Vagrant who assaulted Pac Heights coffee shop employee while on the lam is sent to trial for robbery
A man who assaulted an employee of a Pac Heights coffee shop while he was on the lam, having failed to appear in court on another battery charge, appeared in San Francisco Superior Court this morning.
A shirtless Joshua Chavez, 37, entered Peet’s Coffee at the corner of Sacramento and Fillmore Streets at 9:00am on April 1. He went to the store’s retail stand and stole a shirt. When two staff members, both female, tried to stop him from leaving with it, he pushed one of them.
SFPD officer Derek Brown testified that Chavez was found by police two hours later. As he was arrested he repeatedly banged his head on the ground such that Brown had to put his hand between Chavez’ head and the sidewalk to stop him from being injured.
“He kept screaming, saying something was wrong, and was inconsolable,” said Brown. Chavez was a regular nuisance to staff at the coffee shop and is well-known to police.
Having reviewed camera footage public defender Adam Birka-White suggested staff had exaggerated the assault and had hardly been touched at all by his client. Therefore, he said, it was not actually a robbery.
“It looks like he turned a theft into a robbery,” observed Superior Court Judge Josh Fredericks, pointing out that the essential elements of that charge can arise after an item has already been stolen.
Judge Fredericks held Chavez to answer on one count of second degree robbery.
Chavez also faces charges of ‘battery’ and ‘damaging a communications device’ arising from an incident on February 24th 2024 in the city’s Fisherman’s Wharf district. When he failed to appear for arraignment on March 20, Judge Victor Hwang issued a warrant for his arrest.
He will next appear in court on April 30 in Department 22 and remains in custody with bail set at $35,000.
Fredericks is a retired Los Angeles County judge sitting temporarily in San Francisco to assist an apparently short-handed local court.
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