says,

O’Malley exited his car to take a picture of Williams’ license plate, and the trustee “came rushing at Caden, smacking his cellphone out of his hand,” according to the suit.

Williams allegedly threw O’Malley to the ground, climbed on top of him and choked him, then left the scene, with O’Malley on the roadway.

According to the incident report from the Orange County Fire Authority, O’Malley was taken to a hospital.

The lawsuit alleges O’Malley suffered “significant and mental injuries” and is asking for damages in excess of $25,000.