Estate of Decedent Lolomania Soakai v. City of Oakland

BACKGROUND

21 Plaintiffs bring claims under against the Individual Defendants and the City for the injuries 22 they sustained from a “ghost chase.” A “ghost chase” is an officer pursuit of a suspect in cars 23 where “the officers do not activate their sirens and lights or radio in the chase to dispatch because 24 their department prohibits such pursuits due to the risks to the lives of the suspect and innocent 25 bystander[s].” (Dkt. No. 17 (Amended Compl.), ¶ 2.) The Individual Defendants sped after the 26 suspect from a car rally “through highly populated and congested surface streets in Oakland at 27 Individual Defendants “caused the suspect to lose control of his vehicle and crash[] into cars and motorcycles parked in front of a busy late night taco truck on . . . a main city” street. The suspect’s car fatally injured Lolomania Soakai (“Decedent”) and seriously injured the other Plaintiffs. (Id., ¶¶ 4-6.) The Individual Defendants observed the chaos and injuries that their actions caused, but they did not stop their car or summon emergency services. (Id., ¶ 7.) Instead, the Individual Defendants “kept their sirens and lights off, their…