Oakley Police Chief Highlights Busy Friday Night, Including Fatal Crash

The Oakley Police Department were busy Friday night with a series of events that kept officers going from call-to-call within the city of Oakley.  This included a fatal crash, shoplifting, officer assaulted, and more.

Here is a rundown provided by Chief Paul beard:

8:29PM- Solo traffic collision/road closure

This marked the beginning of the busy part of our night. Our officers were dispatched to the intersection of Main St and Bridgehead Road for a solo vehicle, non-injury collision into the center median. This collision caused the road to be closed for about an hour and all of our resources were absorbed managing traffic control in the area.

9:51PM- Shoplifting

Our officers were dispatched to a shoplifting that had just occurred at the Chevron station at 101 E. Cypress Road. Our officers located the suspect riding away on a bicycle and attempted to make a stop. The suspect jumped off of the bicycle and ran towards the ARCO station across the street. One of our officers gave chase and caught the suspect in the parking lot of the ARCO station. The suspect was identified as a 17-year-old male who is known to us. The male still had stolen merchandise (clothing) with him and the victim positively identified him in an in-field lineup. Attempts were made to see if Juvenile Hall would accept the male and we were informed he would not be accepted.

9:52PM- HAZMAT outside assist

The Oakley Police Department was requested to assist the fire department with the HAZMAT incident that has already been reported on the rail tracks adjacent to Main St. between O’Hara Ave. and 4^th St. Due to the in progress crime we were already investigating we responded to the outside assist to the fire department with limited staff and we called in additional personnel from home to assist us with all of the duties involved in an incident like this.

10:47PM- Fatal traffic collision

Officers were dispatched to Laurel Road and Brown Road for a traffic collision involving a motorcycle. We still had one officer involved in the shoplifting investigation involving the juvenile from earlier in the evening and we were still engaged in the HAZMAT outside assist.

We initially responded to the collision with very limited resources, but we quickly realized this was going to be a major investigation because the motorcyclist was found deceased at the scene. We immediately called in traffic investigators and administrators to handle all of the investigative tasks and assist with all of the simultaneous tasks going on at the same time.

Our investigation is revealing the motorcyclist had a solo vehicle collision and was down in the roadway for a period of time. At this point the cause for the investigation remains under investigation, but it is possible the motorcyclist suffered a medical condition while riding. Another motorist was driving on the road and did not see the motorcyclist down in the roadway. The motorist struck the motorcyclist and stopped as soon as that collision occurred. The motorist was compliant with every aspect of our investigation, and it is not believed drugs/alcohol were a factor on the part of the motorist. An arrest was not made in this case, but our entire investigation will be submitted to the District Attorney’s Office for a decision in regards to if charges should be filed.

The motorcyclist is identified as Derrick Canada (62 year old male, Oakley). The motorist is an adult male who also resides in Oakley.

An investigation like this would typically take three traffic investigators 5-6 hours to fully diagram, sketch and document. Due to the purchase of a new Leica 3D scanning machine we were able to do all of the work in 45-50 minutes and we were able to get the road back opened up after about 2 hours from start to finish on this investigation.

11:03 PM- Assault on officer

One of our officers transported the juvenile from the earlier shoplifting investigation home (Hill Avenue in Oakley). Our officer intended to simply drop the juvenile off with his foster parents and then be available to assist with either the still ongoing HAZMAT incident or the fatal collision investigation.

As soon as our officer had the suspect get out of the patrol car the suspect attacked our officer by punching our officer in the chest area.  The suspect attempted to put our officer in a headlock and he started grabbing at our officer’s belt. Our officer was able to put out radio traffic indicating they were in a physical altercation.

The suspect then wrestled the radio out of the hands of our officer and attempted to strike our officer with it. Our officer was able to take the suspect to the ground and keep him pinned until back-up officers arrived. Due to all of the other activity going on it took awhile to free up some officers to assist our officer who was in the altercation.

The suspect was ultimately taken into custody. During our investigation the suspect stated he was trying to get our officers gun when he was grabbing at the officers belt.

The suspect was then booked into Juvenile Hall for felony crimes against our officer. Our officer was treated and released by a local hospital for injuries sustained during this altercation.

In a statement, Chief Paul Beard Said:

I am personally proud of my officers and supervisor for handling everything they did and in the way they did it. The activities of this patrol shift required Oakley officers to be ready and available to respond in from home to assist the on-duty officers, and they did so with aplomb. The on-duty officers not only faced a busier than normal shift, but also a shift that was full of high impact, low frequency events. The calmness and professionalism in which they carried out their duties is the expectation of the Oakley Police Department and I reiterate the fact that I am proud of them. I am especially relieved my injured officer was not injured more seriously and I am expressing my desire to see this juvenile held accountable to the highest degree possible for the attack upon my officer. This juvenile was being taken home, this is a situation where there is absolutely no reasonable reason to take the actions he did. I am proud of my officer to rely upon training to prevent the taking of the gun and to fend off the assault as best as possible. This shift is the epitome for why law-enforcement is, and will always be, relevant in our society and I urge everybody to support strong and ethical police work,” said Beard.

No other information was released on the incidents.