OAKLAND — A 41-year-old woman accused of stabbing an off-duty Oakland police officer multiple times last week in a parking lot was charged Tuesday with attempted murder of a police officer, according to authorities and court documents.
Besides that count, which carries a life in prison sentence if she is convicted, the suspect, Margaret Elizabeth-Mary Goodliffe, a transient, was also charged with felony and misdemeanor counts of vandalism for using a knife to slash car tires, including those on a vehicle belonging to another police officer, the documents say. There is also a special allegation that Goodliffe was on felony probation when the stabbing happened.
According to the documents, Goodliffe admitted her involvement in the stabbing and knew that the victim was a police officer. What prompted the attack has not been released. She is being held without bail.
According to the documents, Goodliffe is charged in the attack on Officer Danny Chor that happened about 5:37 p.m. April 25 in a parking lot in the 600 block of Jefferson just a few blocks from police headquarters. Chor, who had just finished his shift, was stabbed three times, including once in the neck before he was able to draw his gun and detain Goodliffe until other officers arrived on the scene, the documents say. The knife was recovered. He was hospitalized but has since been released.
One of the cars vandalized earlier that day was in the lot and belonged to another Oakland police officer. The other car was also vandalized the same day a few blocks away.
According to the documents, Goodliffe is on felony probation after being convicted of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. Authorities she was convicted of stabbing a man she knew in January 2018 while he slept on a bench at Frank Ogawa Plaza.
Sgt. Barry Donelan, president of the Oakland Police Officers Association, in a statement Tuesday, thanked the district attorney’s office for charging Goodliffe and said prosecutors “saw the assault for what it was, a cowardly unprovoked attack that severely injured a police officer.”
He said such attacks cannot be tolerated and that the serious charges filed in the case “will hopefully not only ensure justice is served but send a clear message that assaulting police officers will not be tolerated and has harsh consequences.”