No charges for shovel incident

Prosecutors will not charge a Costa Mesa transient for allegedly trying to attack people with a shovel Saturday.

“There was not sufficient evidence that he was intending to hurt anyone,” said Susan Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Richard Dennis Woehler, 47, was arrested on suspicion of attacking people with a 5-foot-long shovel on 17th Street and Newport Boulevard. According to the police, Woehler swung the shovel at two cars turning left on 17th Street and charged at another car in the Taco Bell drive-through.

He also swung the shovel, unsuccessfully, at two bikers who passed by him, police said. Next he went after a woman, who ran inside a Starbucks store for protection, police said. Police arrested Woehler nearby, in a Chevron gas station parking lot at 17th Street and Orange Avenue.

— Michelle Mocarski