Oakland police search for 2 drivers involved in hit-and-run on machete-wielding man
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland police are searching for the drivers of two vehicles that left the scene after striking a machete-wielding man in the Fruitvale District early Monday.
Police said they were called to the 3700 block of International Boulevard around 3 a.m. Monday on a report of a person in the road armed with a machete.
Officers arriving on the scene found a 25-year-old Oakland man still armed with the large knife. He cooperated with the officers when they told him to put the machete down, and was safely detained, police said.
Witnesses told police the man had been standing in the roadway throwing bottles at cars and hitting the windows of passing vehicles with the machete. While he was in the road, witnesses said it appeared he was struck intentionally by one vehicle, and then by a second vehicle, police said.
A video of the incident posted on YouTube shows the man gesticulating with the machete and lunging toward several passing cars. One vehicle, a red sedan, slows after a confrontation and circles back around, driving toward the man and striking him once before backing up and striking him again. A second vehicle, a white sedan, then strikes the man.
The man can be seen standing up again in the video and continuing to gesture with the machete, while a red vehicle that might be the initial sedan circles the block around him several times.
The man suffered minor injuries. He was taken to a local hospital and placed on a psychiatric hold, police said.
Both drivers left the scene, and police are searching for them now on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
At least one other person can be seen in the video filming the incident from a fire escape above the street. Police said they are interviewing witnesses and reviewing videos of the incident.
Crime Stoppers of Oakland is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for any information leading to an arrest in this case. Anyone with information on the vehicles or drivers is asked to contact the felony assault unit at (510) 238-3426.
