After California Highway Patrol officers killed an apparently unarmed man and wounded his pregnant girlfriend in Oakland on Saturday night, authorities are now saying its officers fired on the man after he rammed CHP vehicles with a stolen Dodge Challenger Hellcat.
According to some witnesses, CHP officers fired dozens of bullets into the body of 23-year-old Eric Salgado and his pregnant girlfriend, Brianna Colombo, Saturday night, in East Oakland.
Video from the immediate aftermath of the incident was released Monday to Shane Bauer, an independent journalist, while security footage of the event was given to KTVU, the Bay Area’s Fox channel.
The videos show a chaotic scene, in which CHP officials are heard shooting dozens of bullets and then demanding that Salgado, likely dead at this point, raise his hands and turn off the engine.
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The engine continued to run in the Dodge vehicle, which the CHP claims was one of many stolen from a San Leandro car dealership..
In the video, dogs can be heard barking in the background. A neighbor can be seen running into his home and turning out the lights.
Officers are heard demanding that Colombo, Salgado’s girlfriend, and mother of a 3-year-old child, exit the car as the woman wails in the background. (The child was not with them.) According to the video footage, nobody addressed Salgado’s condition until roughly five minutes after the event.
Neighbors at the scene suggested to news outlets that she was still at the scene two hours later, despite having gunshot wounds.
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She is now being treated in a hospital, and in stable condition, according to the Oakland Police Department. Details about her condition were not immediately available.
The CHP redirected questions to the Oakland Police Department, which is investigating the incident. On Tuesday night, the department released a statement alleging Salgado had rammed into several CHP cars before the shooting began.
According to Bauer, the independent journalist, neighbors and witnesses reported Salgado drove onto the block and was boxed in by “undercover police trucks. Salgado then revved the engine and began spinning the tires, burning rubber.” His engine popped, and it was that point that two officers “unloaded on him.”
No mention was made about whether Salgado or Colombo were armed in the Oakland Police report.
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Neighbors, friends and family of Salgado have been holding regular memorials and protests at the site where the shooting took place, with some questioning why officers had to open fire.
Ed Obayashi, a national use-of-force expert and Plumas County deputy sheriff and legal advisor, said that after reviewing videos, it was hard to tell exactly what happened.
But, if Salgado was ramming CHP vehicles, as the Oakland police have reported, his actions would be considered as assault with deadly weapon, and the officers’ response were appropriate, said Obayashi.
Ramming vehicles present a “total disregard for public safety,” and endangered not just the officers, but, in a residential neighborhood, the general public, as well.
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And he said that 40-rounds, as witnesses have reported, do not seem excessive, considering the incident took place at night, the driver was ramming cars, and the scene chaotic.
“I suspect three officers each shot about a dozen rounds, or one shot three or five, and another 15, and another 15 or 17,” he said. Each clip, he said, holds 17 rounds.
According to the Oakland Police Department, on Saturday night, at roughly 10:46 p.m., CHP officers were in East Oakland investigating a shooting that had taken place the night before, on Interstate 580. While there, officers noted a 2018, red Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, driving recklessly.
A plate check indicated the car had been stolen; the plate did not match the vehicle.
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According to a news report from Berkeleyside, Lt. Ted Henderson, of the San Leandro Police Department said the Hellcat was one of 80 vehicles stolen on May 31 from a San Leandro auto dealership.
He said he did not know whether Salgado stole the vehicle.
CHP “conducted a traffic enforcement stop” after identifying the vehicle, according to Oakland police, “at which time the driver of the Dodge Hellcat began ramming CHP vehicles.”
Three CHP officers started shooting. Unverified reports suggest they shot at the couple 40 times. Audio from video released by neighbors at the incident confirm dozens were shot.
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According to witnesses who spoke with Oaklandside, Berkeleyside’s sister publication, and who declined to provide their names, the victims did not appear armed, and did not verbally threaten the officers.
Berkeleyside also reports that court records show Salgado was arrested in 2018 for three separate vehicle thefts, and as recently as April 18, he’d been jailed after being arrested in San Leandro for vehicle theft. He also had “several” outstanding warrants for receiving stolen property, driving on a suspended license, and fleeing from police in Contra Costa County.
