Last month, media burned with headlines describing how a woman called the police on a black family barbecuing at Lake Merrit. This month, another Oakland incident continues the saga.
A video was uploaded to Twitter showing an Oakland jogger destroying a homeless man’s encampment and throwing the possessions away.
The incident occurred this past Saturday (June 16) at Lake Merrit, the same location as the BBQ video. According to Oakland filmmaker JJ Harris, who uploaded the video, he was “hanging out” when he “saw someone throwing a large pile of blankets into the lake”.
“I didn’t know what was going at first,” he told BBC.
“I know a homeless man in that location. He never bothers anybody.”
“It didn’t make sense why somebody would throw his stuff away. He wasn’t even there.”
In the video, an unknown man, who the public nicknamed “Jogger Joe”, is seen throwing a homeless man’s items into the lake and garbage while a crowd of citizens admonishes him.
“I was just completely taken aback,” Harris told the Guardian. “This is a homeless man’s stuff— a guy who is always peaceful, never causing trouble, always giving you a smile.”
“That he would do this to another human being, the lack of compassion is astonishing.”
Jogger Joe tells the crowd he’s simply throwing out “trash” as they grow increasingly enraged.
Luckily, there is no conflict between the present parties.
Although police did eventually arrive, Harris explained: “They said they couldn’t do anything because the homeless man’s possessions are considered ‘debris’. Only possibility is he ‘may’ get a fine for littering.”
Things took a turn after the video was uploaded online, though. Seeing Jogger Joe’s heartless actions upset many people in the Oakland community.
As the video spread, the jogger was spotted later in the day, wading in the lake and trying to collect the items he’d thrown in.
When a man named Matt Nelson approached him, asking what he was doing, Jogger Joe was angered by the interaction, physically assaulting the onlooker and making off with his phone.
The events can be seen below (but beware, it contains some cursing).
The jogger has been identified by media outlets as Henry William Sintay. He was arrested shortly after the incident following the onlooker’s attack.
Although the internet has been rejoicing at the news, the whole ordeal gets better from here… As mentioned, Oakland residents were furious when they saw what Sintay had done.
Banding together in a show of support, they decided to do something for the homeless man whose items had been destroyed.
“That homeless man’s name is Drew (he’s in the middle in the pic) and he’s lived at Lake Merrit for a long time,” Oakland resident Kenzie Mouton explained.
“Like the thousands of other people in the Bay Area without homes, Drew is one of our neighbors.”
“We’re disgusted that someone thought it was okay to treat Drew this way and want to show him through our care that what happened to him is unacceptable.”
A GoFundMe was set up for Drew, hoping to get $3,000 to purchase items like clothing, blankets, and shoes.
Now, one week later, they’ve quadrupled their goal— raising a whopping $13,000 for the man in need.
They’re currently looking to find him a more permanent living situation.
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