2 Arrested in Beating of Couple Who Were Attacked by Youths

Two youths have been arrested and a police investigation is continuing into an apparently unprovoked attack on a young San Fernando Valley couple by a group of at least a dozen teen-agers, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Aaron Orr, 19, of Reseda and a 17-year-old youth have been arrested in connection with the Friday night attack on Jim Peske, 20, of Granada Hills and Kelly Kearny, 19 of Tarzana, said Detective Phil Quartararo. They are charged with suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, he said.

Quartararo said Orr and the 17-year-old were part of a group of about a dozen teen-agers who chased the couple and beat them unconscious outside an apartment complex near Burbank Boulevard and Lindley Avenue.

The incident began at a fast-food restaurant on Ventura Boulevard in Tarzana, Quartararo said. Peske, Kearny and Maria Cruz, 18, of Mission Hills had stopped at the restaurant to use the restrooms when the women were approached by a group of young men. After Kearny and Cruz spurned their advances, the men followed them in a fleet of about 10 cars to the apartment complex, Quartararo said.

Cruz fled and eventually managed to scare off the attackers by yelling that she was a police officer, Quartararo said. Peske and Kearny were knocked unconscious, he said. Peske was treated at a hospital for head injuries and two broken fingers and released. Kearny suffered minor injuries.