By Ali Winston/WEST OAKLAND
The Oakland Police Department is under the microscope again. On Tuesday Reginald Oliver, 39, whose East Oakland home was searched on the basis of a search warrant tainted by officers’ false statements to a judge, filed a federal class action suit seeking unspecified damages against the city and an officer implicated in the incident.
Oliver’s case is one of at least eight which Alameda County prosecutors have dropped because officers obtained search warrants stating that substances suspected as narcotics had been confirmed by drug lab tests. Tests never confirmed that assertion.
After Oliver was arrested on a narcotics charge in March, a police search found 216 rounds of live ammunition, a magazine for an assault weapon, and “drug cutting agents” in Oliver’s house, according to police. Oliver was charged with possession of ammunition.
Anywhere from five to forty officers may be involved in the incident. Officer Karla Rush, a 31-year-old problem-solving officer assigned to East Oakland, was the only person named in the suit. Five officers are reportedly on paid administrative leave as a result of the investigation. Others, including Rush, have been assigned to desk duty.
Neither Oakland Police nor the City Attorney returned calls for comment.
The suit came on the same day as more sobering news for Oakland Police. Mayor Ron Dellums called for the state Attorney General to examine the conduct of homicide detective Derwin Longmire in the investigation of journalist Chauncey Bailey’s homicide by members of the Your Black Muslim Bakery last year.
Last 5 posts by Ali Winston
- Suits highlight legacy of distrust for Oakland police - November 25th, 2008
- Scenes from the Registrar - November 4th, 2008
- Measure NN falls short of required votes - November 2nd, 2008
- Calif. voters to decide on crime measures - November 2nd, 2008
- City Council gets earful on police shooting - October 22nd, 2008
