SFPD officers were filmed busting through the glass doors of Black Panther Apartments in West Oakland while serving a warrant on a suspect whom they had already arrested \u2014 instead of waiting to speak to management.<\/p>\n
More than 20 officers from the San Francisco Police Department forced their way into the Black Panther Apartments in West Oakland last Thursday afternoon while serving a warrant connected to an 18-year-old robbery suspect who had already been detained outside the building, according to former Black Panther Elaine Brown, who runs and owns the complex, in a statement on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brown said the suspect did not live at the complex, and the police officers were aware he was not a resident there.<\/p>\n As KTVU reports<\/a>, officers were looking for 18-year-old Jamil Butler in connection with two armed robberies in San Francisco. The SFPD said officers arrested Butler near the building after he allegedly tried to flee, and they recovered a firearm from him. <\/p>\n Video obtained by the outlet shows officers threatening to break down the doors before smashing through the entrance. Brown says before officers busted into the building they handcuffed a security guard on suspicion of obstruction. <\/p>\n The building\u2019s resident manager, Misty Cross, who\u2019s a former Moms 4 Housing activist, told KTVU that officers arrived in plain clothes, refused to show security officers a warrant, and would not wait for her to come downstairs before breaking through the building\u2019s glass entrance doors.<\/p>\n Cross explained that some residents initially feared the operation involved federal immigration agents because of the officers\u2019 appearance and the way they approached the property. She said several residents hid inside the building while children were returning home from school.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring this time, parents and children going in and out of the building had to walk through the smashed glass all over the floor at the front door,\u201d said Brown in her statement.<\/p>\n Per KTVU, the warrant authorized SFPD to search Butler and two locations tied to him, including an apartment inside the complex where police reportedly seized a pair of shoes and a jacket, among other items. <\/p>\n Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Saturday she was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by reports and video of San Francisco police breaking into the affordable housing complex. Lee wrote on social media<\/a> that she\u2019s been in touch with Brown and the Oakland Police Department about the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a moment, when trust between our communities and law enforcement remains fragile, incidents like this raise serious concerns,\u201d says Lee. \u201cI will continue to ask questions and monitor the process.\u201d<\/p>\n