Boy Admits Dropping Rock That Injured Driver

One of two teen-age boys charged in a concrete-throwing incident that left a San Carlos man critically injured pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

The 13-year-old Golden Hill boy admitted to Judge Sheridan Reed in Juvenile Court that he threw a rock from a freeway overpass and knew that it struck a car.

The no-contest plea has the same effect as a guilty plea but can’t be used against him in case of a civil suit, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Amador, the prosecutor handling the case. Amador said the youth could be given four years and eight months in jail when he is sentenced April 28.

The Golden Hill boy and a 15-year-old Point Loma youth were each charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon stemming from a Feb. 29 incident that injured Kurt Meyering, 24.

Prosecutors said the two boys, identified through witnesses a week after the incident, tossed a 9-pound chunk of concrete from the Pershing Drive overpass onto Interstate 5. The concrete smashed through the sunroof of the 1984 Corvette that Meyering was driving. His girlfriend, Jane Casey, had purchased the car just 15 minutes earlier.

Casey, on the passenger side, escaped injury. The driver of a second car struck by a rock minutes earlier in the northbound lanes of the freeway also escaped injury.

Meyering, an aspiring actor, was in critical condition on life-support systems for days after the accident. A Mercy Hospital spokeswoman said Thursday that Meyering remains in a coma because of the severe head injuries and is listed in serious but stable condition.

The prosecutor said the teen-agers were charged with one count of assault for each victim: Meyering, Casey and Billy Wilson, the driver of the northbound car.

“We believe two rocks were thrown from the bridge and two cars were hit,” Amador said. “We can’t state for certain” that the Golden Hill boy’s rock was the one that hit Meyering, “but we believe they are equally culpable.”

Based on statements made by the younger boy, Amador said the teen-agers had an agreement to drop the rocks together.

However, the Golden Hill boy did not implicate his companion in court, Amador said.

“He said his friend had a rock and was in a position to throw his rock as well,” Amador said, but he added that the youth claimed to be looking down at the time and did not say whether the Point Loma teen-ager also dropped a piece of concrete.

The 15-year-old is scheduled to go to trial April 26 in Juvenile Court. Attempts to reach his attorney, Jerry Leahy, for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

In court Thursday, the 13-year-old also pleaded guilty to burglary for a break-in Nov. 23 in which he entered a boat docked at San Diego Bay to steal candy and other items, Amador said. The boy had previously been placed in a diversion program by the juvenile probation department. The youth was charged with two counts of burglary, one count of grand theft and one count of setting a boat adrift, but the other charges were dropped in exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecutor said.

Amador plans to evaluate the youth’s background and psychological profile before deciding what sentence to seek.

“We have to determine if he’s a future danger to society and if he should be placed in a locked facility,” he said, adding that Meyering’s family and Casey will be asked for their opinions before the sentencing.

The 13-year-old is in Juvenile Hall, and his attorney, Jerry Reilly, will ask to have him sentenced to a non-custodial facility, Amador said. Attempts to reach Reilly for comment were unsuccessful.