Oakland City Councilman Helps Rescue Stabbing Victim While Out For Coffee
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Oakland City Councilman Dan Kalb said on Tuesday that he and his former chief of staff were among the good Samaritans who helped rescue a woman who was stabbed near City Hall last week.
Kalb said he was meeting with Olga Bolotina at the Peet's Coffee shop at 1615 Broadway at about 5 p.m. on Jan. 2 when they heard a commotion outside and saw a 54-year-old woman being stabbed by a 70-year-old man later identified by police as Clinton Lucas of Oakland.
"The four of us were trying to distract this guy and get him away from the person, and we threw some luggage at him. We threw some stuff at him, we yelled at him, and at some point he turned around and started to point the knife at us," said Kalb.
Kalb, who was elected as the council's president pro tem at its first meeting of the year on Monday, said he and Bolotina yelled at Lucas and they were joined by two men who also helped the woman.
Oakland police Officer Edvin Mendez wrote in a probable cause statement that one of the men, who hasn't been identified, tackled Lucas to the ground and subdued him until police arrived and arrested him.
"I want to thank him for his bravery and the work he did, and not just being a spectator, but actually helping stop someone from dying," said Kalb.
Mendez said Lucas and the woman had been arguing on an AC Transit District bus. After they got off the bus in the 1600 block of Broadway, he continued to yell at her.
Mendez wrote that Lucas apparently was armed with a 4-inch-long black foldable knife, approached the woman and made "numerous thrusting actions at her chest area, striking her several times."
The woman suffered three stab wounds, had two collapsed lungs and had to have a tube placed in her windpipe to help her breathe, according to Mendez.
The woman is in critical but stable condition. Mendez wrote that based on witness statements and video surveillance of the stabbing, "it appears Lucas intended to kill the victim."
"She was apparently saying I don't want to die, I don't want to die," Kalb said.
Lucas has been charged with willful, deliberate and premeditated attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
He's being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail and is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 16 to be assigned an attorney and possibly enter a plea.
After coming off of one of best recent years for low homicide rate in 2018, the city of Oakland has already had 6 homicides in 2019. But some residents and workers aren't as concerned as they used to be.
"There's certain parts of Oakland that you don't want to go at night, but overall, I don't really ever get scared just walking around Oakland," said Zachariah McCormack, who works downtown.
Kalb says Oakland has a lot more work to do to reduce crime, including reducing 911 wait times. He was put on hold for at least two minutes before he spoke with a dispatcher.
"Two minutes, two and a half minutes--that's a long time when something is happening," he said.
© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
