An SFPD officer assigned to Oakland was nearly killed on the job Tuesday, in an eventful car chase that featured a murder attempt, a wrong-way chase on I-580, and Oakland Police opening fire for reasons even they can’t explain.
A San Francisco Police Department officer can occasionally be assigned to work in Oakland. One SFPD officer had such duty Tuesday, with SFPD’s Community Violence Reduction Team. And that officer was almost killed by a vehicle driven by a wanted SF criminal, in a story full of puzzling and bizarre chapters.
But the long and the short of it is that the suspect is charged for trying to murder an SFPD officer with his car, as KTVU reports. (He did manage to hit and slightly injure the officer). 26-year-old Joseph Willis II is now charged with attempted muder of a peace officer, plus a slew of other charges, after a highly eventful Tuesday afternoon.
This one’s pretty complicated. The above Wednesday afternoon Facebook post from the Oakland PD says “Officer Firearm Discharge Under Investigation,” but KTVU’s original description of this tale contains multitudes beyond the mere firing of a gun by a police officer. Plus the accounts come from two different police departments, adding to the complexity of this wild police chase description.
It starts with the SFPD officer stationed in Oakland. At 3:50 pm Tuesday afternoon, a vehicle that SFPD had been looking for in San Francisco was spotted in Oakland on the 800 block of 47th Street in Oakland. That vehicle was associated with Willis, who was apparently wanted on "multiple violent felonies,” according to the Oakland PD.
KTVU reports that Willis’s vehicle then "struck [the SFPD] officer, causing injuries", though it is not clear whether he hit the officer's car, or the officer himself. Either way, the SFPD officer was hospitalized, albeit with non-life-threatening injuries.
Oakland Police then joined in, with numerous cars chasing Willis, and a helicopter chasing his vehicle for good measure too. Willis’s vehicle even hopped on I-580 and drove the wrong way for a spell (KTVU’s report has some “SkyFOX” copter footage, if you’re interested). The chase ended when Willis rammed his own car into an Oakland PD cruiser near the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center near the Mosswood District of Oakland.
Willis reportedly attempted to flee on foot, or rather, attempted to carjack another vehicle while on foot. Willis’s original vehicle was apparently full of an unnamed number of associates, all of whom also dashed on foot, and it is not mentioned whether any of them were caught.
Making matters even stranger, KTVU notes that an "officer's firearm was discharged” while police were detaining Willis. There is no explanation given on whether this was intentional or not, or related to the vehicle impact. But no bullets hit anyone, and no one was injured.
But for all of this, Willis had been charged with attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, attempted carjacking, and illegal possession of a firearm. He was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
Image: Oakland Police Department via Facebook
