Off-Duty Cop, Lake Forest Couple Arrested in Stabbing of Teen

LAKE FOREST, CA A Lake Forest man, his wife and his brother, a police officer from the suburbs of Chicago, were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon Sunday following a brawl that left a teen with a stab wound, Huntington Beach police reported today.

Charges have not yet been filed in the case. According to police, the brawl was caused by a comment interpreted the wrong way, but the 17-year-old stabbing victim alleges the attack was racially motivated.

"Was it like a racial issue? Was it because we were speaking Arabic," Karam Jarrah said in an interview with ABC7 Eyewitness News. "He was like, 'What's up 'obamabam?' I don't even know what that means."

Jarrah and his cousin were walking by a vehicle in front of 24 Hour Fitness at 303 Third St. about 4:15 p.m. Sunday when one of them made a comment about the car in which the suspects were sitting, according to Huntington Beach police Officer Jennifer Marlatt.

"I don't know if it (the comment) was good or bad, but it may have been interpreted the wrong way, so they questioned the pedestrians," Marlatt said. "From there, a verbal argument ensued and then the three got out and the physical attack happened."

The teen, whose name was withheld, was hospitalized with non-life- threatening stab wounds, Marlatt said.

So far, police have not presented evidence to prosecutors to consider for the filing of charges, according to Roxi Fyad of the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The suspects were identified as Jessica Roman, 27, and Martin Roman, 25, both of Lake Forest, and 28-year-old Arthur Roman of Tinley Park, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago.

Martin Roman works as a police officer in Oak Forest, Illinois, another south suburb of Chicago, Marlatt said.

City News Service