Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters
An Oakland police officer was fired last year after investigators ruled he lied in a written statement about an injury crash caused by his speeding patrol vehicle while on duty, according to newly released police records.
A police department internal-affairs division report released Sept. 23 found the officer, Victor Adrian Garcia, was behind the wheel of a patrol vehicle without running lights and sirens around 11:35 p.m. Oct. 10, 2020 when he struck a driver in the 8000 block of International Boulevard. The records were released under S.B. 1421, which requires law enforcement agencies to produce records of investigations related officer use of force incidents, sexual assault, and acts of dishonesty.
The report, which relied on witness testimony and black-box data recovered from the patrol vehicle, found that Garcia broke rules about truthfulness, as well as a general performance of duty rule during the investigation. Investigators also found the officer turned off his body-worn camera in the aftermath of the crash and did not initially log the collision.
According to the report’s background notes, an officer reviewing the crash in late January 2021 noticed discrepancies, including the officer’s statement that his patrol vehicle was traveling at about 25 mph and the other party attesting the officer had been traveling at about 60 mph.
After noticing major damage to the patrol vehicle and moderate damage to the other driver’s vehicle, the officer pursued the patrol vehicle’s black-box data, which showed the patrol vehicle had been traveling at 70.7 mph about 1.5 seconds before impact. Additional data showed the vehicle managed to slow to 64.5 mph one second before impact and to 40.6 mph at impact.
Investigators then spoke with the other driver, who told officers he had been going northbound on 80th Avenue before coming to a stop, looking both ways and not seeing any other vehicles before proceeding into the intersection.
While making a left turn onto International Boulevard, he was suddenly approached by a police patrol vehicle without lights and sirens, and struck. The driver, who said he was wearing his seatbelt, was left with complaints of pain to his back, head, neck and shoulders, and later went to a San Leandro hospital for injury treatment. He said no officers at the scene took any statement from him.
Based on the witness statement, as well as five seconds’ worth of data recovered from the black box still inside the patrol vehicle under repair, investigators changed a filed report’s at-fault description to the patrol vehicle’s driver, Garcia.
Officers who spoke to Garcia the night of the collision told investigators that Garcia claimed he had been eastbound on International before noticing a white Mustang slowing to a stop in front of him at 80th Avenue. Garcia said he then switched to the roadway’s bus lane to go around, before broadsiding the other party’s vehicle.
Garcia appeared shaken at the scene but told others he was not hurt. However, he called a sergeant the next day and said he was injured and did not come back on duty for about a week, delaying the sergeant’s collection of a statement from him. When Garcia returned to duty, he filled out and signed a statement attesting to his version of events, including his 25-mph speed.
Investigators who visited the block saw posted speed limit signs of 25 mph along International Boulevard, including a school-zone sign in the 7900 block.
An analysis of Garcia’s own body-worn surveillance-camera footage at the scene showed him running to the other party’s damaged red 2018 Honda Accord and asking the driver if he needed an ambulance. The Honda’s driver said no and added that a black vehicle had blocked his view briefly.
Garcia then walked back to his patrol vehicle and turned on its lights, then returned to the Honda and asked a woman nearby if anyone else had been in the Honda. The woman replied that only the driver was there. When another Oakland police officer arrived moments later and asked Garcia what had happened, he begins to speak with her before turning off his camera.
An analysis of audio from dispatchers found that Garcia had been cleared from a 11:09 p.m. ShotSpotter shots-fired call at 11:28 p.m. He was then dispatched to a gunshot call involving a loud party at 91st Avenue and B Street. Ten minutes later, he was involved in the collision.
“Since [Garcia] was not where he was supposed to be, he was traveling at a high rate of speed to get to the location,” the report says in part. “If [Garcia] was traveling at 25 mph he would have been able to stop the vehicle prior to impact or limit the damage to the police vehicle and the [other party’s] vehicle. The posted speed limit is 25 mph on International Boulevard in the 7000-8000 block.
Related Articles Crashes and Disasters | Second week of sheriff corruption trial dives into alleged gun-permit favoritism Crashes and Disasters | Uvalde schools suspend entire police force Crashes and Disasters | Bay Area legislator’s new law aims to root out hate activity in law enforcement Crashes and Disasters | Lawsuit: Multiple officers shared lewd, secret recordings, including fired East Bay cop tied to ‘Mafia’ texting group Crashes and Disasters | Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies who were taken off duty start to return “The investigation determined there is sufficient evidence to prove that [Garcia] was not being truthful when writing his statement about the vehicle accident and his speed prior to the collision.”
Garcia joined OPD as a trainee in August 2018, according to state employment records. He had his peace officer abilities suspended Jan. 29, 2021, and was released from duty Feb. 17, 2021. His attorney said that since Garcia had been fired in connection with the case, he declined to provide a post-separation statement. The officer went by Victor Garcia but police records identify him as Garcia Parra.
The investigation report recommended that officers responding to vehicle collisions activate and keep their body-worn surveillance cameras on, in order to provide evidence if drivers contest fault designations, or in any following civil-court proceedings.
Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.
We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.
Get Morning Report and other email newsletters