Man arrested after allegedly threatening woman with knife was recently released from jail after prosecutors failed to file formal charges
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Peter John Clark, Jr., 41, was arrested yesterday and charged with resisting arrest without violence after a woman reported that he had threatened her with a knife.
Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to Holly Heights at about 1:45 p.m. yesterday after a report that Clark came to a woman’s apartment holding a knife and advanced toward her, making threats.
The deputies found Clark in the area, and Clark allegedly ran away, ignoring at least five verbal commands to stop. A deputy Tased Clark, but that was ineffective, and he allegedly kept running. A second deployment of the Taser brought him down, and a large knife reportedly dropped out of his waistband as he fell. EMS responded and medically cleared Clark before he was transported to the jail.
The deputy reported that Clark could have been charged with aggravated assault, but the caller did not wish to pursue charges.
Clark has a juvenile criminal history and five adult felony convictions (one violent). He has served one state prison term for home invasion and was released in 2021. Charges in seven arrests since 2021 have been dropped, mostly for petit theft and trespassing. He was arrested in July for burglarizing a vacant apartment in Holly Heights; bail was initially set at $50,000, but after 40 days passed without the filing of formal charges, he was ordered released on his own recognizance on August 24.
Bail information is unavailable because the courts are closed for the storm.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.Â
Caller declined to press charges after he approached her with a knife, making threats. Arrested 7 times since 2021, all charges dropped. 5 felony convictions, 1 violent. Juvenile record. Career criminal.
Is the DA waiting for this guy to rack up a certain body count before taking action? No wonder criminals don’t fear the law in Gainesville. There is only a 1% chance that you will ever be prosecuted for your crimes.
The old 40 day trick.
The SA’s office is ready for some football.
They’re better at fumbling than the Gators.
AC, please investigate what our current jail population is vs. jail capacity. The office of Court Services will respond to a FOIA request by the press better than us civilians.
If the jail or prisons are overcrowded, we can debate how to address crime. If not, we can address how to replace DAs and judges in Fla.
Representatives of ASO have appeared at multiple recent County Commission meetings to talk about the jail. They have said it is not overcrowded.
I agree the sheriffs office gas said on multiple occasions that the j.g jail is not overcrowded. If may be under staffed for various reasons. I am convinced that it is a failure of our judicial system by the judges and the state attorneys office and a general acceptance of city and county officials to take a tough stance on criminal activities. They are the ones for years that have bowed to defund the police thinking that the crime would go away.
It would be racist if charges were filed and not dropped.
The state attorney’s office is failing to do its job. Governor needs to remove him and the office needs a serious flushing to rid any like minded attorneys. There is no reason this idiot still needs roaming the streets.
Meanwhile people’s lives are being ruined because of possession charges or because they can’t pay their traffic tickets and this whack job is let off because the prosecutor wasn’t paying attention. Great job! 🙄