OAKLAND, CA - On the afternoon of March 28, two officers were stopped inside their patrol car at a red light on International Boulevard with the windows down. That was when the officer in the passenger seat was hit in the face in an unprovoked attack, ABC-7 News reports. The brazen attack even took longtime police officers by surprise.
“I have been a police officer for 25 years and have never encountered this. It is probably something you’re not expecting,” Lieutenant Timothy Dolan said.
“The officer was able to get out and defend himself. And the other officer helped out too, to take the person into custody,” said Dolan, vice president of the Oakland police union.
The officer was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries and is recovering at home.
The attack appears to be random, police said, and wasn’t targeted toward the officer. Oakland police did not release the suspect’s name, but only said he was taken into custody with a “mental health hold” placed on him/her.
“We can’t get into specifics about who the [suspect] is. There are privacy rights related to that. And that case hasn’t been charged yet. And I know that our criminal investigations division is following up with charging this for assaulting the officer,” Dolan continued.
The department did not release the officer’s name, but said the officer was undergoing training and graduated from the police academy last December.
Crimes are up this year, according to the police union, when compared to 2024, and highlighted that an assault like this is a reflection of what is going on in Oakland even as the department is facing budget cuts.
“Homicides are up this year, compared to where we were at last year. I was looking at some of the statistics this morning. I think shootings are up 14% as well,” Dolan said. “I am worried that crime is trending up and our staffing levels are going down. I’m a little worried about the future of how we are going to police the city if we keep losing officers.”
City officials refused to return requests for comment this weekend.
Meanwhile, police are looking for witnesses to the incident and asking anyone with information to contact the Oakland PD.
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