The city of Oakland reached a $17 million settlement this week with the family of a man killed by a speeding car fleeing two Oakland police officers, who later tried hiding their role in the unauthorized chase and the ensuring wreck.
The city’s payout comes more than four years after the death of Lolomanaia “Lolo” Soakai, 27, who was celebrating a relative’s graduation and waiting with his mother at a taco truck on International Boulevard when he and several other people were bowled over by the speeding car. His mother suffered a broken back, while three nearby family members suffered other injuries in the crash.
Soakai’s family later claimed in a lawsuit against the city that the two police officers “watched the carnage, injuries and death” unfold, then left the scene without alerting emergency medical services or documenting the alleged “ghost chase.” The term is often used to describe unauthorized pursuits where police officers do not activate their vehicles’ sirens or lights, in an attempt to avoid scrutiny.
The attorney for Soakai’s family said Friday the case highlights how “overzealous” officers who try to cover up their misdeeds “will be punished, and you will be held accountable.”
“That’s why body cameras and all the monitoring that’s coming into play right now is so important — police show us time and time again they can’t be trusted to police themselves,” said the attorney, Adanté Pointer. “This was two officers who were committed to trying to skirt responsibility.”
The city initially fought the lawsuit by claiming the officers were protected by qualified immunity. However, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed the family’s lawsuit to move forward, citing how the officers started a high-speed chase with a goal of harming a fleeing suspect, all the while violating department policies and putting the public at risk, according to Pointer’s announcement.
Oakland’s city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the pending payout. The city council has yet to give final approval to the settlement, and a vote on the matter is expected in September, Pointer said.
Soakai was hit shortly before 2 a.m. on June 26, 2022, as the two Oakland police officers — Walid Abdelaziz and Jimmy Marin-Coronel — were chasing a 19-year-old person they suspected of being involved in a sideshow elsewhere in East Oakland.
Police said the teen at the wheel of the Nissan 350Z drove at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour during the pursuit — during which the officers never turned on their sirens or lights, Pointer said.
When the teen driver lost control of the car on International Boulevard near 54th Avenue, the officers continued past the scene without stopping to render aid, the family’s lawsuit claimed. Body camera footage later revealed that one of the officers remarked at the time that he hoped the teen driver had died in the crash, Pointer said.
Minutes later, after waiting in a parking lot for other officers to respond to the crash, Abdelaziz and Marin-Coronel arrived on scene and were seen “pretending to be unaware of the horrendous crash they caused,” according to a statement announcing the settlement.
The officers were subsequently suspended and no longer work for the Oakland Police Department, Pointer said Friday.
In a statement, Pointer added that the officers’ indifference was “outrageous.”
“After more than 20 years representing victims of police violence, this is one of the most sickening displays of police violence and indifference I have ever seen,” added Adanté in a statement. “Two officers chased a car at more than 100 mph through city streets, watched it crash, joked about what happened and then drove away without even calling for medical aid for the innocent people who had been hurt and killed.”
At the time, Oakland police officers had to abide by a policy – adopted in 2014 — that limited high-speed vehicle pursuits, except in cases of serious or violent crimes. In those exceptions, officers had weigh risks to the safety of other motorists or bystanders.
The city has since eased that policy, with the Oakland Police Commission voting unanimously in September 2025 to allow police to initiate pursuits of more than 50 miles per hour at their own discretion, so long as they receive a supervisor’s permission soon afterward. The change came over the objections of police accountability advocates who held up Soakai’s death as a prime reason for keeping the old pursuit rules.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.