No Trial for Soccer Player Accused of Kicking Another

A high school soccer player charged with assault and battery for kicking another player in the head was placed Monday on six months of unsupervised probation and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Disco said he agreed not to take the case to trial because the probation department had recommended such a disposition in a pretrial report. The report was based primarily on the fact that Dwight Angelini, 18, a two-time league MVP from Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, does not have a criminal record and has already been accepted to Yale University.

“The purpose of Juvenile Court is to rehabilitate, not to punish, and we felt that incarcerating the minor would not serve that purpose,” Disco said. “However, this is not a final disposition. It’s like a diversion program for adults in narcotic cases, where if the terms and conditions of probation are violated, we will then move forward with the charges.

“If he meets all the conditions, we will then drop the charges,” Disco said.

San Fernando Valley Juvenile Court Commissioner Jack Gold, who presided over the case, said the disposition was appropriate since the probation department made the recommendation and both sides agreed to it.

“There were 18 letters attesting to his character. He is not a gang member, he has no criminal record,” Gold said in an interview.

Angelini’s attorney, Roger J. Rosen, maintained that the charges never should have been filed, but said he was satisfied with the decision.

However, the parents of the rival soccer player who was injured in the Feb. 3 kicking incident said the sentence was too lenient.

“It wasn’t a stabbing, but it was a blunt kick to the head by an athlete who had very developed legs, and that was the weapon he used on our son,” said Gloria Herrera, mother of 17-year-old Ryan, who will be a senior this fall at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. “It doesn’t make sense. Our son has received a heavier sentence.”

Herrera said her son continues to suffer from headaches, fainting spells, blurred vision and ringing in his ears.

While she agrees that incarceration was not appropriate in this case, she said Angelini should have been placed on probation for one year and banned from playing soccer for one year.

“It would have been more of a punishment for him not to be able to play soccer for a full year,” she said.

Herrera said she hopes that Angelini will satisfy his community service obligation by working with children who have suffered head injuries similar to her son’s so that Angelini will realize the serious damage he could have caused.

Rosen said a decision has not yet been made on how Angelini will fulfill his community service.

She said the family has filed a civil lawsuit against Harvard-Westlake seeking monetary damages because “we don’t know how much further medical attention our son will need. We thought he would be back to be himself by now, but he’s not.”

The case drew widespread attention because it is believed to be the first time in state history that criminal charges were filed against an athlete for violence on the playing field.

Angelini kicked Herrera in the head while Herrera was on the ground on his hands and knees away from the ball. The incident was captured on videotape by a parent of one of Herrera’s teammates.

Herrera did not play for the rest of the season because of his injury. Angelini was ejected from the match--his fourth ejection of the season and third in three matches--and dismissed from the team immediately after the incident. He was also suspended from school for two days.

Herrera’s family gave police a copy of the tape five days after the incident. Angelini was arrested on March 8, but released to the custody of his parents.

Rosen said Herrera will leave next month to begin his studies at Yale in New Haven, Conn.