Teen Athlete Faces New Assault Charges

A Torrey Pines High School athlete who was one of seven San Dieguito teen-agers punished for a series of assaults last year faces new charges of felony assault after allegations of another beating last month.

The 17-year-old had transferred from San Dieguito High School in Encinitas to Torrey Pines High School in La Jolla after last year’s incidents. He is now a senior and was a defensive tackle on the school’s football team.

Carlos Armour, chief of the San Diego County district attorney’s juvenile division, confirmed Friday that the youth had been charged, but declined to elaborate.

Incident After Game

Sheriff’s investigators say the most recent incident occurred after a San Dieguito High School football game Nov. 18, when the suspect and another youth struggled with four adult members of a family in a confrontation allegedly sparked by the youths’ driving behavior.

Sheriff’s Detective Jenene Milakovich said siblings Mark, Bruce and Anastasia Donnally and Mark’s wife, Nikki--all in their 20s--were in a car when they were overtaken in the 1100 block of Nardo Road by a car driven by the two juveniles. The Donnallys said they flagged the juveniles down and the car pulled over, Milakovich said.

The two youths got out of their car and a confrontation erupted among the six persons, Milakovich said in a report of the incident forwarded to the district attorney’s office.

According to the report, Bruce Donnally received a broken nose, Anastasia Donnally suffered facial cuts and Nikki Connally suffered a sprained wrist.

One of the Donnallys placed one of the juveniles under citizen’s arrest and held him until deputies arrived.

In a separate report on an incident at the same time and same location and filed the day after the incident, two juveniles, Jason Edwards and Ammon Tonini, complained to sheriff’s deputies that they were attacked by the Donnallys. Edwards complained that he was punched in the nose and Tonini said he was grabbed in the groin, Milakovich said. They contended that they pulled over because they believed the Donnallys had thrown something at their car, according to Milakovich.

Their report was public information, Milakovich said, because they said they were victims in the altercation and wanted to press charges against the Donnallys.

All the victims were treated at nearby hospitals, Milakovich said.

One of the youths in last month’s incident was one of seven San Dieguito teen-agers--five of them juveniles--who were disciplined by authorities for their roles in a string of attacks on other persons in the San Dieguito area.

The two adults were convicted and sentenced to 15 to 45 days in jail; one of the juveniles was sentenced to serve up to eight months in a Probation Department camp for juvenile offenders, and the four remaining juveniles--including the one charged in the most recent incident--were ordered to pay restitution, perform community service and serve time on probation.