Crime & Safety

Beaumont Police Officer Accused of Blinding Woman Due in Court

Beaumont Police Officer Enoch Clark is scheduled to appear in a Riverside courtroom on Tuesday.

Editor's Note:  This story has been .  Original story as follows. 

A Beaumont police officer who is accused of several counts of assault that led to the blinding of a woman during a DUI stop is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning.

Enoch Clark was on four counts: assault under the color or authority, assault with a less lethal weapon, use of force causing serious bodily injury, and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury-- along with an enhancement that he personally inflicted great bodily injury, according to the Riverside County district attorney's office.

Find out what's happening in Banning-Beaumontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Tuesday, he's slated to appear at a trial readiness conference at 8:30 a.m. in Riverside, according to court documents.

Grand jury transcripts obtained by Banning-Beaumont Patch on the JPX pepper spray device that was allegedly used at a distance no greater than 10 inches from Monique Hernandez's eyes on the night of Feb. 21.

Find out what's happening in Banning-Beaumontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

However, that high-powered pepper spray gun-- which shoots out a pepper-spray mixture at a speed around 400 mph-- is not to be used any closer than five feet away, according to the district attorney's office and grand jury testimony.  Doctors say one of the woman's eyes was completely destroyed in the incident, and that she'll likely never see again.

when he was arresting Hernandez for suspicion of DUI, and thought she would "gouge his eyes out" using the handcuffs, according to the transcripts.

His attorney , and tell his side of the story.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.