"I've been keeping track to make sure that he's OK after it happened, and then all of a sudden my son is involved? It just throws you for a loop," Page said. "It's not something he would do to anybody."
Los Angeles police initially accused another man, Giovanni Ramirez, 31, of the attack but exonerated him publicly last week after officials announced the arrests of Sanchez and Norwood.
The criminal complaint alleges that the men "did cut and disable the tongue, and put out an eye and slit the nose, ear and lip" of Stow. His sister Bonnie said although his tongue did have a cut and his eyes had some bruising, the allegation that his eye had been "put out" is not accurate.
"He has both his eyes," she said in a brief interview.
Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the charge language "means the victim received very serious injuries" and was taken from the penal code section for mayhem, which reads: "Every person who unlawfully and maliciously deprives a human being of a member of his body, or disables, disfigures, or renders it useless, or cuts or disables the tongue, or puts out an eye, or slits the nose, ear, or lip, is guilty of mayhem."
Times staff writer Joel Rubin contributed to this report.
