Prep Football Player Charged With Assault

A Fountain Valley High football player is due for arraignment in May at the North Justice Center in Fullerton on one count of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with an attack on a Marina High golfer at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Joey Cusick, an 18-year-old senior defensive back, allegedly attacked the 16-year-old sophomore in the parking lot of the amusement park after a March 30 event sponsored by the Huntington Beach Union High School District.

A juvenile also has been arrested in connection with the incident, according to Sgt. Phil Dascenzi of the Buena Park Police Department, but no details of the juvenile’s involvement are available. Police are still trying to identify other possible suspects, Dascenzi said.

The victim suffered a broken nose, a deviated septum, a broken tear duct and multiple fractures to his nose and face, according to his mother. The injuries required surgery and sidelined the victim indefinitely from the junior varsity golf team.

Robert Herron, Cusick’s attorney, said his client struck the victim after being provoked.

“A group [of students] from Marina bumped into the kids from Fountain Valley, and the kids from Fountain Valley asked them what their problem was. [The victim] called my client [an obscene name]. [Cusick] hit him once and got up to leave, and then the other kids intervened.”

The victim’s mother--who said the “deadly weapon” referred to in the assault charge was Cusick’s fists--declined to provide her son’s account of the incident.

Herron said Cusick and his parents regretted Cusick’s involvement in the incident. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.

“My [client] is a very good kid,” Herron said. “He doesn’t have any [criminal] background. There are literally hundreds of people who are standing up and backing [him]. This is nothing but a minor incident that got blown out of proportion.”

The victim’s mother, who asked that her son not be publicly identified, said he is “healing beautifully” and wants to return to the golf team before the end of the season.

The incident has raised concerns about security at Knott’s Berry Farm, but Susan Tierney, director of public relations for the park, said security is “more than adequate.” The park employs security guards who patrol the parking lots, Tierney said, and Buena Park police officers were stationed outside the main gate on the night of the incident.

“We have very good security here at the park and minimal incidents,” Tierney said.

Marina Principal Carol Osbrink said the incident was upsetting and added that the school district works hard to ensure “students feel safe at school-sponsored events.

“We have a high level of security there so they feel they can come to an event and be free of harm or verbal threats,” Osbrink said. “But it’s very upsetting when someone gets injured.”