Bird Rock Bandit Fails to Show Up For Arraignment on Domestic Violence Charges

A man who served time behind bars for his role in a La Jolla street fight that left a professional surfer dead five years ago failed to show up for arraignment today on misdemeanor domestic violence charges, prompting a judge to issue a $30,000 warrant for his arrest.   

Eric House, 25, is charged with misdemeanor battery and a restraining order violation in connection with the June 24 incident at his girlfriend's Pacific Beach apartment, according to San Diego police. He posted $10,000 bail the next day and was ordered to appear in court today for arraignment.   

At the time of House's arrest in June, SDPD Detective Gary Hassen said the 23-year-old woman apparently did not require hospital treatment due to the abuse she allegedly suffered at her Chalcedony Street residence.   

On May 24, 2007, House and four other members of a hard-partying group of surfing buddies calling themselves the “Bird Rock Bandits” got into a scuffle with acclaimed Hawaii-born surfer Emery Kauanui.   

The brawl ended when one of House's cohorts, Seth Cravens of La Jolla, punched Kauanui, causing him to fall over backward and crack his skull on the pavement in front of his Draper Avenue home. Kauanui, 24, died in a hospital four days later.   

In late 2008, a then-22-year-old Cravens was convicted of second-degree murder, in addition to assault and battery in connection with violent acts dating back to 2005. Three months later, he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.    House and the other co-defendants in the case, Hank Hendricks, Orlando Osuna and Matthew Yanke, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were sentenced to jail time.   

In December 2009, House, Osuna and Yanke violated terms of their probation by interacting with each other and contacting relatives of Kauanui's, as well as using illegal drugs. A judge sentenced each of them to a three-year penitentiary term.   

House began serving his sentence at Centinela State Prison in Imperial County on Feb. 1, 2010. Due to allowances for time served in county jail and a state law that grants inmates convicted of certain crimes one day's credit for each day served, House completed his term on Jan. 9 of last year, according to a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

–City News Service