Venice resident known for his volunteer work in garbage removal is brutally attacked

The LA Times published a feature on Peters in which he described his hobby, cleaning the Ballona Creek

By Zach Armstrong

Josey Peters, a Venice resident known for his volunteer work picking up trash and garbage from the city’s beaches and tributaries, was brutally attacked in Santa Monica over the weekend. He was reportedly rendered unconscious during the incident and did not know who carried out the attack.

Peters described to KTLA how he was bagging trash near Lifeguard Tower 25 in Santa Monica around 6:30 p.m. Saturday when a man in his 20s dressed in black walked up next to him. People nearby told Peters that the suspect punched him several times before fleeing the scene. A lifeguard on duty told KTLA that the weapon was likely a baseball bat. Peters suffered a concussion, broken ribs, a broken collarbone and facial bruises.

“He could have killed me. His first punch hit me in the temple, the side of my head, and I was knocked out,” Peters told KTLA. “He had what looked like a large nose piercing sticking through his face mask… All of a sudden I was unconscious and on the ground. This guy hit me in the side of my head with a martial arts baton.”

According to KTLA, the SMPD has responded to the situation, although the status of the investigation is unclear.

In November 2019, the Los Angeles Times published an article about Peters, describing his hobby of cleaning up Ballona Creek of plastic cups, fast-food containers, spray cans and chip wrappers. The article said Peters, who “still looks like the rock ‘n’ roll guitarist he once was,” with “electrified hair,” a “soul patch and a thin goatee,” would spend hours each week filling garbage bags on LA beaches.

“My dad showed me how to pick up trash at Lake Michigan when I was 7,” Peters told the Times. “I don’t know why more of us aren’t concerned with this kind of thing… (Concerns about climate and the environment) are just part of being human.”