Alleged Pismo Beach police officer’s assailant’s violent past

July 31, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

The man accused of violently assaulting a Pismo Beach police officer was on probation at the time of the attack. A court had previously convicted him for strangling his girlfriend and he was also facing felony charges for kidnapping and battery resulting in great bodily harm.

On the morning of Dec. 23, 2022, Shawn DeLaittre allegedly burglarized the SeaCrest Oceanfront Hotel in Pismo Beach. After officer Erin Logoluso attempted to detain the suspect, DeLaittre strangled and beat her leaving the officer permanently disabled.

Even though SLO County Probation recommended DeLaittre receive a prison sentence of five years and four months, Deputy District Attorney Julie Antos recommended a year in jail as part of a plea agreement. Logoluso objected to the sentencing, noting that her victim’s rights had been violated.

During a sentencing hearing last week, San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow asked the court to pause the sentencing because Logoluso’s victim’s rights had been violated and to allow the introduction of evidence of previous assaults. Dow told the court he would personally handle the case.

Judge Crystal Seiler paused the case with a new hearing set for Aug. 14.

Initially charged with felony domestic violence in Ventura County, in early 2022 DeLaittre pleaded to misdemeanor domestic violence and was given three-years probation.

In late Oct. 2022, DeLaittre and two childhood friends decided to take a “boy’s trip” to Las Vegas. While his friends gambled, DeLaittre flirted with a six-foot tall attractive woman he met at the bar, according to one of the friends who asked not to be named.

His friends headed to their suite shortly before 11 p.m. At about 3:30 in the morning, a woman began “screaming like she was getting murdered,” the friend said. The friend went into the common area to find alcohol bottles on the ground and the coffee table turned over.

A few minutes later there was a loud knocking on the door. He opened it to see his friend “covered in blood.”

“Shawn said the woman tried to take his wallet, but he got it back,” the friend said. “He said she hit like a guy.”

While DeLaittre took a shower, there was more banging at the door — this time hotel security. The guard showed DeLaittre’s friend the hallway, which was splattered with blood. The tall attractive woman was laying on a gurney down the hall.

“She was beat to shit,” the friend said. “It’s not like he punched her once, but 30 times.”

The woman was taken to the hospital where it took 53 stitches to sew her up.

Officers arrested DeLaittre on three felony counts: battery resulting in substantial bodily harm, kidnapping in the first degree and kidnapping in the second degree. The charges were later dismissed after the victim did not show up in court.

On Aug. 14 DeLaittre is scheduled for a hearing regarding the assault of a police officer and burglary.