When Richmond resident Teresa Lopez, 60, awoke at Marin General Hospital on Dec. 2, she couldn’t remember why she was there.
Lopez, a resident of North Richmond’s Shields-Reid neighborhood for almost 20 years, told Richmondside she only remembered that she was standing outside of her home the night before, around 10:45 p.m. on Alamo Avenue near Kelsey Street, talking to a friend, when suddenly she was on the ground.
“I just remember being on the (ground) and seeing my son’s face and my dog walking back and forth,” she said in a recent interview at her home. “It wasn’t until the next day that I saw the hospital room lights and asked my daughter, ‘What happened?’ ”
Lopez’ daughter, Wendy Banegas-Lopez, had to tell her mother that she’d been struck by a San Pablo Police Department SUV while she was talking to a friend who was sitting inside his parked Toyota Tacoma.
Lopez’ jaw was fractured, her cheekbone injured and her chin sliced open. She also had multiple broken teeth. She was sent to Stanford Hospital in East Palo Alto to be seen by doctors who specialize in facial plastic surgery. Her friend in the Toyota was taken by ambulance to Richmond Kaiser after complaining of chest pain.
“She sustained injuries from all her right side mainly because that’s where the impact came from,” her daughter said. “She had a lot of bruises and cuts from the accident.”
Video footage of the chaotic aftermath, shared with Richmondside, shows the police vehicle sitting partially atop the Toyota, its horn blaring as neighbors surround the mangled truck and Lopez is lying partially underneath it.
A California Highway Patrol report identifies the driver of the San Pablo police SUV as Hercules resident Jonah Norman, a 21-year-old police technician who works as a jailer for the San Pablo Police Department.
According to the report, Norman was no longer at the crash site when CHP officers arrived but was later found at the San Pablo Police Department headquarters two miles away.
Six weeks later, Richmond crash victims are waiting for answers
Lopez is still suffering from her injuries as she and her family have more questions than answers about what happened, including why Norman, who is not a sworn officer, was driving a San Pablo police vehicle in North Richmond; why was he not given a sobriety test at the scene; and why he didn’t remain there until CHP and Richmond police officers arrived.
Peggy Chou, public information officer for the San Pablo Police Department, told Richmondside Friday in an emailed statement that the investigation is ongoing and that she could not answer specific questions.
“At the time of the collision, the San Pablo Police Department employee was driving a marked Police Department vehicle and wearing a Police Department-issued uniform,” she wrote. “He is employed in a civilian capacity as a Police Services Technician (PST) with the San Pablo Police Department, and has been placed on paid administrative leave per standard protocol.”
The moments after Lopez was hit were recorded on video by neighbors in the 500 block of Alamo Avenue and on audio by police radio dispatchers.
Multiple videos shared with Richmondside show Norman getting out of the SUV after the collision and running toward the intersection of Kelsey Street and Alamo Avenue waving a flashlight.
With one of the vehicles’ horn still blaring, Norman can be heard requesting urgent police assistance just after 10:50 p.m, according to dispatch audio obtained by Richmondside. Moments later, San Pablo police arrive as neighbors gathered around the wreckage.
Lopez can be seen in the videos lying underneath the propped up SUV with her son, Jorge Hernandez, crouched by her side.
“I kept asking her if she could hear me, and she squeezed my hand so I knew she was responsive,” he said.
Norman can be seen standing above Lopez as other San Pablo officers attempt to get control of the situation. He then appears to be directed by one officer to move and can be seen walking away alone.
At least two calls for service were made to the Richmond Police Department soon after the crash, according to RPD incident data. Richmond police Lt. Donald Patchin told Richmondside in an email that the department responded to requests from an outside agency at the scene for help with crowd control, but that an RPD report was not generated.
Chou, the public information officer for San Pablo police, said in her email that Norman was taken from the scene prior to CHP’s arrival due to the “volatility” of the crowd of neighbors.
In one video, Norman can be seen sitting in a San Pablo police cruiser as onlookers began surrounding the wreckage. The onlookers can be heard in Spanish urging police to arrest Norman and saying that he’s under the influence.
“Upon arrival, SPPD officers located a large crowd of bystanders gathered near an adult female pedestrian, suffering from visible injuries to her upper extremity, within the roadway,” Chou wrote. “During the initial response, numerous bystanders surrounded police personnel and initially prevented officers from approaching the scene.”
A neighbor, Antonia Melcado, said she saw the police SUV stopped at the intersection of Kelsey Street and Alamo Avenue, headed southbound on Kelsey, with its headlights turned off. According to Melcado, the vehicle then erratically turned left and jerked right before striking a red Nissan Frontier, pushing it into another car, hitting Lopez and coming to a rest partially on top of the bed of the Toyota truck.
“We were outside and noticed him at the corner with his headlights off,” Melcado said. “Next thing we heard was the screech of the tires, and before we knew it she (Lopez) was on the ground.”
San Pablo police officers who responded can be seen on video yelling at onlookers to get out of the street. One officer can be seen pulling out his baton and cursing at residents while pushing them onto the sidewalk.
Lopez’ daughter Banegas-Lopez, a Pittsburg resident, told Richmondside that when she arrived at the scene about 30 minutes after the crash, she had difficulty getting information from San Pablo officers, who deferred her questions to the CHP.
“They cut me off when I was asking for information,” she said. “They made it seem like, ‘Oh, don’t even worry about it, your mom’s fine. She was responsive when she (taken away by ambulance).’ ”
Banegas-Lopez said she was told by CHP investigators that Norman said the last thing he remembered was that he had looked down at his phone before “waking up” in the wreckage.
The family plans to get a lawyer as Lopez continues to receive treatment and recover.
Owners of the vehicles struck by the police SUV say they weren’t given information about where to submit insurance claims.
Chou said that because the police SUV was in service at the time, insurance claims for property damage should go through the San Pablo city clerk’s office.
“Claims can be filed by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at 510-215-3000, and claim forms can be accessed online on the City Clerk’s website,” she wrote to Richmondside.
Richmondside submitted a Public Records Act request last week to the city of San Pablo for documents related to the police department’s internal investigation into the crash but has yet to hear back from Chou.
CHP recommended a misdemeanor reckless driving charge, but the Contra Costa DA hasn’t received the case
In their report, CHP investigators recommended that a misdemeanor charge for reckless driving resulting in injury to someone other than the driver be forwarded to the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office for consideration.
Sgt. Andrew Barclay, public information officer for the CHP’s Golden Gate Division, said it’s typical for CHP to handle reports when an emergency response vehicle such as an ambulance or police car is involved in a collision.
Richmondside asked Barclay for clarification on Monday about which agency would lead the investigation but did not receive a response by publication time.
When Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Ted Asregadoo was contacted by Richmondside, he said that the office had no related open cases or cases under review.
“Likely the investigation is ongoing,” Asregadoo wrote Richmondside in an email.
Chou said that the San Pablo Police Department is aware of the charges recommended by the CHP but declined to provide further details. Richmondside also asked about the department’s policy on jailers using department vehicles and whether it is typical for non-sworn employees to drive police vehicles outside of the department’s jurisdiction, but did not receive a response.
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“Next thing we heard was the screech of the tires, and before we knew it she (Lopez) was on the ground.”
— Antonia Melcado, witness to a Dec. 1 police vehicle-pedestrian crash
“At this time, we are limited in providing further information due to the active status of the CHP’s investigation and the pending administrative investigation,” Chou said.
Norman’s appointment to his current position as a jailer was announced by the San Pablo Police Department in an Aug. 5, 2024 Facebook post.
According to a city employment listing, jailers are non-sworn positions that report directly to a police sergeant. Their duties are to “operate the City’s jail facility on an assigned shift; to process and book prisoners; to monitor the condition and status of individuals held in custody; to transport individuals to the County jail; and to complete a variety of forms.”
When San Pablo Police Chief Brian Bubar announced Norman’s promotion and introduced him at a city council meeting last August, he said Norman was hired as a police cadet in 2023 while he was studying at Contra Costa College and was finishing his field training program for the jailer position.
“Over the past year, working with the San Pablo Police Department has been nothing apart from being exceptionally rewarding. The commitment and professionalism from my colleagues have been nothing short of inspiring as well. I’m proud to contribute to our shared mission and look forward to supporting the department’s efforts with the role (of jailer),” Norman said, according to a public recording of that meeting.
San Francisco State University lecturer James Dudley, a former 32-year member of the San Francisco Police Department, reviewed some case details provided by Richmondside and said that many questions remain.
“The chief of San Pablo is going to be asking what he was doing in the radio car…and if this was part of his sworn duty,” he said. “Those (administrative investigations) are usually closed personnel investigations. I don’t know if a non-sworn would have to comply with legislation (Senate Bill 16) that was passed two years ago.”
That bill, which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in September 2021, expanded the release of records under SB 1421., which was passed in 2018 to include those investigations into officers who used too much force, showed bias or discrimination, made illegal arrests or searches, lied, committed sexual assault, or discriminated against people based on their race, gender, religion, or other protected status.
Thank you that’s stuff well never hear about
No kidding. On March 28, 2024, at the site of my parents’ house (47 Nancy Drive, San Pablo, CA 94806), I called the police over to call out blatant disregard to my dad’s ashes, only for the police to slam me onto the ground, drag me onto Nancy Drive’s concrete, and then suffocate me there. I had attempted to call this out but I lack the support or resources to be able to do anything more effective at the point where even family members just victim blame me because they are so spoiled by the system, and it doesn’t help when the community is hell-bent on treating me as nothing more than a disease. There needs to be more accountability across the board.
It should also be charged as a hit and run if he wasn’t there when CHP showed up.
Is it normal for civilian (pst) employees to wear police uniforms?
This seems like the new normal from government entities at all levels, especially police: no obligation to inform the public via the press. Just blatant stonewalling and delay.
The Latino majority City Council should adopt an ordinance to establish an independent civilian oversight commission for this rogue department. His breathalyzer and drug test should be released, he should be charged with hit and run and DUI, his Sergeant should be disciplined with a demotion, the SPPD officers who helped him escape and avoid accountability should be charged as accessories, all as a starting point.
Thank you, Richmondside for covering this. I hope you get to the bottom of this. The SPPD had always been a bastion of redneck justice and only got got worse and more corruption Casino San Pablo came to town.
Really good investigation. Too much stone walling by authorities. That’s why we need a paper like Richmondside.
What a well written and thorough report! You put all the other news outlets to shame. Not only do they not care but they only give a vague story.
as a friend of the family I find this to be horrible and San Pablo PD needs to do something about this they better not sweep this under the rug and act like it didn’t happen or give him a slap on the wrist he had to have been under some kind of influence of something and what the hell was he doing in North Richmond in a San Pablo PD car and he hasn’t even supposed to be in a car. there is no County Jail in North Richmond there’s no reason that he should have had that car in North Richmond and been driving it there’s no excuse for this at that rate of speed in a residential area this is just sickening to my stomach.as a friend of the family I can tell you we will not let this ride we will not leave this alone something is going to happen behind this.I wish the Lopez all my love Miss Lopez I hope you recover wonderfully and fast Jorge I am so sorry for your mother and what has happened and I have your back so the rest of the family I’m so sorry I’m here reach out if you need me.
On the evening of December 1st, a longtime resident of the Richmond area was struck by a San Pablo Police Department SUV. It was driven by Jonah Norman, a 21 year old who works as a jailer for SPPD. Many witnesses noted that Norman was under the influence when he struck 3 cars and caused serious injuries to the resident and demanded that the police arrest him. However, the officers who arrived at the scene seemed more concerned with the optics of the situation, threatening furious residents with a baton and forcing them back into the sidewalk. It has been over two months since this incident.
At the end of January 2025, local activists associated with the Stop Cop City Coalition decided to start protesting in front of the San Pablo Police Department demanding justice for those who were wronged as well as for the local cop campus to be defunded. This Friday (February 21st) will mark a month of protesting every Friday to demand that Norman and the department be held accountable for their actions. However, to our knowledge, all the department has done in response has continued its “internal investigation” which is an obvious attempt to push this incident under the rug and out of the public eye.
In the past month, we have learned that this is not the only instance of the local police force’s negligence. Earlier this month, another resident told us their story of how one of their family members was harmed during a hit and run. When they went to the police to try and seek some form of justice, the police claimed they found who had hurt their family member and that they “talked to them”. It’s examples like this that make it blatantly clear that SPPD, much like every other police force, has very little interest in not only protecting the public from serious cases of injustice. It has no interest in holding themselves accountable for their grievous actions.
We will continue to protest the SPPD and the construction of the new cop campus until they are truly held accountable and public funds are reinvested into things the residents of Contra Costa county and the greater Bay Area actually need such as a new public hospital in San Pablo and more money into education and for teachers. We invite any people of conscience to come out and join us as we continue to expose the SPPD for who they really are.
It always a problem out there in north richmond residents all double park into the middle of the street where passerby can’t go threw cos of the blockage of the residents