SFPD smashes down door of Elaine Brown's West Oakland building in robbery search

San Francisco police officers broke down the door of a West Oakland apartment building developed by Elaine Brown. A search warrant sought items tied to a robbery, including clothing worn by an 18-year-old suspect, a firearm, and a stolen yellow metal chain, and it appeared to seek the suspect as well. About two dozen officers searched the area and reportedly detained a young man identified by building staff as the suspect named in the warrant. The suspect did not live in the building but often visited a resident. Officers then banged on the door of the 79-unit property. Brown said her security staff required a judge-signed warrant and that officers declined to show it. A recorded statement threatened to ram and break the door, and the glass was shattered as officers entered.

"According to the search warrant obtained by SFPD, the police were seeking items related to a robbery incident, including clothing worn by an 18-year-old suspect, a firearm, and a stolen "yellow metal chain." They also appear to have been looking for the suspect himself. A group of about two dozen officers, not in full uniform, searched and reportedly detained a young man, whom building staff identified as the suspect named in the warrant, outside of the 7th Street property. The teen doesn't live in the building but often visits one of the residents, they said. The warrant says he lives in Pittsburg."

"Several of the San Francisco officers then banged on the door of the 79-unit affordable housing property. According to Brown, her security staff told the officers they couldn't come into the building without showing a warrant. Officers told a guard that they had a warrant but declined to show it, she said. "The reason I have a strict rule about that is because ICE shows up like that," Brown told The Oaklandside. She explained that some of the building's residents were not born in the U.S., so she'd instructed her staff not to let law enforcement in without a warrant signed by a judge."

"In a video recorded at 1:58 p.m. on Thursday and obtained by The Oaklandside, one of the officers announces, "We're gonna ram this door in a second. We're going to break this door if you don't open it." He starts swinging something at the glass door, which soon shatters. Brown said she was not in the neighborhood at the time. Residents notified Misty Cross, the on-site property manager. "Before I could get downstairs, they were already ramming the glass," Cross said. "I could hear it up on the fifth floor.""

Read at The Oaklandside