VIDEO: San Leandro officers ‘dump’ homeless man in Oakland; I-Team questions police supervisor

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) — “You’re being difficult. You’re being difficult.”

San Leandro police handcuffed this homeless man at a strip mall, got into a violent struggle, and then “dumped him” – in their words – seven miles away in Oakland. Officers did that, even though they concluded the man had committed no crime. An internal affairs sergeant has filed a nine-page complaint with the city on this and other issues. ABC7 Eyewitness News I-Team reporter Dan Noyes obtained that body camera video; the arresting officer left it rolling the entire time, so we can follow along as she decides to dump the homeless man in Oakland.

At San Leandro Police Internal Affairs, Sgt. Mike Olivera was going through old body camera video when he came upon this violent incident from December 2024. Any use of force is supposed to be thoroughly documented by the arresting officer. This one was not.

Mike Rains, Olivera’s attorney, told us, “When you apply force to people, you handcuff them, and that happens, you have to make sure you’re making a record of it. And the best record you can make is you take him into custody. You tell them they’re under arrest, you write a report, you let the DA sort it out.”

It all started when San Leandro Safety Ambassadors tried to make 33-year-old Shaquille Coleman leave a shopping area. A clerk at the natural foods store pushed an alarm button because she thought Coleman and the ambassadors were about to fight. Two San Leandro police officers arrived.

Suzanne Mann, San Leandro police officer: “I’m asking you, who are you? It’s a lawful order, I’m asking you.”
Shaquille Coleman: “I’m a person who’s been around here, here, here and here.”
Officer Mann: “Are you going to be difficult or can we just get through this easily?”
Coleman: “It was no problem.”

Suzanne Mann and another officer try to handcuff Coleman so they can search him, but they can’t until a third officer arrives.

Officer Ismael Navarro said, “Just put your hands behind your back, dude.”

None of the officers told Coleman he had committed a crime. He did have a receiving stolen property conviction in his past, and he balked when they tried to put him in the police car.

Coleman: “Can I sit on the ground?
Officer Mann: “No, sir.”
Coleman: “What are you doing? What are you all doing?”

A police supervisor, Lieutenant Antwinette Turner, arrived in time to see the interaction turn violent.

Officer Mann: “Stop kicking.”
Coleman: “Stop playing with me, bruh. Stop!”
Officer Ismael Navarro: “Get in the car.”
Coleman: “Why would you pull my hair?”

Officer Navarro ripped out Coleman’s braids trying to pull him into the car.

“Why would you do that to my hair, bruh?” Coleman shouts.

Coleman finally complied after Navarro pulled out his taser; you can see the green dot on Coleman’s chest. The bodycam continued to record while Officer Mann tried to figure out what to do next. She considers what San Leandro police call “a green sheet” – a 5150 or psychiatric hold. She even starts filling out the paperwork before realizing she doesn’t have a case. “Well, shoot, actually, they’re saying he didn’t do anything?” Mann said.

Mann decides she doesn’t have evidence that Coleman was a danger to himself or others. So, she comes up with another plan.

Officer Mann: “We’re going to go way north and then dump him and then we’re going to go back to them.”
Officer Navarro: “All right, wherever you think is appropriate. I’ll follow you.”

Mann tells Officer Navarro and her supervisor, Lt. Turner, that she wants to dump Coleman in Oakland, but not near any BART station.

Lt. Antwinette Turner: “Why not the BART station?”
Officer Mann: “Because then he’d just come back.”
Lt. Turner: “Right, get on that s**t and go.”
Officer Mann: “No, he’s just going to come back and be a problem, lieutenant. (laughter).”
Lt. Turner: “I just want this dude to get out of here.”
Officer Mann: “I will get him out of here and there’s no BART station, it’s going to take him awhile to get back from over there.”

Officer Mann gave Shaquille Coleman a choice – Santa Rita County Jail or a ride north to Oakland.

Officer Mann: “You want a ride up north, and then you could walk off and then go figure your life out?”
Coleman: “Nah.”
Officer Mann: “All right, bud. North we go.”

They take surface streets to 580 North, past the San Leandro city limit, past the Oakland Zoo, past Mills College. They take the MacArthur Boulevard exit to a gas station just off the highway – seven miles from where they picked up Shaquille Coleman.

Officer Navarro said, “I think he said he wanted his hair. Hold on.”

Officer Navarro retrieves Coleman’s braids. Officer Mann removes her pink handcuffs.

“All right, sir. You can grab your stuff and take off, man,” Mann told him.

As Shaquille Coleman gathers his belongings, her partner motions for Mann to get back in the police car.

Former SFPD commander and police practices expert Rich Corriea watched the entire hour-long video and read the police reports. He told the I-Team, “I find this incident with this gentleman outside the health food store really disturbing to the point where I almost didn’t want to weigh in on it because it’s so disturbing.”

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Corriea is critical of Officer Mann’s decisions, saying they could have violated Coleman’s civil rights. But, he’s mostly critical of Lt. Turner, the supervisor who told Mann, “I’ll let you do whatever you want,”

“You can’t in the 21st century go to a scene as a boss and not do anything,” Corriea said. “If there’s some support, some action, you need to take some advice, some guidance. You’re not there as a passive observer. You’re there to add value.”

Antwinette Turner left the San Leandro Police Department this past December. The I-Team reached her by phone at BART police where she is now Deputy Chief in charge of the “Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau.” Turner would not answer any of our questions about her role in the incident. Through a spokesperson, Chief Angela Averiett declined to be interviewed, so we met her one day after work.

I-Team’s Dan Noyes asked, “Your officers dumped that man up north in Oakland. Is that the way you do business here? Chief, you have to answer to the public. You realize that, right?” The chief didn’t answer.

To follow up, we sent a detailed list of questions to the city and received a response that said, after Sgt. Olivera’s complaint last month, Chief Averiett launched an independent third-party investigation that found “certain personnel violated department policies” and that they faced corrective action. That’s news to Sgt. Olivera. It’s been one year since he first complained about this incident; his lawyer says Olivera is facing repercussions. “He feels like the result has been that he’s been shunned,” Rains said. “He’s been discriminated against. He’s been retaliated against, and the treatment he’s received within this administration.”

The I-Team reached out to all the officers in this report and left messages but did not hear back. Tomorrow, we report on another controversy for Chief Averiett – she was investigated for hit and run while off-duty and driving an unmarked police department Jeep. No charges were filed in that matter. Hear from the driver in the other car.

Take a look at more stories by the ABC7 News I-Team.