Ex-Oakland council president hit by car burglar

OAKLAND, Calif. - A car burglar's latest victim in Oakland is former Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who said more needs to be done to quell these kinds of crimes.

Surveillance video shows a newer model black BMW 5 Series slowly drive past De La Fuente's Buick lacrosse parked in Oakland’s Jack London Square.

The BMW backs up. A passenger gets out and then breaks a back window. But he doesn’t open the door, instead diving into the vehicle.

"He kind of dove in all the way," De La Fuente said.

And he didn’t just stay in the back seat.

"Pulled the seat down from the back and went through the back," De La Fuente said.

The man emerged with a briefcase and laptop computer.

"Unfortunately he was able to get into the trunk and get my briefcase with not only my laptop and all my documents but very important information," De La Fuente said.

It happened in broad daylight, at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of 2nd and Washington streets. Jack London Square has seen an increase in car burglaries in recent months.

Video from April shows an Audi A4 pulling up to a Ford Explorer parked at 2nd and Broadway. A man gets out, peeks into the SUV  and then leaves after apparently seeing nothing of value. Oakland police recommend that people take all valuables out of their cars.

"It’s hundreds of lives and hundreds of people every single week. Oakland has become, you know, people are afraid to go out to dinner, afraid to park their car," De La Fuente said.

Some witnesses to car burglaries have been shot at, wounded and even killed by car burglars in Oakland.

De La Fuente is running for Oakland mayor this fall. He says he’s a believer in the "broken-windows" theory, in this case quite literally.

"If we can’t take care of the little things, if we can’t protect our citizens property and the little things, we cannot deal with the big things," he said.

His Buick’s been hit once before, as well as his Porsche.

De La Fuente says more needs to be done to stop car burglars.

"If we don’t put the time and effort to get a couple of these people, it will never stop," he said.