More great USA lockdown lawyer action…….
A knife-wielding California lawyer coerced a TV cameraman into his news truck and forced him to delete footage showing him protesting the state’s lockdown order, according to reports.
Christien Petersen, 36, was arrested Friday on counts of kidnapping and exhibiting a deadly weapon other than a firearm hours after a protest in Huntington Beach of the ongoing restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KTTV reports.
Petersen approached a KTTV photographer and reporter and demanded that they delete any video footage of him, the station reports.
Petersen then allegedly pulled out a pocketknife and forced the photographer into his live truck to delete the video. When cops arrived, Petersen was still holding the photographer at knifepoint inside the van, KTTV reports.
The unidentified photographer and reporter were not injured, according to the station.
Petersen, who is believed to be an attorney in Los Angeles, was being held on $100,000 bond. He’s expected to appear in court Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Petersen, of Costa Mesa, was allegedly intoxicated at the time and asked a photographer not to film him. He then pulled out a pocketknife and threatened the man when he refused, a Huntington Beach police spokeswoman said.
The reporter who accompanied the photographer then called police, the Times reports.
“Obviously they were shaken up by the incident, but thankfully they are OK,” Fox spokeswoman Erica Keane told The Post.
The employees are expected to return to work in the next few days, Keane said.
Petersen’s attorney, Christopher Darden, said the father-of-two has no criminal record and that the incident was a “gross misunderstanding.”
“A man took [Petersen]’s photo and [Petersen] objected because he was not part of the protest and did not want to be associated with it. We do not believe that an attempted kidnapping is supported by the facts and that all that has happened to [Petersen] is due to a gross misunderstanding,” Darden said in a statement to The Post.
“[Petersen] just wanted to verify the man had deleted the photo as he agreed to do. [Petersen] was seeking a new job and did not want the publication of a misleading photo to cause him to lose a job opportunity. … Needless to say, my client is concerned for the welfare of anyone that might have been affected. When and if the opportunity arises he intends to offer his personal apology to the cameraman.”
Petersen is a father to two boys, aged 9 and 4, and is a practicing lawyer specializing in civil litigation, criminal law, and worker’s compensation, according to Darden.
More than 200 people gathered for the afternoon protest, which lasted about two hours. Peterson was taken into custody just before 8 p.m., police said.
Source: https://nypost.com/2020/04/21/lawyer-allegedly-threatened-journalist-at-stay-at-home-protest/
