Jul 25, 2008 9:09 pm US/Pacific
OPD Kills Chase Suspect; 3 Shot Dead In 4 Hours
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / BCN) ―
A 27-year-old fleeing drunken driving suspect was shot and killed early Friday by Oakland police officers in the city's Fruitvale District after he appeared to be reaching into his waistband for a possible gun, police said.
It was the second deadly officer-involved shooting in the city this week and was one of three fatal shootings to occur in Oakland in a four hour stretch.
Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker said officers spotted a man who they suspected was driving intoxicated about 4 a.m. A short chase ensued, but Tucker indicated officers broke off the chase because of safety concerns.
A short time later officers spotted the suspect's red Buick Regal weaving in and out of traffic while driving southbound on Fruitvale Avenue and they picked up the chase again, Tucker said.
Police late Friday indicated that when the suspect finally stopped and got out of his car, he ran diagonally on Fruitvale toward officers with his hands in his waistband. That's when Tucker said one of the officers shot the suspect in the torso. He was taken to the Alameda County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
But a homeless woman who identified herself to CBS 5 simply as D. Bryant claimed she witnessed police shoot the unarmed man in the back.
According to Bryant, a maroon car being chased by police pulled over on Fruitvale near East 17th Street. The driver got out and started running across Fruitvale, said Bryant.
"(The police officer) said 'halt' and as soon as he said, 'halt' he shot him," said Bryant. "Didn't give him a second chance," she said. "Shot him in the back."
Bryant said the suspect didn't make a move toward the officer, and could not have been armed because he was running too fast away from the officer. "That's just straight murder," Bryant contended.
The officers involved were put on paid administrative leave pending the completion of a review of the shooting by police internal affairs investigators and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office.
The shooting was the second involving police since Saturday night, when officers killed Oakland resident Lesly Allen, 21, also after a car chase.
Aside from the Fruitvale shooting involving police, there were two other fatal shooting incidents in Oakland overnight.
Fidel Jimenez Lopez, 36, was killed in the 5800 block of East 17th Street about 11:50 p.m. Thursday and Arnell Durham, 24, was killed in the area of 81st Avenue and Plymouth Street about 2 a.m. Friday.
Tucker said he didn't have many details about the incidents, telling reporters, "We're looking at who they (the victims and suspects) were and what caused" the incidents. He added, "One of them appears to have involved acquaintances who had a sudden quarrel."
Tucker said many homicides in Oakland occur "because of a slight or an insult." The chief adeed that he gauges Oakland's level of crime by looking at assaults, not homicides.
"I don't think the number of homicides are the best way to measure the city's violence," said Tucker. "It's probably best measured by the number of assaults with deadly weapons that we have. They are up."
He attributed the increase to "an ongoing drug war in East Oakland" and a "surge in Latino gang violence."
"That's a concern for us," Tucker told reporters after presiding at a graduation ceremony for 30 newly minted police officers on Friday. Some of them will be hitting the streets as early as this weekend and will have their work cut out for them.
Tucker hoped that some of those new officers joining the force can help alleviate the work load so investigators can focus on the problem areas with drugs and gangs. The Oakland Police Department is now at 778 officers, with a goal of having 803 by year's end.
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