North County

The girlfriend of a Palomar College student testified Monday that she was pushed down twice and saw her boyfriend beaten and kicked by six assailants in a melee April 25 in a supermarket parking lot in La Costa.

Holly Mayeux told a Vista Municipal Court jury that her boyfriend, Craig Beveridge, was beaten and kicked while he was down on all fours and attempting to escape. She said everyone in the car driven by defendant Erik Heipt, 19, attacked Beveridge.

Heipt is on trial for misdemeanor battery, the first of seven current or former San Dieguito High School athletes to stand trial in three allegedly gang-like attacks in North County. He also faces felony charges in a second incident.

Also Monday, Wendi Hash, a June graduate of San Dieguito High, testified that on April 27 she heard a group of youths, including Heipt, boasting in a school lunchroom of having severely beaten someone over the weekend.

But Jay Penacho, a senior at San Dieguito, testified that it was Beveridge who began the fight by throwing his brother, Jeff Penacho, to the ground and pouncing on top of him. He said he saw no one knock down Mayeux and no one punch or kick Beveridge.

Jeff Penacho faces misdemeanor charges in the case, with a hearing set for Sept. 4.