Donations stolen from Oakland City Council candidate's campaign rally; no response by police

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland City Council candidate Charlene Wang had her donation bag stolen on Sunday during her campaign kick off event. Wang and her staff say an unhoused woman grabbed it and walked away.

"I very much tried to have a de-escalatory conversation with her to convince her to hand over the bag," Wang said. "Offer her a warm meal at the grocery store, even give her money in exchange for the bag but that did not work out."

Video shows Wang and her staff trying to get the bag back. However, the unhoused woman got angry and refused to give it back. The donation bag had around $1,000.

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"She did start getting agitated and started throwing food," Wang said.

They first tried calling homeless outreach, but they weren't available on a weekend. Once the woman got angry and started threatening her staff, they all realized they should call police. Only problem - Oakland police never showed up.

We reached out to OPD and they asked us to be more specific about the location of the incident, but they haven't replied after we gave them updated information.

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"They said there were 250 calls ahead of us and they said they would actually come by to take a report afterwards," Wang said. "They still have not come by and it still hasn't happened yet."

Part of Wang's platform for her campaign is focusing on public safety. She wants to build more housing in Oakland with a focus on helping the unhoused get shelter.

"I can only imagine the trauma she is going through having to live on the streets," Wang said. "I am not angry at her or anything like that, however, I think this is yet another example of first responder service. I was left to fend for myself in an essence."