Lawyer of the Day: Ex-Prosecutor Maybe Had A Little Too Much Peet's Coffee

There’s nothing quite like a good old-fashioned Christmas meltdown — and apparently there was an epic one at San Francisco International Airport on Christmas Eve.

Angela West, a Harvard Law School graduate and former Los Angeles prosecutor, allegedly went to town on a Peet’s Coffee kiosk. With a three-foot metal pole.

Tsk tsk, Ms. West. At HLS you’re expected to smash things with a finely crafted cane or perhaps a tasteful umbrella. A metal pole is unbecoming of your pedigree…

The report from the San Francisco Chronicle (via SFist) is actually very funny:

Angela West, 50, a Harvard Law School graduate, was seen by airport police officers smashing merchandise, milk containers and other food items with a 3-foot-long metal pole at a Peet’s Coffee kiosk at SFO on Christmas Eve, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

When officers tried to speak to her, West “raged” at them and began swinging the pole, which she had taken from a janitor’s cart, Wagstaffe said.

I can’t help picturing this 50-year-old woman dressed up like Neo and smashing milk cartons with a pole in slow motion, like Neo smashing hundreds of Agent Smiths.

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But I feel really sorry for the real-life police officers who had to subdue this crazy person:

An officer had to use a chair to fend off at least 10 blows, authorities said. West then calmed down and sat in a booth, only to start throwing items at the officers, Wagstaffe said.

When the officers tried to arrest her, she kicked one of them in the groin, Wagstaffe said. After being subdued, West shouted out that she was a lesbian and that the officers “should stop trying to have sex with her,” the prosecutor said.

West was taken to a hospital and held in a psychiatric ward for a week, Wagstaffe said.

But remember, we’re dealing with an HLS grad. Which means there’s a certain level of hubris that never leaves you.

At a court hearing Tuesday, Judge Barbara Mallach allowed West to represent herself after learning that she had attended Harvard Law and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1989. West, however, has been inactive since 1997.

West pleaded not guilty at Tuesday’s hearing, at which she also demanded a copy of the police report. Prosecutors asked for more time to prepare a redacted copy by removing witnesses’ addresses, but West objected, saying she was a former prosecutor and was “entitled to the information,” Wagstaffe said.

Yeah, I think West is about to learn that the real world is much more cold and unforgiving than the Matrix that might exist within her head.

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Ex-L.A. prosecutor allegedly runs amok at SFO [San Francisco Chronicle]
Former LA Deputy City Attorney Goes Berzerk On Peet’s Kiosk, Police [SFist]