Oakland cops probe pulling guns on pair

Oakland police officers drew their weapons, handcuffed and detained two homeless outreach volunteers on their way to a meeting Friday in a dramatic operation authorities later acknowledged was a case of mistaken identity.

The incident, partially captured on video, prompted criticism from community advocates who called the officers’ actions reckless and a case of racial profiling against the volunteers, who are black.

Department leaders have since apologized for the mistake and launched an internal investigation. Officer Johnna Watson, a de

partment spokeswoman, noted that the police response had nothing to do with the volunteers’ homeless outreach work.

“The department supports these important efforts in our community, especially the unsheltered and those in need,” Watson said.

Aiyahnna Johnson, 38, and Leon “Aki” Young, 47, were both working Friday as volunteers with The Village in Oakland, a homeless advocacy group that provides food and resources to local encampments. Johnson and Young, who are unhoused, spent the day handing out fresh water, masks and hand sanitizer, and Young helped clean portable toilets, Johnson told The Chronicle.

Just after 6 p.m., Johnson said, she and Young were leaving an East Oakland motel, where they were placing people at risk for COVID19, and heading to a meeting at their sister organization, East Oakland Collective.

Johnson, who was driving, said she didn’t notice a marked patrol car behind her until about two minutes before she pulled into the collective’s parking lot on the 7800 block of MacArthur Boulevard. About six other patrol cars pulled into the lot as Johnson exited the vehicle, and soon a police helicopter was hovering overhead, Johnson said.

“(An officer) said, ‘Get back in the car,’ and I said, ‘No. Why are you bothering me,’ ” she said.

The officer told Johnson she had changed lanes illegally, she said. Officers put her in handcuffs, but she refused to get into the patrol car.

Meanwhile, other officers focused their attention on the passenger side of her vehicle, where at least one drew a firearm, according to police and video footage of the incident.

Candice Elder, the founder, CEO and executive director of East Oakland Collective, was one of at least two people who began filming the incident as Young was brought to the pavement and handcuffed. Soon, she and others noticed that officers were calling him by a different name.

“They don’t even know this brother’s name,” a person offcamera says during the incident. “They’re calling him by an entirely different name, y’all.”

Young “matched the description” of a person wanted in connection with a prior shooting, Watson said.

“Further investigation by the officers determined the individual was not the shooting suspect,” she said.

It was determined that Young had a felony, nobail warrant for his arrest in connection with a stolen vehicle. He was transported to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin where he was booked and released.

Watson said the department initiated an internal affairs investigation Friday evening and notified the Community Police Review Agency, a civilian group that investigates police activity in coordination with the Oakland Police Commission.

Elder said she received an apology Friday evening from Deputy Chief of Police Leronne Armstrong.

“I said the incident should have never have happened in the first place,” Elder told The Chronicle.

Johnson said she was traumatized by the incident, which included being handcuffed for approximately 1015 minutes, and since then she hasn’t been able to continue her work helping the homeless.

“How are the encampments going to get food, how are they going to have clean Porta Potti stations?” Johnson said. “My responsibility to the community has been deterred by OPD. An apology is not good enough.”

The Village and East Oakland Collective have set up a GoFundMe page called “Fill Hotels not Graves,” and they’re asking Oaklanders to help shelter the homeless inside vacant hotel rooms during the coronavirus crisis.