Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved spending $225,000 to help repair and protect the fountain in downtown Orange that was damaged during a police chase.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Wagner and Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who both represent portions of the city, chipped in from discretionary funds for their district. Wagner offered $200,000 and Sarmiento $25,000.
A suspect in a stolen car led police on a chase March 13 and “failed to negotiate the plaza circle and careened through the plaza, doing damage to that historic site,” Wagner said. “Fortunately, the driver was not seriously injured and will suffer the consequences (of his actions).”
The money will help the city “with much needed repair of this iconic site and to provide additional security” to prevent such damage in the future, Wagner said.
The fountain has been featured in such movies as “Forrest Gump” and “That Thing You Do,” Sarmiento said,
“It’s very well photographed,” Sarmiento said.
A grandson of Charles McCandless, the designer of the fountain in Old Towne Plaza, will work on the repairs and protective elements, Sarmiento said.
“That’s quite a unique circle of life,” Sarmiento said.
A police officer on patrol saw a Hyundai Sonata without its headlights on about 5 a.m. March 13, prompting the officer to try to pull the driver over, police said.
The suspect — 24-year-old Raymond Salazar Felix — sped away on Chapman Avenue and slammed into the fountain in Plaza Park, police said.