OAKLAND — A 17 year-old boy suspected of driving a pickup truck that crashed Saturday night into a group of pedestrians in East Oakland — killing three people and injuring several others — has been formally charged, the county’s top prosecutor said Wednesday.
Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Dickson Jones, citing laws protecting juvenile proceedings, said she could not specify the exact charges. She said “this is technically a manslaugher case” and added that the charges range from causing the deaths of individuals to hit-and-run. Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told the Bay Area News Group that the charges range from vehicular manslughter to felony hit and run.
Dickson said the suspect was scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday afternoon, but the result of that hearing was not immediately known. The district attorney added that she had no plans to attempt to have the juvenile prosecuted as an adult.
“We’re all grieving,” Dickson said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “This is a terrible tragedy.”
The three men killed were identified Tuesday by the coroner’s bureau as Charles Ray Blackmon, 65, of Oakland; James Robert Dixon, 64, who had addresses in Sacramento and Oakland; and Miguel Sanchez Ramirez, 44, of Oakland.
One of the five people injured remained in very critical condition Wednesday. Two were in stable condition and the other two, including the suspected driver of the truck, a 17-year-old Oakland boy, had already been released. Jones made reference Wednesday to a total of 10 victims in the incident; it was not immediately clear how she arrived at that number.
The deadly collision happened about 11;15 p.m. Saturday outside a store in the 8400 block of International Boulevard near 85th Avenue. Police said the pickup truck the boy was driving was going in excess of 50 mph northbound on 85th Avenue when it made a left turn onto International, hit some parked vehicles, jumped the curb and struck a crowd of people. The three men died at the scene.
A memorial is seen on International Boulevard near 85th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, May 18, 2026. Three people died when a speeding pickup truck crashed into a crowd of people in East Oakland late Saturday, authorities said. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Dixon, known fondly as “Frog,” was a beloved fixture in the neighborhood and his death has left family and friends devastated. “I don’t think we’ll be able to get over this for some time, ” a family member told television station ABC 7.
One of his longtime friends, well-known Bay Area rapper Mistah F.A.B., told ABC 7 “Me and Frog talked every day or almost every day. It was like a multitude of things we would talk about. He was like a brother, an uncle, a father figure in some spaces, and a mentor. He just embodied what Oakland was and what Oakland represents man, he was like the last of a dying breed.”
Blackmon’s daughter, ShaConte Blackmon, said her father was someone who loved God and “was just a joy to be around. He wanted to take care of and help people. He was a loyal, warm-hearted person who loved people and was extremely funny. You could count on him to be what you needed at that moment.”
A memorial is seen on International Boulevard near 85th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, May 18, 2026. Three people died when a speeding pickup truck crashed into a crowd of people in East Oakland late Saturday, authorities said. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
She said he served in Vietnam as a Marine, dabbled in real estate, and had physical ailments that caused him to rely on a walker or wheelchair at times.
She said she is the oldest of his nine children — five biological and four stepchildren — “who absolutely loved and adored him. He was a great father. I will remember him as dad, which is love for me.” She said the family were all doing “the best we can under the circumstances, but we are extremely devastated.”
Sanchez Ramirez operated a food truck on International Boulevard and 105th Avenue and was remembered fondly by another truck owner in the area.
Bryan Anaya said Sanchez Ramirez “was a good man, a hardworking man.” He heard about Miguel’s death on Sunday. “I couldn’t believe it. He was off work and going home. He was just in the wrong spot.”
He said he knew Sanchez Ramirez for about five or six years and that he would help him out whenever he needed help with his business. “I’m going to miss him.”
Staff photojournalist Jane Tyska contributed to this report.
A memorial is seen on International Boulevard near 85th Avenue in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, May 18, 2026. Three people died when a speeding pickup truck crashed into a crowd of people in East Oakland late Saturday, authorities said. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)