Opinion ID: 1365990
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Donner-Lucchesi Assaults.

Text: About 8:20 p.m. on August 20, 1980, Rick Donner and Jack Lucchesi were standing in the parking lot of a bar at an intersection about two miles from the scene of the Hatcher slaying. A pickup truck approached the intersection, proceeding somewhat erratically. It entered the parking lot and Donner observed the driver, later identified by both Donner and Lucchesi as defendant, to be looking down at the seat or floor of the cab. The pickup cut across the lot and as it exited, its right rear fender glanced against Donner's parked car, causing slight damage. The truck did not stop, and Donner and Lucchesi gave chase in their own vehicles. After about five minutes the truck pulled to the side of the road and stopped, Donner and Lucchesi pulling in behind. The driver got out and stood facing the men, with his left hand hidden inside the cab. Lucchesi walked towards him and the driver put up his right hand and said don't hurt me several times. Lucchesi asked him why he had not stopped back at the bar, and the driver said he had been afraid they might beat him up. Lucchesi said no one was going to hurt him, and asked if he had any insurance. A bicycle was visible in the bed of the truck. Suddenly the driver's expression changed and Lucchesi stepped back toward the middle of the road. The driver withdrew his left hand from the truck holding a revolver, which he fired at Lucchesi, hitting him above his right eye and knocking him to the pavement. He then fired two shots at Donner, hitting him once in the thigh. Approaching Lucchesi where he lay on the road the driver shot him once more in the chest. He then fired two more shots at Donner, who by this time was escaping through the orchard by the side of the road. Both shots missed, but Donner heard the bullets fly past him as he fled. Then, hearing the gun click empty, Donner turned and saw the driver get back in the truck and drive away. Donner continued through the orchard to a house about 200 yards back along the road. Lucchesi made his way there also a short time later, having managed despite serious injuries to get into his vehicle and back it up to the driveway. The occupant of the house summoned police and an ambulance. Both men survived the shootings, but Lucchesi was left functionally blind in one eye.