Speaking out

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Dallas Braden is leaving his hometown of Stockton because of the increasing crime in the northern California city.

During an anti-violence rally at Victory Park in Stockton on Wednesday night, Braden expressed his thoughts to residents and community leaders.

Braden, 29, shouted at Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones, who asked him to quiet down so others could hear.

Jones then told Braden that if he continued yelling, “We’ll have you escorted out if you don’t wait until the end.”

Braden told Jones that he has been the victim of a car-jacking attempt and his grandmother’s apartment was broken into. He called police response to the incidents “lacking.”

“I’m out of here, because I’ve been lied to my entire life here, and I hate to see these people get lied to like this,” Braden told KOVR-TV in Sacramento, Calif. “I’ve already put my home on the market. I’m out.

“I’ve fought for this community. I’ve given back to this community. This community raised me to be where I am today, and to be lied to blatantly by the guy who’s supposed to be running the shots around here. I can’t do anything. I have nobody to go to.”

Braden pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010. But he has not thrown a pitch in 2012 because of shoulder problems.