Race-Car Driver, Second Man Say Mob Beat Them : Crime: Speedway competitor Rocky Moran and Coto de Caza neighbor say about 50 teens jumped them as they returned home after Halloween events.

Race-car driver Rocky Moran and another man, both residents of this upscale gated community, said Tuesday they were attacked separately and seriously injured by a mob of more than 50 teen-agers inside the gates as they were returning from trick-or-treating with their children.

“Nine or 10 of them got me down and proceeded to kick and pummel my head with rocks for a few minutes,” said Bernard Moran (no relation to Rocky Moran), 45, a 230-pound former Marine who said he suffered a broken rib, fractured ankle and several facial bruises in the attack. “I remember severe blows and a number of flashes; today I feel like I was playing football without pads.”

Rocky Moran, 44, who is 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, suffered a dislocated shoulder in a separate attack just moments before the attack on Bernard Moran.

According to Kay Moran, the attack on her husband, Rocky, began about 7:45 p.m. Monday as the couple were driving home with their 4-year-old son from an evening of trick-or-treating. On Via Coyote, she said, they encountered a mob of high school-age kids blocking the street. “You couldn’t drive your car up the street,” she said. “Nobody would move. We went by real slowly and all of a sudden someone started throwing rocks and kicking the car.”

Rocky Moran said that as the teen-agers dented the family’s minivan, “finally, my anger got the best of me. I got out of the car and said something. Then somebody came up behind me, and three more of them came in. Then we went to town. I guess I watched enough ‘Rocky’ movies--I just put my head down. I don’t think I landed one decent blow.”

Rocky Moran said he was told the teen-agers were from Santa Margarita High School. They “were smoking, swearing, raising hell. Hey, I was a kid once. I remember. It’s Halloween. . . . But they can’t be taking old (guys) out of their cars and beating ‘em up.”

Rocky Moran also sustained multiple bruises to the top and the back of his head.

“It’s one of those things that just happened so fast, and you can’t believe it’s happening when it’s happening,” he said.

*

Rocky Moran has piloted a car through turns at 200-plus m.p.h. in the Indianapolis 500, where he competed in 1988, 1989 and 1990, and has raced cars at various other levels for 20 years.

“This hurts more than anything I had in a race car.”

The attack on Bernard Moran occurred a few moments later, he said, as Rocky Moran was being taken by his wife to the hospital. Coming upon the scene with his 9-year-old son, Bernard Moran said, he too left his car to confront the teen-agers who then beat him up.

“I sensed there were some drugs or alcohol involved,” he said. “They really surprised me; I haven’t ever gone one on 10 before.”

Both men said they were taken to nearby hospitals where they were treated for their injuries and released.

Lt. William Francis, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said the incidents are under investigation and no arrests have been made. Deputies arrived after the attacks occurred and the teen-agers were gone, he said.

All day Tuesday, Bernard Moran said, he had been receiving calls of support from neighbors outraged by the incident.

Bernard Moran said his own sense of security and well-being had been seriously disrupted by the attack.

“This is an upper-end gated community,” he said, “and I don’t like the thought of my family being in jeopardy. We plan to do something about it.”

He said a community meeting was scheduled for 5:30 tonight to discuss how to respond to the incident.

Times staff writer Kevin Bronson contributed to this story.