A leading civil rights group is expressing outrage after an ABC7 Eyewitness News I-Team report this week, showing San Leandro officers struggling with a homeless man, driving him seven miles to Oakland, and “dumping” him – in their words. The I-Team is hearing from sources that San Leandro Police Chief Angela Averiett is attending roll calls and saying no one did anything wrong. But the bodycam video shows what happened.
Monday’s I-Team report is drawing strong reaction from the Oakland Chapter of the NAACP.
“That was very, very disturbing, for me to watch. What has happened to people that you can do this callous and treat people this way,” said retired Superior Court Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte who investigates civil rights violations for the Oakland Chapter of the NAACP. She tells us that Shaquille Coleman should not have even been handcuffed during the December 2024 incident. San Leandro officers admitted he had committed no crimes, but they forced him into the patrol car, pulled out his braids, and drove him seven miles into Oakland, “dumping” him in their words.
VIDEO: San Leandro officers ‘dump’ homeless man in Oakland; I-Team questions PD supervisor
Bodycam video captured San Leandro police officers handcuffing a homeless man at a strip mall, and then “dumping” him seven miles away in Oakland.
Judge Brenda Harbin-Forte: “They should not be hired by any other police agency anywhere. There needs to have been something done, something that sends a strong message.”
Dan Noyes: “You’re saying that these officers, those who were involved, ought to be fired?”
Judge Harbin-Forte: “In my view, yes, absolutely.”
Police Chief Angela Averiett and Mayor Juan Gonzalez on Friday, again declined my request for an interview, but Gonzalez put out a recorded statement repeating that the city investigated and that the officers faced corrective action. “Their actions didn’t meet the standards of conduct and professionalism that the city expects of all employees,” said Gonzalez.
The NAACP and other groups want to know the details; they want more transparency about how the city is handling the controversial case. That’s the message from a news conference held by the Anti-Police Terror Project.
VIDEO: San Leandro police chief investigated for hit and run: Here’s why she hasn’t been charged
The ABC7 Eyewitness News I-Team questions San Leandro’s police chief about why she left the scene of an off-duty accident in her unmarked police car.
Cat Brooks, the APTP’s co-founder, said, “And I personally am tired of responding to these incidents. When are we going to admit that policing as we do it does not keep people safe? That it in fact makes people usually our most vulnerable people less safe?”
Recalled Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price also spoke; she’s running for the office again. “And the fact that they felt like they could take this man, Mr. Coleman, and treat him like trash and dump him, dump him in Oakland is is a crime against humanity and it’s outrageous behavior,” Price said,
Price wants the current DA to investigate what happened. Ursula Jones-Dickson called the I-Team late today to say she first heard about this case from our report, and that discussions are underway to figure out which agency should take the lead. On another front, several groups are looking for Shaquille Colemen; they believe he may have grounds for a lawsuit against the city.
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