TORRANCE : Plea Bargain Reached in Freeway Rock-Hurling
A 19-year-old Redondo Beach man faces nine years in prison for hurling rocks onto a freeway, injuring four people and damaging at least 20 cars.
Gary D. Nelson pleaded no contest to felony charges for the Dec. 21 rock assaults on the San Diego Freeway about 20 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
Joshua McDonald, 16, of Redondo Beach, who is being prosecuted as an adult, also pleaded no contest. Torrance Superior Court Judge Jean E. Matusinka scheduled McDonald’s sentencing for Sept. 27. Three teen-agers have been prosecuted for the assault, which blinded a Tustin man in one eye.
Ali Reshamwalla, 55, was struck in the face by a rock and lost control of his car, crashing into a backyard. He also broke several bones in his face. Deputy Dist. Atty. Marc Chomel said he was satisfied with the plea bargain because neither teen-ager was likely to have received the maximum term of 13 years.
In May, a 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to the rock-hurling and a month later was sentenced in Inglewood Juvenile Court to eight years in the California Youth Authority.
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