Anatomy of Largest Sideshow Cop Chase Caught On Tape
As much as people dog on Oakland, it is certainly exciting, hilarious, and raw– all at the same time.
A confluence of events led to the greatest car chase ever caught on tape. The grand jury’s decision in Ferguson caused rioting and looting in Downtown Oakland on Monday and the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland (think Williamsburg West) on Tuesday. Opportunistic asshats figured that since all law enforcement assets would be busy elsewhere Wednesday night, they could put together a sideshow at the Port of Oakland a couple of miles away, unmolested. They were wrong.
The California Highway Patrol’s office in Oakland had called in many of their Ford Explorer and Crown Victoria units from all over Northern California to assist the Oakland Police Department in mutual aid to keep the peace. Police and news station helicopters were also on hand overhead to cover the action on the streets.
Through social media, the CHP learned of the sideshow at the port. Dozens of black and whites and the local channel 7 news helicopter flew to the scene. The police cars blocked the 150 cars and 200-plus participants and gawkers from both ends and a side street. Trapped!
Here is one end and a side street:
Here is the other end:
Just as the cops approached, these two red jokers were burning rubber.
With no way out, this brave man, with his family inside, decided to knock down a fence with his radical van conversion. Unfortunately, the van did not have enough ground clearance and got caught on the railroad track.
And while that was happening, a man in a stolen Honda Accord with a lot of ammo of unknown provenance inside crashed and caught fire.
Elsewhere, the fast and the furious drove between walls of containers, trying to find an escape route. They were weaving in and out like they were a combination of the train track chase in The French Connection and the concrete river race in Grease. Oakland, by the way, is the fifth busiest port in the United States.
And see that family with the stroller? They’re from the red van!
Big city cops in California often joke that CHP stands for Can’t Handle Policework. But the Highway Patrol did an admirable job here. When it was all over, they had impounded 12 cars and issued 23 citations. As Ponch and John let the cars out one-by-one, they were able to get everyone and every vehicle’s identities. More charges will be brought after the videos are thoroughly reviewed.
Check out all the action and wackiness here:
Images source: All photos via ABC7News
More by Jim Yu
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I live less than a mile from where this all happened. The Port is absolutely deserted in the evening. Let the kids have their fun. While sideshows usually concentrate those of ill refute, I'd rather have the CHP use my tax dollars on something that benefits the safety of my neighborhood, where there is a shooting almost weekly. OPD usually has their hands tied with bigger issues, and is constantly underfunded/staffed, yet we have this outside police force(CHP) whom I've seen do nothing for Oakland or surrounding communities, aside from nick them for roadside taxes. Ticketed me for a stutter stop on a residential street, nearly two miles from a freeway; yet when I hear shots fired in my neighborhood, OPD takes 30 minutes to respond, and CHP laughs at you. While I sympathize with OPD and all of their inherent problems, CHP is really just a giant waste of taxpayer dollars, at least in the East Bay.
Looks like a lot of LEO's until you start counting the number of cars blocked in, what's the ratio ten to one? And it appears some of John Q public were armed. On a night when there were threats of rioting and actual rioting going on, no one should be surprised or angry that CHP came down hard. Riots usually bring out a group of people who just want to do something because it's wrong, they don't give a rats ass about justice, or racism, they want to steal a car and get away with it, break and enter without consequences, etc. People don't realize that when a metro area has major demonstrations of a lawless nature, they spread to other cities. So if it seems okay for the people of Oakland to tolerate hundreds of people playing 'while the cats are away the mice will play,' in the middle of a street, then you won't mind it happening in your neck of the woods.