Bankruptcy Discussion Disrupted by Fisticuffs : Dispute: Audience member’s chin cut during scrap with cable TV cameraman filming session.

ORANGE â€”  A meeting to discuss Orange County’s bankruptcy led to minor bloodshed Wednesday night.

As former County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider addressed the Committees of Correspondence at Orange City Hall, a fight broke out between an audience member and a local cable TV cameraman.

The meeting came to a brief but abrupt halt, with both combatants vowing to seek assault charges.

It all started when 51-year-old William Fitzgerald objected to being filmed for a Garden Grove news show.

Fitzgerald told 34-year-old camera operator Gil Leyvas, an employee of Paragon Cable, to stop filming the audience.

But Leyvas told Fitzgerald that he had a right to film a public meeting.

“Who are you with?� Fitzgerald demanded, trying to grab Leyvas’ press credentials.

The two men scuffled, then Leyvas landed a left hook on Fitzgerald’s chin, opening a cut that spurted blood down the front of Fitzgerald’s shirt.

Audience members--many of whom were prepared only for a bit of verbal jousting with Schneider, who was fired for his part in the bankruptcy--gaped at the scene.

Orange police were called, and officers took statements from several witnesses.

“I want to press charges,� Leyvas said. “I was just doing my job.�

Fitzgerald, however, said he did nothing more than assert his right not to be photographed.

“Soon as I pulled his badge, he want whammo, [hitting me] in the mouth,� he said. “I’m disabled. I’ve got pins in my legs. I’m not going to fight back.�

Carole Walters, the committee’s vice president, said she hoped the fight wouldn’t taint the group’s reputation as a peaceful political organization.

“We’ve been meeting 11 months,� she said, “and this is the first time anything like this has happened.�