{"id":328702,"date":"2026-05-23T01:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328702\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T01:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T01:10:09","slug":"sfpd-smashes-down-door-of-elaine-browns-west-oakland-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/328702\/","title":{"rendered":"SFPD smashes down door of Elaine Brown\u2019s West Oakland building"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Francisco police officers broke down the door of a prominent West Oakland apartment building<\/a> developed by former Black Panther Party chairwoman Elaine Brown on Thursday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the search warrant obtained by SFPD, the police were seeking items related to a robbery incident, including clothing worn by an 18-year-old suspect, a firearm, and a stolen \u201cyellow metal chain.\u201d They also appear to have been looking for the suspect himself.<\/p>\n

A group of about two dozen officers, not in full uniform, searched and reportedly detained a young man, whom building staff identified as the suspect named in the warrant, outside of the 7th Street property. The teen doesn\u2019t live in the building but often visits one of the residents, they said. The warrant says he lives in Pittsburg.<\/p>\n

Several of the San Francisco officers then banged on the door of the 79-unit affordable housing property. According to Brown, her security staff told the officers they couldn\u2019t come into the building without showing a warrant. Officers told a guard that they had a warrant but declined to show it, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I have a strict rule about that is because ICE shows up like that,\u201d Brown told The Oaklandside. She explained that some of the building\u2019s residents were not born in the U.S., so she\u2019d instructed her staff not to let law enforcement in without a warrant signed by a judge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a video recorded at 1:58 p.m. on Thursday and obtained by The Oaklandside, one of the officers announces, \u201cWe\u2019re gonna ram this door in a second. We\u2019re going to break this door if you don\u2019t open it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He starts swinging something at the glass door, which soon shatters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brown said she was not in the neighborhood at the time. Residents notified Misty Cross, the on-site property manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore I could get downstairs, they were already ramming the glass,\u201d Cross said. \u201cI could hear it up on the fifth floor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Video of SFPD officers breaking a glass door to enter the Black Panther. Credit: Courtesy Elaine Brown<\/p>\n

In the video, which was taken by another staff member, Cross can be seen coming down to the front door. She gets in a brief heated conversation with an officer, who flashes her a piece of paper and says something not entirely audible about not needing to show it. A group of about six officers and Cross all get in the building\u2019s elevator together.<\/p>\n

The police are not in full uniform in the video. Their shirts said \u201cPolice\u201d on the back and SFPD on the front, according to Cross.<\/p>\n

She said she escorted the officers to the unit they wanted to search. It belongs to a single father with a new baby and two teenagers, one of whom has a relationship with the suspect, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey stayed in that unit for 30 to 40 minutes and tore it up,\u201d she said. They took a jacket and a pair of shoes, according to a report attached to the warrant. The document, which Cross said officers provided to the tenant after the search, says the police also collected a firearm. According to Cross, the weapon may have been taken from the suspect outside, before police entered the building, as she did not see officers collect a gun during their search.<\/p>\n

Brown said police detained the young man outside and also detained a member of her security staff.<\/p>\n

We reached out to the San Francisco Police Department on Friday morning for more information about the reported arrests and about department protocol for entering properties. We did not hear back by publication time.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the Oakland Police Department did not respond immediately to a question about whether OPD was alerted in advance or involved in the operation.<\/p>\n

Brown plans to report SFPD to OPD<\/p>\n

\"ElaineElaine Brown inside the Black Panther in 2024. Credit: Natalie Orenstein\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n

On Friday morning, Cross said she was still \u201ca little shook up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job right now is to protect everybody in this building,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have predominantly women and small children in the building. You smash that glass and it\u2019s all over the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said she arrived to the building as soon as she could, but the officers were already gone. Her staff later boarded up the door. Feeling \u201coutraged,\u201d she said, she got on the phone to reach lawyers and glaziers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time any windows were broken, they were broken by the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tried to create a beautiful, safe building,\u201d she said. \u201cOur insurance is exorbitant because we\u2019re in the hood. The irony is we\u2019ve never had any graffiti on the building. The people in the neighborhood respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first time any windows were broken, they were broken by the police.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police have been called to the property a number of times, Cross said, but Oakland officers know the staff and always have a \u201cdialogue\u201d with them.<\/p>\n

Brown said she plans to file a complaint against SFPD with the Oakland Police Department.<\/p>\n

The building, aptly called The Black Panther, opened in 2024<\/a> after a decade under development. Brown\u2019s Oakland & The World Enterprises co-developed the property with McCormack Baron Salazar.<\/p>\n

Brown, in the 1970s, became the first and only woman to chair the Black Panther Party. She founded the party\u2019s Liberation School and ran unsuccessfully for Oakland City Council twice. Last year, the council renamed the intersection<\/a> of 7th and Campbell streets, where her building stands, after her.<\/p>\n

Cross was an original member of Moms 4 Housing, the group of homeless mothers that occupied a vacant, investor-owned house in West Oakland in 2019 and were dramatically evicted<\/a> by sheriff\u2019s deputies amid protests. They later purchased the property through a land trust.<\/p>\n

In spite of the startling events of the afternoon, staff and residents at The Black Panther went through with their monthly group birthday celebration for tenants at the building a couple of hours later, distributing gifts and dessert, Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat choices did we have? Life goes on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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