City Prosecutor Haubert says Joel Webster Peterson, 42, of Long Beach, appeared in court for arraignment on Feb. 21 and faces a total of approximately 22 months in L.A. County Jail. Defendant Peterson's attorney indicated a doubt about Peterson's competency meaning L.A. County health professionals will assess him before the case moves forward.

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City Prosecutor Haubert says the case was brought to his office Wednesday morning (Feb. 21) after it was initially reviewed by the L.A. County District Attorney's Office, which referred the case to the City Prosecutor’s Office after determining there was insufficient evidence to charge Peterson with a felony-level crime. (The LB City Prosecutor's office handles misdemeanors in Long Beach.)

Defendant Peterson is charged with exhibiting an imitation firearm in a threatening manner (Penal Code section 417.4), and resisting, obstructing, or delaying officers in the performance of duties (Penal Code section 148(a)(1)). If convicted of all charges, he faces approximately 18 months of county jail.

In addition, City Prosecutor Haubert says defendant Peterson faces a probation violation in L.A. Superior Court Case No. 8LB00292 "in which he was convicted of stealing bicycle parts off a locked bicycle near a business at 25 S. 39th Place in Long Beach." Peterson pleaded no contest to the theft on February 14, 2018, and was ordered to serve 60 days in County Jail and to serve 3 years on probation. As a condition of probation, he was also ordered to stay at least 100 yards from the location of the theft. Peterson faces 4 months for the probation violation, City Prosecutor Haubert said.

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Defendant Peterson is expected to return to court on March 14, 2018. Assistant City Prosecutor Randall Fudge -- recently appointed as the Neighborhood Impact Prosecutor for Belmont Shore -- is handlng the case.

As reported (first again) by LBREPORT.com, publicly accessible information on the L.A. County Sheriff's website indicates that defendant Peterson was arrested and booked on Feb. 4 for two unspecified misdemeanors. City Prosecutor Haubert has told LBREPORT.com that one of the misdemeanors was a drug-related charge that was dismissed but the other was for petty theft related to the theft of bicycle parts.

On February 14 court proceedings, defendant Peterson pled no contest (guilty for criminal trial purposes) to the petty theft charge and was sentenced to three years summary probation, 60 days in jail plus a "stay away" order as a condition of probation (requiring him to stay away from the location of the thefts indicated as 25 S. 39th Place [which correlates to the location of the popular Belmont Brewing Co.])

Two days after the defendant a judge imposed that sentence, the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. released Mr. Peterson...and two days later he was involved in the Feb. 18 incident on 2nd St.

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LASD's website includes other information without details. It indicates that on December 26, 2017, the same individual was arrested for an unspecified misdemeanor and released two days later on December 28.

And on August 3, 2017, he was arrested for an unspecified misdemeanor and released on August 7.

In a separate incident previously reported by LBREPORT.com, on October 30, 2017, a father walking with his two daughters along Second Street at Nieto Ave. (less than a third of mile from the Feb. 18 incident) where he encountered another man who struck him in the face and was later found by LBPD officers yelling and screaming. LBPD arrested the 39 year old alleged assailant; LB's City Prosecutor's office filed misdemeanor battery charges; the defendant pled guilty, was sentenced to 180 days in jail and was released the next day.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Dept told LBREPORT.com at that time that LASD has a policy in which persons sentenced to up to 180 days in jail for misdemeanor crimes are allowed to leave on the same day they're sentenced.

The Feb. 18, 2018 incident along pedestrian and vehicle filled 2nd St. triggered a large police response; officers used what are officially described as less than lethal tools plus a K9 to take the allegedly non-compliant suspect into custody.

As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, third-party VIDEO has surfaced on YouTube of the Feb. 18 incident. The video shows the suspect, the response of LBPD officers [audibility of their interaction and the suspect's words is difficult], the officers' use of less-than-lethal rounds and a K9 unit, and the response of a crowd that gathered and observed across 2nd St. Among those in the crowd observing and recording video was Jeff Blackmon, who posted his video on YouTube and made it publicly embeddable. [Caveat: some rough crowd language.]

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