Bodycam video captured San Leandro police officers handcuffing a homeless man at a strip mall, and then “dumping” him seven miles away in Oakland.<\/p>\n
Through a spokesperson, Averiett declined my request for an interview, so we met her after work. “Chief, you have to answer to the public, you realize that, right?”<\/p>\n
Chief Averiett didn’t answer our questions, but told the CHP, she was driving home, got stuck in the construction traffic, “started to experience chest pain and wanted to expedite her return home.” So, she “began to travel in the center median.” The investigator asked if she went to the hospital.<\/p>\n
Chief Averiett answered, “She did not. The chest pains had subsided after exiting the freeway.” Averiett also told the investigator she “did not recall hearing any noises” from the impact.<\/p>\n
DAFFANI RYAN: “There’s no way. There’s no way.” “<\/p>\n
DAN NOYES: “What do you mean?”<\/p>\n
DAFFANI RYAN: “There’s no way in hell that you did not hear our mirrors hit. You could do a test drive, two cars going- one going 55, one going 65 and hit mirrors and tell me you don’t hear anything. Do a suburban and a Jeep. You’ll hear it, I promise.”<\/p>\n
We shared the CHP hit and run investigative report with police practices expert Rich Corriea, former commander at the SFPD.<\/p>\n
DAN NOYES: “When I’m driving in my car, and I’m here, and the passenger mirror’s three feet away, max, I think I’m going to hear that.”<\/p>\n
RICH CORRIEA, POLICE PRACTICES EXPERT: “Well, that’s common sense. The law is, you know, did you knowingly, and that’s a proof question but someone should take a close look at these things.”<\/p>\n
Damage to both vehicles’ mirrors match up, but the CHP decided not to file charges because of Averiett’s statement that she “had no knowledge of the reported hit-and-run.”<\/p>\n
Mike Rains, the attorney for the San Leandro Police Officers’ Association, believes the chief is getting preferential treatment, not facing the same scrutiny that her officers receive.<\/p>\n
“It just absolutely destroys the fabric of morale in the department, to think that your leader, to think that your chief, believes that she or he is above the law. And that’s what’s going on in San Leandro,” he said.<\/p>\n
Daffani Ryan says she called San Leandro Police Department that night, reached watch commander Lt. Antwinette Turner, who denied the Jeep came from their department. Again, Ryan on the 911 call: “The lady at San Leandro’s like, ‘Oh, that’s not ours,’ and I was like, ‘Yes, it is. I’ve already, I already called the police.”<\/p>\n
Five minutes later, Ryan says Lt. Turner called her back with an offer.<\/p>\n
DAFFANI RYAN: “Turner calls me back saying that ‘we’ll take care of your damage to your car if we cannot make a report.'”<\/p>\n
DAN NOYES: “Did it seem odd to you that a police officer is trying to get you not to file a police report?”<\/p>\n
DAFFANI RYAN: “Yes. It was very suspicious. I even told her, I said, it’s very weird that you’re trying to stop me from making a police report about a police officer.”<\/p>\n
Antwinette Turner left the San Leandro Police Department this past December. The I-Team reached her by phone at Bart Police where she is now Deputy Chief in charge of the “Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau.” She would not answer any of the questions we asked.<\/p>\n
Her involvement is mentioned in the nine-page complaint filed by San Leandro PD’s Internal Affairs sergeant, Mike Olivera. He cites Turner and Averiett’s actions as “a troubling pattern of lack of accountability, selective enforcement, and concealment of violations.” Olivera also writes that Chief Averiett and “described this incident as ‘completely unfounded.”<\/p>\n
We wanted San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez’s reaction; he has cooperated with interviews in the past, but not this time. His spokesperson wrote that the mayor declined because “it’s a personnel issue.”<\/p>\n
“With liberty and justice for all,” the City Council pledged.<\/p>\n
We followed up by going to the City Council meeting.<\/p>\n
DAN NOYES: “Hey mayor, how is the chief involved in a hit and run and an accusation of a coverup just a personnel matter? Isn’t that a matter for the public interest?”<\/p>\n
JUAN GONZALEZ, SAN LEANDRO MAYOR: “Dan, there’s more information that you need to get, so-“<\/p>\n
DAN NOYES: “Okay.”<\/p>\n
JUAN GONZALEZ: “We’re going to get you some more information.”<\/p>\n
DAN NOYES: “From-?”<\/p>\n
JUAN GONZALEZ: “Be on the lookout.”<\/p>\n
That additional information was sparse – a written statement: “The California Highway Patrol investigated the complaint against the Chief. In addition, the City conducted its own independent third-party administrative investigation. Those investigations are now complete.”<\/p>\n
That’s it. No more details on the chief, her Jeep, and her accident. The lawyer for the POA is proposing hiring a retired judge – splitting the cost with the city – to look at all the information and come to a conclusion about what happened. We’ll be watching if the city responds.<\/p>\n
Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.<\/a><\/p>\n
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