(Oakland news ZENNIEREPORT.COM update: Oakland Police Arrests Carjacking Ring.) Oakland drivers aren’t safe. The constant news in our Oakland California, ZENNIE62MEDIA’s West Coast home, is about car windows being smashed into and items stolen, or autos just having their glass broken for no reason other than vandalism. It has Oaklanders up in arms.
Just two days ago, an Oakland resident wrote this on the social media site NextDoor: “Smash and grabs everywhere…” Then showed a photo of her car with its windows smashed in on both sides.
Over at Oakland News Now Blog and at Zennie62 YouTube Channel, there are a number of videos and posts about crimes of attacks on cars generally parked smack in commericial areas in Oakland. Here’s one example video from last year:
It’s so bad that it’s not even safe to photograph or video a smash-and-grab in progress. Oakland resident Len Raphael posted this on Nextdoor:
Think twice before even recording smash and grabs. Last weekend an acquaintance who recently moved here from the burbs, was driving a panel truck delivering stuff in Oakland. Saw a guy break into a car. My acquaintance pulled over nearby and started recording it on his phone. Perp noticed it, and walked over w a baseball bat. Then put down the bat and pulled out a gun. My acquaintance rapidly drove off.
From Nextdoor
Now, Oakland Is One Of The Most Dangerous Places To Drive In America
Yep, as the subheading reads, Oakland is now, officially, one of the most dangerous places to drive in the entire United States of America. According to information sent to ZENNIE62MEDIA,INC by Surge Marketing Online and the MarketWatch Guides Team. Over at the online publication MarketWatch, Rashawn Mitchner, and
Dash Lewis wrote that “It’s no secret that driving can be incredibly dangerous. The number of motor vehicle deaths in the U.S. rose from an estimated 39,107 in 2019 to 46,270 in 2022, an 18.3% increase. On top of fatal vehicle crashes, DUI arrests and car thefts also play significant roles in driver safety. Considering those factors, we at the MarketWatch Guides Team wanted to determine which cities are the most dangerous for drivers and which are the safest. When researching this article, we narrowed the scope to cities with at least 100,000 residents. Here’s what we found.”
And then they sent over this chart:
As you can see, Oakland is one of the top six cities for driver crimes, but it and Detroit, Michigan are the top two cities among that group for America’s worst rates of car theft. The other three cities are Fargo, North Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Jackson, Mississippi, and North Charleston, South Carolina.
As for Oakland from a data perspective, there were 5,041 car thefts in in 2019, giving our city a rate of 1,161.4 thefts per 100,000 people — the highest in the country. And that was in 2019. And in 2022, Oakland had America’s highest rate of car break ins per 1,000 people at 15.33. Looked at another way, there’s an over 1-in-10 chance that your car will be broken into in Oakland at any given time.
And two days ago, the Oakland Police sent over an email that read like this:
Community: Weekly Citywide Crime Report
Dear Zennie Abraham, During the week of July 17 – July 23, four lives were lost to violence.
Emailed from Oakland Police Department.
There were 36 instances of gunfire, 43 robberies, and nine carjackings.
OPD has investigated 57 homicides this year, compared to 66, this time last year.
OPD officers have recovered more than 650 firearms.
OPD encourages residents and business owners to consider installing security cameras and alarms. These technologies can both deter crime and help solve crimes after they occur.
But zero in on this: there were 9, nine successful carjackings in a period of just seven days, or over a carjacking a day, plus 1-10th of that. That’s a projected total of 401.5 carjackings in Oakland for 2023. In other words, there’s at least one successful carjacking in Oakland, daily. That is roughly double the 225 carjackings a year average from 2016 to 2020.
Who Pays For Damages After An Oakland Car Accident Caused By A Carjacker?
The Oakland law firm of Quirk and Reed asked the question of who pays for damages in a car accident? This is what they wrote:
Victims may suffer serious injuries in an Oakland collision caused by a carjacking suspect. Injured patients will require substantial help in paying for weeks of medical care and physical therapy sessions. They could also need paychecks restored after losing time at work. Some victims may just need assistance paying for car and body repairs or vehicle replacement.
Victims will rightly wonder if these bills and others will have to be paid out of their own pockets. But in a crash involving a carjacker, is it possible to secure car insurance compensation? Thankfully, the answer is usually yes.
The chances that someone guilty of carjacking a vehicle has car insurance may seem small, but if they do, victims can file an insurance claim with the suspect’s insurer.
More likely, a carjacker won’t have auto insurance. In this case, victims can file a claim against their own car insurance provider. This claim is filed against the victim’s uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Victims can receive support for recovery costs and car repairs.
This type of car accident claim would also be possible if a loved one’s life was tragically taken by a carjacking suspect’s reckless driving. The family of the victim would file a wrongful death claim with the deceased’s car insurance company for help with funeral costs and leftover medical bills. The claim would also seek help with the income lost in the future now that the victim can’t contribute to family finances.
Of course, if you are ever in an accident involving someone you suspect is a carjacker, worry about your safety before thinking about who is at fault in the accident. Stay in your car and lock the doors. Don’t try to apprehend the suspect yourself. Remain in your vehicle until the scene is secure if possible.
What Is Oakland Doing About This Problem? So Far, Nothing
The sad end to this news post is that Oakland’s Government is doing absolutely, nothing, zero, zip, and nada about this problem. No new cameras in commercial districts. No funding to hire security patrols in those same business areas. No special alarms or warning signs to send a signal to criminals that they are being watched. No special hotline. No special police task force. Nothing.
Stay tuned.
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