OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — A pregnant West Oakland mother said her car was destroyed in a hit-and-run crash triggered by a chase that allegedly involved U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
According to city officials, ICE agents attempted to detain a grandfather who was driving near Hoover Elementary School Wednesday morning. City officials said the man targeted by ICE had just dropped a child off at school.
Hoover Elementary School and a nearby daycare secured their buildings to keep students safe while federal agents were in the area. No ICE activity took place on a school campus, school district officials confirmed.
The man fled in his car, and agents in two SUVs chased him on 31st Street, witnesses said. Satima Flaherty’s car was parked on a residential street when the fleeing car veered onto a sidewalk and slammed head-on into it, video from the crash scene shows.
The man’s car, right, crashed into a parked car, left. The car on the right appears to have “Mexico” printed on the hood. (Image via GoFundMe)
“The driver struck my vehicle and then ran from the scene. This loss has turned my life upside down. Losing my car so suddenly has left me overwhelmed and unsure how to keep everything moving,” Flaherty wrote on a GoFundMe page that is raising donations for buying another car.
Flaherty is pregnant and has a nine-year-old child. The mother can be heard telling agents at the crash scene, “I need to make a police report.”
Wearing vests labeled with “police” logos, agents turned away from the mother, stepped back into a black SUV, and drove off, video reveals.
Agents drove away in this black SUV. (Image courtesy GoFundMe)
Oakland city councilmember Carroll Fife talked to neighbors to find out what happened.
“This much terror on the streets is unacceptable,” said Fife. “A grandfather was dropping off their child either at daycare or elementary school here and there were ICE agents in the neighborhood. They chased him. There was a high-speed chase through these residential streets that ended up in a car accident.”
ICE agents turned away from Hayward elementary school
In an Instagram video filmed at the crash scene, Fife said, “Neighbors came out and surrounded the ICE vehicle. The ICE officers left. It’s the same story we’re hearing across the country. They would not identify themselves. They were masked. We are lucky no one was physically harmed, but we have a pregnant mom who has to pick up her child at 3 p.m. this afternoon and does not have (a car).”
Without a car, Flaherty said she can’t drive her child to school or travel to prenatal doctors appointments. For her job as a social worker, she doesn’t have a vehicle for traveling to work commitments, she said.
ICE did not respond to KRON4’s request for comment.
Oakland Police Department officials said they were not notified that an “outside law enforcement agency” was going to be in the city. OPD does not work with federal agents for any kind of immigration enforcement.
OPD said it is investigating circumstances of the 31st Street collision.
“The Oakland Police Department is investigating a vehicle collision that occurred just before 10 a.m. on November 19 on 31st Street. An outside law enforcement agency was conducting an investigation within the City of Oakland. During their operation, officers attempted to contact the vehicle involved in their case. That vehicle later collided with an uninvolved vehicle,” OPD wrote.
Oakland Unified School District has declared itself as a “sanctuary district.”
OUSD officials said they do not allow immigration enforcement on school campuses unless a federal agency has a warrant signed by a judge that has been reviewed by OUSD’s legal team. Staff members are prohibited from sharing any information about any student’s or family’s immigration status.
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