OAKLAND — An Oakland police officer was charged with three misdemeanors in connection with a car crash that he allegedly tried to blame on a mysterious carjacker, court records show.
Eduardo Arrizon, 31, of Oakland, was charged with multiple counts of hit-and-run in the crash, but will not face charges of filing a false police report after the incident, even though police say that’s exactly what he did.
No one was injured in the crash, but witnesses described Arrizon’s 2016 Chevy Silverado as driving erratically down 69th Avenue and hitting multiple stationary objects – including parked cars and stop signs. Then it struck a tree, which was dragged into the middle of the street. Each misdemeanor charge appears to coincide with a different object that Arrizon allegedly struck.
After the collision, Arrizon allegedly exited the Chevy and made a run for it, later claiming he jumped fences while scampering to his nearby home. Arrizon then called 911 and reported that he’d been the victim of an armed carjacking by an irate motorist.
Arrizon’s description of the carjacker was eerily similar to Arrizon’s own general description, according to police. The carjacking was otherwise unaccounted for; eyewitnesses to the crash and area residents say that they never saw an armed robbery take place that day, and no video footage in the area depicted it either, according to police.
An Oakland police investigator wrote in court filings that Arrizon was identified from surveillance footage of the crash and eyewitnesses, plus, “my familiarity with Arrizon having previously investigated him for other offenses and have multiple face to face contacts with him.”
Arrizon is due in court on Nov. 7, and is not in custody, records show.
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Previously, 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 as it no longer appears in the court’s database.
Arrizon is only the latest alumnus of the 2016 police academy graduating class, the 171st Basic Recruit Academy, to face criminal charges.
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. Liu was more recently arrested on suspicion of domestic violence in Daly City, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
