Posted on 05/19/2007 12:08:10 PM PDT by csvset
OAKLAND — In what police believe was a successful suicide, a 33-year-old man died early Friday from injuries sustained after deliberately running into traffic at least three times.
He was hit by three different vehicles in the 2500 block of East 27th Street shortly before midnight Thursday. None of the drivers stopped and waited for police, investigations said.
The man was identified as Shangle Mei of Oakland, said a spokesman from the Alameda County Coroner's Office.
Police said Mei's first attempt was unsuccessful when the driver of the vehicle stopped before striking him. The driver got out of the car and told him to be "careful" before driving off, a witness told police. Moments later, Mei ran into the street again and was hit by a car and pulled under the wheels. That driver pulled Mei out, but left the scene.
A short time later, Mei was hit by a third vehicle when he ran in front of it. That car also did not stop, police said.
Now, badly injured Mei once again ran in front of a fourth vehicle, which also hit him and left the scene without stopping, witnesses told police.
Mei was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he died from injuries early Friday.
Anyone with information should call police at 238-3156.
Shangle Gets mangled!
Be careful what you wish for. You may just get it.
What a stupid way to try and kill yourself. He was able to get up and run into traffic after being pulled out from under a car? wow. And what kind of drivers are there in California?....three people hit this guy and they all fled. yikes!
For future reference...
NEVER CROSS A STREET IN OAKLAND!!!!!!
Geez. Three people knowingly hit this guy, one even pulling him out from under the car, and all three were “hit and runs!”
I really hope that the witnesses got some tag numbers! Those drivers are savages who need to face some serious jail time!
Mark
Pretty bright detectives they have working there.
It’s too bad that someone didn’t call the police or someone to help this guy. He was obviously disturbed. How cold we have become. Everything has become a joke - even someones senseless death.
This is one example of why it’s important for people to have ready access to guns. This guy could easily have taken other people with him using this method of suicide.
I have a feeling if I’d hit him I would have kept going too. When somebody’s TRYING to get hit 1) it really doesn’t matter if they die from your car hitting them, because they’re determined to die one way or another, and bound to succeed soon, and 2) while this appears to have been a suicide, at first glance on the scene I would have guessed it to be insurance fraud, by someone making sure they get hit by a car that looks like it would be well-insured, in order to collect a huge settlement. I’m not going to fault the drivers who kept going in this situation. It obviously didn’t do any good when the first two drivers attempted to be helpful.
I would wager that all the drivers who fled the scene were illegal immigrants.
Three drivers who didn't want to be sent back south of the border.
Wow, Oakland sounds like a great place to live; you actually have to trick drivers, suddenly run out in front of them, to get them to run over you. In Detroit or DC or Cleveland or some place like that, all you’d have to do is ask.
I can’t believe THREE cars hit him, and not ONE stopped to check on him, or call the police! They could clearly NOT have been in the wrong, if he ran out in front of them.
If at first you don’t succeed...
What gave it away, Kojak?
Well pretty soon they won’t have to worry about being illegal and then I’m sure, the next time they hit someone, they will stop. (see, how horrible our laws are...making these poor hardworking people illegal so they can’t even stop when they run someone down!) /s
What a stupid way to try and kill yourself. He was able to get up and run into traffic after being pulled out from under a car? wow. And what kind of drivers are there in California?....three people hit this guy and they all fled. yikes!
Maybe he thought he was possessed and was trying to scare the evil spirits out. Like how “Bungee-Jumping” started.
More like “Mangle Me”.
In all likelihood, the first driver and/or multiple other people who witnessed this DID call police. And two people DID stop to help — the first trying to convince him to be more careful, and the second getting him out from under the car he’d been pulled under. But this was clearly a busy street and he was clearly making repeated runs into traffic in rapid succession. It’s very unlikely that the eventual outcome could have been avoided. Yes, he was obviously very disturbed, and it’s too bad he didn’t get help before it came to this, but it was probably too late to help him by the time he’d made up his mind to get killed by diving in front of moving vehicles.
The name sounds Chinese, and I hope it wasn’t a case of a smuggled illegal immigrant being threatened into despair by smugglers he owed money to, or having his family back in China threatened or already harmed by the smugglers. Sadly this is a very common situation.
This sounds like something John Stossel would do to see how often hit and run accidents occur. Watch for his next segment on 20/20 ... “How I got killed.”
I’ve worked in downtown Oakland for the last 15 years and lived in the SF East Bay most of my life. I’m sorry to say that the fact that 3 people hit this guy and drove off late on a Saturday night saddens, but does not suprise me in the least. I doubt these were illegals hitting him, more likely gang bangers or drunk drivers, both types the kind of people who are more apt to hit and run than others.
Oakland is one hot summer night and a “Rodney King” away from anarchy, which is why the cops there try to keep such a low profile. I could be wrong, but it is my impression that they would rather clean up the mess when the action dies down than provide an active defence, hence cutting down on the number of ACLU lawsuits they’d need to defend themselves against otherwise.
The biggest police presence I ever saw in Oakland was near the Federal Building near the city center at a “Code Pink” anti-war rally in 2002. A 3:1 ratio of cops to spectators. Funny.
I bet if he had been in Las Vegas it wouldn’t have taken him three tries.
“And what kind of drivers are there in California?....three people hit this guy and they all fled.”
Illegals ;-)
Umm, the driver of the first car to hit him DID stop, and pulled the guy out from under the car before driving away. We weren’t there, but if he was yelling crazily at this driver after being pulled out, it probably made sense to get back in the car and keep going, and we don’t know that this driver didn’t call police from his cell (though in this litigious society, he probably would have reported witnessing the event, instead of admitting he’d actually hit the guy). When you’re facing the very real possibility of being sued into bankruptcy by somebody who deliberately dove in front of your car, you might well make the same choice.
There is a huge amount of insurance fraud involving deliberately staged “accidents”, with organized rings operating, serving as witnesses for each other to confirm a version of events that results in the innocent driver being held responsible, and even if with doctors participating in the scam by providing false confirmation of injuries and long-lasting symptoms, and sometimes even police officers. Most of these “accidents” involve another vehicle, but some involve pedestrian fraudsters. Good luck proving you weren’t in the wrong, if you’ve been targeted by one of these gangs.
http://www.fldfs.com/pressoffice/ViewConsumerAlert.asp?ID=2089
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2004/apr/apr21b_04.html
Prayers for that poor soul.
“But this was clearly a busy street”
Not. It’s a in a res area - http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&addtohistory=&address=2500%20E%2027th%20St&city=Oakland&state=CA&zipcode=94601%2d1306&country=US&geodiff=1
Midnight - not a main drag - granted not the best neighborhood in Oakland and not the worst. A problem drug area is about 10 blocks north.
I wasn’t talking about the FIRST guy that hit him, because the guy was obviously still ambulatory after that one. I’m talking about the other THREE, including the one who hit him, and he didn’t get up.
Actually the first one managed not to hit him, and stopped and got out and talked to him. The second one hit him, stopped, and pulled him out from under the car. The subsequent two who hit him didn’t stop. Who knows what the scene was. Maybe it was clear from the behavior of bystanders that this wasn’t a normal case of “you just hit this guy”. Also may have been the sort of neighborhood where stopping at the scene of an accident at midnight is taking your own life in your hands. Sounds like there were a number of witnesses, so it’s not like these drivers drove off leaving him abandoned — if it was clear that bystanders were paying attention and calling 911 on cell phones, there’s nothing more the drivers really could have done to help him. These situations can get explosive in a hurry, especially if the guy you hit has gangbanger pals nearby.
It’s amazing what one highly motivated person is capable of doing. If at first you don’t succeed...
People that love mankind are very nasty to people.
It's nice to see that, as a self-described conservative, you have particular respect for our laws and basic decency.
More wishywashy language -- its like saying the "alleged" suicide. Are they waiting for him to come back to life before deciding it was a success?
“He was able to get up and run into traffic after being pulled out from under a car? wow. And what kind of drivers are there in California?”
That is the real question. What the heck is wrong with people in that state. I doubt there is another place in the country where you’d see 75(!) percent of drivers run off like that. Amazing. Perhaps two were illegals without licenses.
You are not talking about California, you are talking about the bay area, in this case, Oakland. Many of us in North Eastern California don't consider the Bay Area and southern Cal as part of the same state. :) Altho, there are parts of Southern California that are quite red, Orange county for one.
As my First Aid/CPR instructor once said, "Just because you see folks on cell phones, it doesn't mean they're calling 911. More likely, they're calling friends saying, "You're not going to believe what I'm seeing!!"."
The damn thing just kept darting down into oncoming traffic. And somehow managed to not get hit for about 30 seconds before it disappeared.
I've never seen a suicidal bird before. And that is the only conclusion I can reach having watched it.
Very true. But if I found myself in a situation where somebody had just dove in front of my car, obviously deliberately, and there were people with cell phones in sight, and my assessment of the situation (type of neighborhood, time of night, etc.) was that I was more likely to get mugged if I stopped and got out of the car, than to have any positive effect on the ultimate outcome for the diver, I’d realistically probably keep driving, and call police from my cell as soon as I got to a location where I felt safe stopping.
“They could clearly NOT have been in the wrong, if he ran out in front of them.”
Yes, true. But in this age of msm attacks, over-eager prosecutors and rampant political correctness (especially, if the victim belonged to any minority group whatsoever), more and more folks are just plain scared of what the system will do to them, even if they are blameless. You would stop for such a victim, and I would stop for such a victim, but we would do so at greater risk to ourselves than used to be.
I guess theoretically at least a couple of those drivers could still be charged with a hit-and-run.
I'd rather be able to LIVE with myself after such an event. I couldn't drive away and forget about it.
If the neighborhood didn't look too swell, I'd still need to stop and see if the person was all right. THEN I'd get on the phone and call 911 immediately, and if I thought I were in danger, I'd just tell the operator that I felt as though I were in danger from the surroundings, and to have a police officer come immediately, even if an ambulance couldn't get there for a while. Then if I were really feeling threatened, I'd drive somewhere else, while STILL on the phone will 911, telling them what I was doing, so there would be an audio record of the proceedings.
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