Two East Oakland community volunteers claim they were pulled over and harassed by police officers moments after they helped place homeless people in a hotel to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Neighborhood groups are outraged. The incident allegedly took place last Friday, April 24.
Eyeanna Johnson said in a press conference Wednesday that shortly after departing the hotel, police followed her car twenty blocks to the parking lot of the East Oakland Collective on MacArthur Blvd.
The East Oakland Collective is a non-profit organization that helps the homeless.
Johnson said she had been relocating homeless individuals for the group, including the elderly and disabled, into hotel rooms in an effort to protect them from the coronavirus.
"They came here and basically drew their weapons and told us to stay in the car and follow protocol when we didn't do anything," Johnson said.
Witnesses said they caught the interaction on their cell phones as "dozens" of police officers allegedly swarmed the car.
Aki Young, a homeless man, had been riding with Johnson. "One officer said 'I don’t want to tase you,'" Young said. "I looked back and he had a taser pointed at the back of my head."
Young said he learned police were looking for a murder suspect. "They thought that I was the suspect."
Young was handcuffed, arrested and taken to the Santa Rita Jail. He was released the next morning.
Oakland police say officers initially detained Young because he matched the description of a shooting suspect. When they were able to identify Young, they learned that there was an outstanding felony arrest warrant for Young in connection with a stolen vehicle, which led to his arrest. Young has since been released.
"I am appalled and disgusted that this incident happened to my friends," said Candice Elder, who runs the East Oakland Collective. Elder said Oakland Police did reach out to her and apologize, telling her Young was misidentified as a murder suspect.
Police spokesperson Officer Johnna Watson said in a statement the arrest was unrelated to the collective's work. "The department supports these important efforts in our community, especially the unsheltered and those in need. The departments focus with COVID-19 is to be “reinforcers” not “enforcers” of the Health Orders."
"It is important to reinforce that the safety of our community is paramount, and the department strives to balance our reactive and proactive enforcement efforts to provide safety, support and services," said Watson. "Given the recent concerning uptick in violent shootings where injury and the tragic losses of our community members lives have occurred our Department has partnered with the Department of Violence Prevention and other services to interrupt this violence through intervention efforts and enforcement."
Watson says OPD has launched an Internal Affairs investigation into the arrest as a response to the collective's complaints.