A 33-year-old Orange County man accused of hitting an Indio police officer with his pickup and leading police on a brief chase that began near the Coachella Music & Arts Festival re-entered not guilty pleas Tuesday.
Michael Anthony Berber of Fountain Valley is charged with two felony counts, one each of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and of kidnapping, according to court records. He is also charged with two misdemeanor counts, one each of willful resistance and evading a police officer.
At the end of a preliminary hearing on Nov. 1, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gregory J. Olson found there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial for Berber on the two felony and two misdemeanor counts.
He re-entered not guilty pleas to the charges during a post-preliminary hearing arraignment at the Larson Justice Center in Indio on Tuesday.
Berber was arrested and booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on April 16, following the alleged attack in the area of Avenue 48 and Calle Conejo. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
According to the Indio Police Department, at about 10:45 p.m. April 16, the defendant was driving a few blocks north of the Empire Polo Club, where the annual music festival is being held, when he allegedly ignored traffic controls, prompting a patrolman to try to detain him.
Berber disregarded the officer’s orders, and according to the criminal complaint, he allegedly grabbed the lawman, identified as Officer Viktor Custic, and briefly held him, resulting in the kidnapping charge.
In the ensuing struggle, the defendant allegedly struck Custic with his 2010 Chevrolet Silverado, according to court papers.
“The suspect fled westbound on Avenue 48 and then northbound on Jefferson Street, while being pursued by Indio police,” according to an agency statement. “Once the suspect merged onto westbound Interstate 10, the California Highway Patrol took control of the vehicle pursuit with the assistance of Indio PD.”
Berber stopped a short time later at the intersection of Monterrey Avenue and Varner Road in neighboring Thousand Palms, where he was taken into custody without further incident, according to police.
He was not injured.
Custic was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and was susequently sent home.
Berber has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County. However, court records show there has been an active warrant for his arrest since December tied to a second-degree robbery, about which no details were available.