The Long Beach City Prosecutor announced today that he’s filed misdemeanor charges against an 18-year-old woman who was caught on video starting a fight during a chaotic large-scale meetup at The Pike Outlets last month.
Video from the meetup on March 16 shows hundreds of teenagers and young adults circling around two people when one of them suddenly starts throwing punches at the other. Police are shown quickly breaking up the fight and dispersing the crowd. They were on the scene and prepared to intervene after seeing social media posts planning the meet-up.
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Those posts also prompted many retailers to close early out of fears that the large group had planned the gathering as cover for smash-and-grab robberies.
City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said the two people involved in the fight were a teenage girl and an 18-year-old woman.
The 18-year-old will now face misdemeanor counts of battery, resisting arrest, and challenging a person to fight in a public place, according to Haubert.
More prosecutions could also be in the works.
Haubert said his team is talking with police and looking at options for charging the parents of teenagers planning similar meetups if they end in criminal activity.
“We are looking at all options and that includes targeting the parents of juveniles who continue to engage in this behavior,” Haubert said. “We think parents should be responsible for their children’s misconduct when the parents know it is happening and fail to take reasonable action to prevent it.”
Another 16-year-old is already facing criminal proceedings in the wake of the brawl. Shortly after Long Beach police ordered the crowd to leave The Pike, a 16-year-old boy shot another teenager on The Promenade nearby.
Detectives arrested the boy on April 16, the LBPD said.
The woman charged with starting the fight is scheduled to make her first court appearance in the case on May 16 in Downtown Long Beach, according to Haubert.