Official charged with brandishing a firearm

An arson investigator with the Hermosa Beach Fire Department was charged for pointing his gun at a woman in a Sunset Beach bar last month.

Darryl Lee Powers, 49, was charged Aug. 19 with misdemeanor brandishing a firearm in a public place while out drinking in July.

He faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail if convicted, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Powers is accused of pulling out a knife and jamming it into the bar while out drinking with his cousin about 9:15 p.m. July 7 at Turc’s Bar in Sunset Beach. The bartender confiscated the knife, but when he walked away, Powers allegedly pulled a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at a random woman sitting next to him at the bar.

The woman became frightened and asked him to put the gun away, but he refused, according to the district attorney’s office.

The woman told the bartender, who called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Powers is expected to be arraigned Sept. 24 at the West Justice Center in Westminster.

—Britney Barnes