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.
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