No charges made in shooting

A Costa Mesa police officer will not be charged for fatally shooting a man outside a Temecula restaurant in March because he acted in self-defense, Riverside County prosecutors said Tuesday.

Scott Dibble, a nine-year veteran with the Costa Mesa police, shot and killed Shaun Vilan, 30, and wounded Vilan’s friend Taylor Willis, 22, on March 8 when the two men and others attacked Dibble outside of the Bank of Mexican Food restaurant, according to authorities.

The attack came 45 minutes after Dibble mistakenly slapped the butt of a woman in Vilan’s group, thinking it was a female friend from his own party, said John Hall, Riverside County Dist. Atty. spokesman.

“Vilan and others in his group were determined to have, as Taylor Willis described, a ‘beat down.’ Vilan and his friends would not let the matter go,” wrote Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Olsen in his analysis of the event. “They acted in concert to surround and gang-beat Dibble.”

Temecula was a crowded city that weekend. Tens of thousands came for the annual Temecula Rod Run, a classic hot rod car show. According to prosecutors, Dibble and his friends were in the area for wine tasting. Vilan, his 7-year-old son, Dillan, and his group were there to support a family member who had a car in the show.

Sometime after Dibble got into a confrontation with Vilan and his friends, he identified himself as a police officer, Olsen concluded in his report. Statements from independent witnesses and the restaurant’s bouncer confirm that Vilan knew Dibble was a cop before he jumped him, Hall said.

Witnesses said they saw Vilan and his friends surround Dibble, then one of them smashed a metal chair into Dibble’s head from behind, causing a severe cut that required stitches and staples, according to the report.

“This confrontation was anything but a one-on-one fist fight,” Olsen wrote.

As Dibble was attacked, he again shouted he was a police officer, officials said.

Dibble then fired four shots, wounding Willis in the leg and buttocks, and fatally striking Vilan twice, according to the report.

Prosecutors interviewed two independent witnesses, eight people involved in the incident, including Willis and Dibble, and six other people who were either familiar with the conflict or knew people involved, Hall said.

Riverside County sheriffs did not test Dibble for drugs or alcohol.

Costa Mesa police later screened Dibble’s blood and got clean results, police said. Dibble was placed on administrative leave for a few weeks but is not back in patrol.

Prosecutors said no one will be charged in the incident.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.