OAKLAND — An Oakland officer called 911 last month to report being forced out of his truck by an armed carjacker who brandished a gun and drove off with the vehicle, but investigators aren’t buying his version of events, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
Officer Eduardo Arrizon reported his 2016 Chevy Silverado stolen just minutes after the truck was seen by multiple eyewitnesses driving erratically and crashing into stationary objects. One of those eyewitnesses reportedly identified a picture of Arrizon as the truck’s driver, who emerged and made a run for it after the truck ran down a stop sign and came to a halt, authorities said.
Arrizon, 31, has not been arrested or charge in connection with the hit-and-run, but the investigation remains active. He has been placed on administrative leave, multiple law enforcement sources told this news organization. A lawyer with the firm representing Arrizon has declined to comment and a message sent to the officer’s city email account went unreturned as of Friday afternoon.
The investigation started a few minutes before 5 p.m. on Aug. 3, when multiple Oakland residents called police to report that there was a tree blocking the roadway on the 1900 block of 69th Avenue. Police responded to find Arrizon’s Chevy smoking and disabled near a damaged stop sign, authorities said.
The witnesses recounted how the truck had sideswiped a parked car and then uprooted the tree, dragging it into another parked vehicle. The Chevy continued down the street as the woman who owned one of the parked cars angrily attempted to drive after it. With the tree blocking her path, the woman exited her vehicle and attempted to catch up with the Chevy on foot, then watched in awe as it collided with a stop sign and came to a rest, police said.
That’s when the Chevy’s driver was seen exiting through a passenger door and running northbound on Church Street, authorities said. Arrizon’s driver’s license was reportedly found on the truck’s floor.
Four minutes after the car crash, Arrizon called 911 to report that he’d been carjacked, authorities said. He allegedly said he was driving the Chevy on the 2100 block of 69th Avenue, when he came across several men loitering next to a double parked car that was blocking the street. When he honked his horn to get them to move, he claimed a man walked over with a firearm, pointed the gun at him and told him to “run it.” He gave up the truck out of fear for his life, he reportedly told police.
Investigators were unable to verify Arrizon’s version of events. They say nearby residents’ security camera showed the Chevy drive down that block at a normal rate of speed and continue up 69th Avenue, where it eventually ran a stop sign. Another local resident reported that he never saw a group of men loitering or a carjacking, and that he was paying extra attention that day because his grandson was playing in the front yard throughout the afternoon.
Three eyewitnesses were given photo lineups that included Arrizon, police said. One of them reportedly identified him as the driver of the Chevy, while two others were unable to make an identification.
Multiple witnesses provided a description of the driver, which generally matches Arrizon, including a detail that he had “sleeve” tattoos on one arm. But Arrizon also provided a similar description of the carjacker, authorities said.
Police did not respond to Arrizon’s 911 call until four hours after he reported the carjacking, and when they did, they were unable to get in touch with him. The following day, authorities say he came forward once again, explaining that he’d fallen asleep early on the night of Aug. 3. In the follow-up interview, he provided more details, claiming that after the carjacking he ran a short distance to his home, jumped the backyard fence and made the 911 call, authorities said.
On Sept. 3, Arrizon showed up to the police department voluntarily, for another interview. Once he arrived, investigators showed him a signed court order authorizing them to take a DNA sample, and then swabbed the inside of his mouth, records show. They hope to test the DNA against available samples inside the Chevy to confirm or disconfirm the existence of a carjacker.
Arrizon was charged with driving more than 100 miles per hour while drunk in 2018. Alameda County prosecutors charged him with a felony and claimed his blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit at the time. The outcome of the case is unclear; local media never followed up on it and it no longer appears in the court’s database.
Arrizon was part of an infamous 2016 police academy graduating class, the 171st Basic Recruit Academy, whose alumni have repeatedly made headlines for alleged crimes.
One of them, former Officer Brian Bunton was arrested in 2016 for charges of felony obstruction of justice and misdemeanor engaging in an act of prostitution as part of the sex exploitation scandal related to the woman known as Celeste Guap. Although he resigned from the police department, his case was dismissed in court in September 2017.
Rookie Officer Matthew Santos was fired in 2016 while on probationary status for allegedly using a gun to threaten a man painting his apartment door. Officer Trevor Stratton was placed on paid leave and named in a lawsuit filed by the family of an Alameda County probation officer, who was allegedly assaulted by another drunken cop in December 2015.
Another of the 171st, Samson Liu, was investigated earlier this year after the Bureau of Cannabis Control raided an Antioch property Liu owned, which was the site of a large marijuana grow house. The Contra Costa District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute Liu due to lack of evidence, authorities said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com