Medical board official says anti-vaccine group followed, ambushed her in Walnut Creek

Anti-vaccine group ambushes medical board president in Walnut Creek

KTVU's Henry Lee reports.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - The head of the state medical board that licenses doctors — and promotes vaccines as being safe, says that she was surveilled and confronted by an anti-vaccine group in Walnut Creek.

Kristina Lawson is an attorney, mother, and former Walnut Creek mayor who is also president of the Medical Board of California.

On Monday, Lawson said she was leaving for work when she saw a drone over her Walnut Creek home and a white Ford Expedition parked outside.

She said the people inside the SUV watched as one of her daughters left in her car. They also observed as Lawson took her other kids to school.

Later that day, Lawson pulled into a parking garage near her law office in downtown Walnut Creek.

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She took another photo of the same SUV parked directly across from her in the garage.

And that evening, she said she was walking back to her car alone in the dark parking garage when four men jumped out of the SUV while carrying cameras and recording equipment.

Lawson said the men told her they were with America's Frontline Doctors, a group that is now under federal investigation for allegedly spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.

In a statement, Lawson said, "As a mother, I felt deeply violated and scared for my kids in our own home - and I feared for my own personal safety as a woman being surrounded by strange men in a dark parking garage."

Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia said, "The harassing and stalking of Kristina Lawson is really unacceptable."

Gioia said the group targeting Lawson is "really steering people in the wrong direction, which ultimately hurt people's health, and people like Kristina are trying to provide good information."

Walnut Creek police are investigating, but said no crime has been committed at this point. Lawson said the group was apparently accompanied by an armed private investigator.

KTVU reached out to a doctor who founded the group, and who was indicted for allegedly taking part in the invasion of Capitol, but has not received a response.