Dec 29, 2007 6:29 pm US/Pacific
Sen. Perata Is Carjacked In Oakland
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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Calif. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata safe and smiling, just a short while after being carjacked at a busy Oakland intersection.
CBS
State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata was robbed at gunpoint of his government-issue car Saturday afternoon while driving in his district in Oakland.
Perata, 62, was not harmed.
At around 1:45 p.m. Perata was sitting in his red four-door 2006 Dodge Charger, waiting for the light to turn at 51st Street and Shattuck Avenue, Oakland police Lt. Lawrence Green said.
As Perata waited for the light to turn, a gold 2000 Chevrolet Camaro, which was stolen earlier Saturday, pulled up behind Perata's car. A man stepped up to the car window and tapped on it with a gun, Green said. The suspect, described as a black man in his 20s with a thin build, demanded the senator get out of the car.
The senator got out of his car immediately.
Perata told the Associated Press everything happened so quickly that he didn't feel fear. He immediately complied and got out on the street. He was not injured.
"My only concern was that he was fiddling with his mask. I was thinking, 'I hope he doesn't get one motor skill confused with another and shoot me,"' Perata said.
"It's weird what goes through your head, but that's what I was thinking," he said.
The two stolen vehicles sped away westbound on 51st Street.
The robbers also made off with Perata's cell phone.
The cars were last seen driving eastbound on Interstate Highway 580 and are thought to have taken the Park Avenue exit off of the freeway, Green said.
The license plate on the Charger is a California state-exempt plate, number 1166961, and the plate on the Camaro is 5UBN288, Green said.
Perata said dozens of witnesses saw what happened at the busy intersection, and offered assistance immediately.
The state senator has lived his whole life in Oakland, and said he has never been the victim of a violent crime.
"This is a punctuation mark on what I've been doing for 20 years. There are too many guns out there," he said.
"Anyone who would do that in broad daylight with hundreds of people around must be pretty desperate."
The Democrat is one of many public officials who have struggled to find solutions for Oakland increasing violent crime. Last year Perata enlisted the help of Oakland's numerous motorcycle clubs in an effort to provide mentors to young people who are lured by street life.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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