OAKLAND — A 24-year-old Texas man, who police said had his 3-year-old daughter with him when he allegedly beat and carjacked another man Tuesday afternoon, has been charged with three felony crimes, according to police and court documents.
Hal Vinson was arrested in Oakland a few hours after the carjacking, and his daughter was taken into protective custody.
He has been charged with carjacking, second degree robbery and cruelty to a child by endangering health. He is being held at Santa Rita Jail in lieu of $160,000 bail and has a bail hearing set for April 19.
Authorities said about 1 p.m. Tuesday a 24-year-old man was sitting in his car, a 2016 Honda sedan, in an apartment complex parking lot in the 300 block of Grand Street near Will C. Wood Middle School when he was approached by Vinson on the driver’s side.
Police do not have any information that Vinson knew the man previously or why he was in Alameda or what motivated the violence. According to court records Vinson lives in Dallas, Texas.
Police said while Vinson’s 3-year-old daughter stood in a traffic lane on heavily traveled Grand Street Vinson asked the man if he could use his cell phone.
When the man said no, Vinson punched him repeatedly in the head and body, leaving him with a bloody nose, police said in court documents.
Vinson then put his daughter in the right front passenger seat, not in a proper safety seat, police said.
The victim was then dragged from the Honda by Vinson who then drove away in the vehicle with his daughter, police said.
Alameda police alerted other police agencies about the carjacking and developed information it might be near water.
The car was spotted just after 5 p.m. Tuesday in Oakland by East Bay Regional Park District police officers in the 7200 block of Doolittle Drive near Langley Street adjacent to the Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline.
Vinson and his daughter were detained and they were both identified at the scene by the victim, police said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com