By Kristin Bender, Harris Harry and Sean Maher, Oakland Tribune
Original publication date: Jan. 27

Oakland, Calif. — The police radio system that went down during a high-speed chase and officer-involved shooting has malfunctioned several times before, and has since it was installed more than four years ago, police Chief Anthony Batts said Thursday.

Mayor Jean Quan ordered a full inspection of the system, including the nature of the problems during Wednesday’s chase, and is expecting a report from the city’s information technology workers by early next week.

Martin Flenaugh, 19, of Oakland, was shot and killed about 4:20 p.m. by a police officer after authorities say he pointed a pistol at the officer. The shooting followed a high-speed chase that ended when his friend, Jereme Brown, 24, also of Oakland, crashed their red Infiniti into an uninvolved green Buick at 85th Avenue and San Leandro Street, police said.

Flenaugh, who police say exited the Infiniti with a pistol in each hand, was killed instantly. As the car went up in flames, officers dragged his body away from the vehicle. Brown was arrested after a short foot chase on suspicion of attempted murder and suspicion of assault with a firearm.

No one else was injured.

The radio breakdown caused emergency crews to be delayed because officers and police dispatchers could not communicate with each other for about five minutes, said police spokeswoman Holly Joshi. Officers could, however, talk to each other over the radios. Because of the radio system malfunction, East Bay Regional Park District police, who were also monitoring the chase, dispatched emergency medical crews to the scene.

Wednesday’s system breakdown did not contribute to any injuries or death, police said, but a system breakdown could have dire consequences.

“An officer is right not to feel secure if they can’t use their lifeline, which is that radio,” Batts said.

Batts, who has been on the job more than a year, said, “The systems within this police department were shattered when I walked in the door. I’ve always been open about that.”

However, he said he does not want to “play the blame game” and is pleased Quan is taking the problem seriously.

“I am not interested in who is to blame,” Quan said. “So far, they have not been able to find a mechanical reason for the breakdown, but we are looking at everything. I just want it fixed.”

Both men involved in Wednesday’s chase have criminal records with multiple convictions. Flenaugh was convicted in October of possession of marijuana and in 2009 for residential burglary, according to court records. Brown’s convictions include possession of marijuana, receiving stolen property and being an accessory to a crime, records show. Flenaugh had been released from jail a few months ago and Brown was on parole for drug convictions, according to the records.

Investigators said the two pistols Flenaugh had are the same weapons he is suspected of using in a shootout a few minutes earlier less than two miles away.

Police said, based on witness statements, Flenaugh exchanged gunfire from the Infiniti with a man on Lockwood Street, who shot at the car. That man was apparently not hit and fled before police arrived. Police are not sure what prompted the shootout.

Others on the street, who narrowly missed the flying bullets, gave police a description of the Infiniti, which was spotted by two nearby officers who began chasing the car about 4:10 p.m. The chase wound through city streets and on both directions of Interstate 880 before the suspect’s car crashed into the Buick at 4:22 p.m., police said.

After the crash, an officer saw the guns in Flenaugh’s hands and ordered him to surrender, police said. The officer told investigators that Flenaugh turned toward him and pointed one of the guns at him. The officer shot him several times.

The officer, whose name was not released, “had no other options,” Sgt. Jim Rullamas said. The officer is on paid administrative leave while investigations are conducted.

Both pistols were loaded when Flenaugh went down, police said. Brown refused to talk to police.

Sherry-Lyn Miller, who said she has known Flenaugh since he was a child, said he was in her print shop, All in One Stop, at 159th Avenue and East 14th Street in San Leandro at 3:45 p.m., less than 30 minutes before the Lockwood shootout began.

He was at the shop to get a memorial T-shirt for Edward Hampton, a 17-year-old Hayward boy who, along with Nario Jackson, 18, of Oakland, was shot and killed inside a car in West Oakland in November. 

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