OAKLAND — Castlemont High School students and staff spent their graduation ceremony on Friday grieving the death of beloved teacher Marvin Boomer, who died when a car that had been chased by California Highway Patrol officers barreled through an intersection where he and his romantic partner had been on an evening stroll.
The death of Boomer, a 40-year-old Oakland resident who held a doctorate degree, has reignited a debate over whether law enforcement officers should be allowed to pursue suspected criminals through the streets of Oakland. Doorbell video of the crash showed the two being struck as a fire hydrant was sent flying and the car toppled a green sign warning drivers to slow down, which had recently been purchased by residents in the neighborhood east of Lake Merritt.
His death left family members and the community stunned, casting a pall over the East Oakland high school’s graduation ceremony Friday. Boomer’s partner, who survived the crash, gave the keynote address while wearing a sling. Meanwhile, his students credited Boomer for their academic success and personal growth.
The tragedy took place days after Oakland’s police chief formally proposed relaxing some of the department’s restrictions on officer chases — policies that Gov. Gavin Newsom has previously urged the city to loosen.
The unlicensed driver believed to be at the center of the crash, 18-year-old Eric Scott Hernandez-Garcia, was charged Friday with vehicular manslaughter and several other felonies, including evading police, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said. He remained held at the Santa Rita Jail without bail.
Boomer, a college and career coach at Castlemont High, was pronounced dead near the front steps of a home. He held a Ph.D. in philosophy since 2023.
“He was a brilliant young man,” Marvin’s uncle, Nathaniel Boomer, said. “He would always bend over backwards to help the family and others.”
On Friday morning, broken car parts and glass littered the grass near the sidewalk on E. 21st Street where Boomer and his partner were struck two nights before. A fire hydrant that had stood at the intersection’s corner laid on its side some 30 feet away from a small — but growing — memorial for Boomer.
A neighbor, 75-year-old Sarah Polk, said she had been sitting inside the house Wednesday night when she heard a motorist approaching and thought, “Wow, this guy is really moving.” Then she heard a thunderous collision that rattled her house.
Polk rushed outside to find a woman, who appeared bloodied, stumbling up the front door steps and begging, “I need help, help me, call 911.”
The woman then rushed back down to Boomer, who appeared to be wedged into the stairs’ metal railing. The woman tugged at his arm, but he would not move.
“It was so heartbreaking,” Polk said.
Neighbors and passerby said E. 21st Street is known for speeding motorists, despite the area — in the Clinton neighborhood east of Lake Merritt — being among Oakland’s most densely housed residential communities.
On all four corners of the intersection where Wednesday’s crash happened, residents had purchased and placed neon green plastic figurines of children holding orange flags and emblazoned with the words “SLOW!”
For more than a decade, Oakland police policy has barred officers from pursuing suspects at speeds over 50 miles per hour without authorization from their supervisors — a rule developed and later enhanced on two separate occasions by former police chiefs.
But the rule for Oakland police does not apply to California Highway Patrol, the state law enforcement agency that led Wednesday’s pursuit and whose increased presence has been felt in town for over a year on Newsom’s orders.
Just five months ago, the governor demanded Oakland leaders change its policy, calling the city an “extreme outlier,” suggesting he would pull CHP’s help from the city if the rule wasn’t changed. At a civilian-oversight meeting last week, police Chief Floyd Mitchell called for rescinding the 50-mph limit, saying pursuits are far less frequent now than in 2022, when an outlier number of chases led Mitchell’s predecessor to establish the cap.
One of the pursuits that year, a “ghost chase” led by OPD officers that led to the death of a bystander, has prompted a civil-rights lawsuit and shares some similarities to the collision that took Boomer’s life.
For skeptics of police pursuits, crashes like these are a frustrating reminder of the potentially deadly consequences behind overturning limitations on when — and how — police can pursue suspects. A vigil for Boomer was expected to be held Friday evening by the Anti Police-Terror Project, a frequent critic of Oakland police.
“The governor came here and ran his mouth, talking about what a bad policy it was, when the department wrote it,” civil rights attorney Jim Chanin said in an interview. “It was totally pointless to get involved because it was working well.”
City Councilmember Charlene Wang, who campaigned for re-examining the pursuit policy before her election in April — and whose district includes the site of Wednesday’s crash — called the tragedy a “horrible outcome” of Oakland’s reliance on the aid of state law enforcement.
The pursuit Wednesday that led to Boomer’s death had begun miles away; he was already wanted for felony evasion when law enforcement spotted him driving an Infiniti G35. At about 7:30 p.m., CHP officers tried to pull over Hernandez-Garcia near 102nd Avenue and International Boulevard, not far from the San Leandro border.
Hernandez-Garcia drove off with CHP officers in pursuit, but they called off the chase after 37 seconds, the CHP said. A CHP plane continued to watch the car as it drove on a freeway and city streets for about 15 minutes.
After briefly stopping at Fifth Avenue and E. 18th Street, Hernandez-Garcia drove off and led CHP officers in another 30-second pursuit that ended when the car struck a stopped minivan at Park Boulevard and East 21st Street. The two occupants of the minivan suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital, CHP said.
The Infiniti continued driving in what the CHP said was a “reckless and dangerous manner,” with the aircraft still above. About 20 seconds later, authorities said, the vehicle barreled through the intersection at 12th Avenue and East 21st Street. Boomer and his partner appeared to see it all coming for at least four seconds, video of the crash showed.
The two briefly tried scampering up the stairwell of a nearby house, but there was not enough time. The car hit the fire hydrant and flew into Boomer and his partner.
Hernandez-Garcia ran from the Infiniti on foot, after the car wrapped around a tree and caught fire. He was quickly arrested by officers. Oakland police were investigating both crashes.
On Friday, the politics around police pursuits were a world away from the Paramount Theater, where Castlemont High students lined up outside for their graduation ceremony could not believe Boomer would not be there cheer them on. Student after student knew the longtime educator, who often helped kids enroll in after-school programs and get jobs.
One graduating senior, Jermell Fonville, said he had been “the worst student” before Boomer helped the 17-year-old change his social circles — the kind of intervention that led Fonville to wear a purple cap, walk on the stage and get a diploma with the rest of his classmates at Friday’s ceremony.
“I didn’t think I was going to be here,” Fonville said, noting that Boomer had promised him $20 upon completing high school. “It’s diabolically crazy that Mr. Boomer can’t see us shine.”
Boomer’s work in helping students get to college placed him in close proximity to Oakland Promise — a program championed by elected leaders in the region. State Assemblymember Mia Bonta, a former CEO of the nonprofit, defended the work of CHP in Oakland’s public-safety efforts. But like the community she represents, Bonta said she was grieving.
“His life was lost because he decided to take a walk with a loved one a beautiful Oakland night,” Bonta said. “That should never be something we’re all OK with.”
