{"id":136052,"date":"2026-01-16T10:45:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/136052\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T10:45:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T10:45:25","slug":"volunteer-who-picks-up-trash-around-oakland-robbed-while-cleaning-street-corner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/136052\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer who picks up trash around Oakland robbed while cleaning street corner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Brief<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Andy Wang, a 30-year-old electrical engineer known for spending his weekends picking up trash in the East Bay, was robbed in West Oakland while cleaning a street corner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A man on a BMX bike snatched Wang\u2019s GoPro and tripod, equipment that Wang used to document his progress.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Following the robbery, Wang said that he is stepping back from his volunteer work to prioritize his own well-being.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">OAKLAND, Calif. &#8211; A man who has gained recognition for picking up trash on his own time was robbed over the weekend while cleaning a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/tag\/us\/ca\/alameda-county\/oakland\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:West Oakland;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">West Oakland<\/a> street corner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It\u2019s been a bit rough the past two days,&#8221; Andy Wang, 30, said Tuesday. &#8220;I\u2019ve just been kind of contemplating, kind of going over what happened.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wang added that the incident &#8220;really caught me off guard, and it did kind of damage how I feel about Oakland in a way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Confronted after cleanup<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What we know<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The robbery occurred around 5:30 p.m. Sunday at 16th Street and Mandela Parkway. Wang said a man on a BMX bike grabbed his camera and the tripod he uses to document his work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Immediately grabbed my GoPro,&#8221; Wang said. &#8220;I think he was trying to head towards me, but I had my phone held tightly in my hands, and I think he was trying to get my phone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wang, an electrical engineer who lives in Livermore, often records time-lapse videos of his cleanup efforts to show progress. He said there was another reason for the equipment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;One is to protect myself, which is kind of ironic,&#8221; he said. &#8220;What I mean by that is in case I get accused of illegal dumping.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On Saturday, Wang recorded a video of himself removing piles of trash, including dirty syringes and green waste.<\/p>\n<p>Victim minor celebrity for picking up trash<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The backstory<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvu.com\/news\/man-gaining-notice-for-picking-up-trash-across-east-bay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Wang was profiled by KTVU back in 2023;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Wang was profiled by KTVU back in 2023<\/a>. His volunteerism has earned him respect for dedicating his days off and weekends to cleaning East Bay streets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;He&#8217;s putting in his own time, his own money, his own effort picking up trash, and that&#8217;s the reward he gets? It&#8217;s terrible,&#8221; said Chase Hoblitzell, who works nearby.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mirais Holden, who walked past the corner on Tuesday, agreed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;It&#8217;s really cool someone would try to do something about that, but really sad they got victimized as part of that,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Wang blames himself for what happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I feel very bad because to me, I felt like this was entirely my fault,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I should have known better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For now, the volunteer said he is pausing his cleanup efforts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;I think I need to take care of myself first,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com\/henrykleefan<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Source<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Information for this report comes from a sit-down interview with the victim, Andy Wang.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief Andy Wang, a 30-year-old electrical engineer known for spending his weekends picking up trash in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[54301,69326,143,145,144,69325,14442],"class_list":["post-136052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-andy-wang","tag-electrical-engineer","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-picking-up-trash","tag-west-oakland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}