Video released in Oakland police ghost chase that led to death of bystander

OAKLAND, Calif. - A compilation video showing a tragic scene along International Boulevard is now public nearly four years after two former Oakland police officers initiated an unauthorized "ghost chase" of a teenage sideshow driver, which led to the death of an innocent bystander eating tacos with his mother. 

The 25-minute clip, edited by a team from Lawyers for the People in Oakland, was submitted in U.S. District Court Northern California on Monday, in an effort to convince a judge that their wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of Lolomanaia "Lolo" Soakai is worthy of a jury trial. 

The video comes from hours of bodyworn camera from police officers and surveillance video from the street on the night that Soakai was killed on June 26, 2022, which had previously been kept confidential. 

The new information has surfaced as attorneys for the former officers continue to ask for immunity for Walid Abdelaziz and Jimmy Marin-Coronel, both of whom resigned from OPD in 2025. The police officers even asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, but the justices declined earlier this month. 

What's new in the video

Much of what is seen in the highly edited video has been previously reported by KTVU.

What's new is the ability to actually hear the officers talk – and laugh and swear – about what happened and see for the first time how Soakai's mother was wracked with grief when she came upon her son's body on the sidewalk along International Boulevard. 

The accompanying court motion also lays out some new information, including where the officers hid out before circling back to the scene and how they allegedly manipulated their video and logging of the events of the morning in question. The transcripts of the depositions of both officers are also included in the filing as one of many exhibits. 

The issue of police chases has also been a hot topic in Oakland as the department recently loosened its standards slightly, allowing officers to engage in high-speed chases for violent crimes and gun possession.  

"The two officers not only engaged in a ghost chase and took a person's life," Soakai's civil rights attorney, Adante Pointer said in an interview on Tuesday.  "But they also engaged in a conspiracy to cover it up. And then went to many lengths to avoid accountability. My heart broke for this family. But I also have a rage in me, that people sworn to protect us could be so callous." 

Along with the video, Pointer and his partner, Patrick Buelna, filed 510 pages of a court opposition motion in a legal rebuttal. The former officers have now tried twice to get the civil suit dismissed. 

David Newdorf and Richard Osman, attorneys for the former officers, did not respond for comment. The Oakland city attorney's office also did not respond by deadline. The Oakland Police Department also did not immediately respond for comment. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim will hear the summary judgment arguments on April 6. 

Donuts on International Boulevard

Warning: This video may be difficult to watch

The video starts off on International Boulevard when Abdelaziz and Marin-Coronel spotted Arnold Linaldi, then 19, doing donuts in his black Nissan at 1:51 a.m. The sound of the car spinning in the middle of the street is quite audible. 

The officers decided to chase him without getting permission from a superior, as is required in Oakland, as KTVU previously reported in 2022. 

The video compilation – taken from surveillance video on International Boulevard – shows the Nissan spinning out and crashing into a row of parked cars and motorcycles, one of which, flew into the air and, in a freak accident, landed on top of the 28-year-old Soakai, who was out with his mother and cousins at a taco truck after attending a friend's graduation. 

Soakai was crushed to death. 

The police officers fled the scene and then circled back later, pretending they didn't know what had happened, according to video, the court filing and previous KTVU reporting. 

Their ruse was quickly uncovered by another officer and then-police chief Leronne Armstrong, who moved to fire them almost immediately. The officers received termination letters in 2023, but they remained on administrative leave, yet still employed with OPD, as the legal battle wound its way through many levels of court for more than three years. 

OPD told KTVU both officers resigned in March 2025, but gave no further information about their departure. The two do not appear on POST's police decertification list, which mean they could no longer be officers in California, even though OPD said they submitted their names in 2022.  

Linaldi was eventually charged with vehicular manslaughter and his case is still pending.

The conversation between the officers

With the release of the video, the public can now hear what the officers said on the bodyworn camera for the first time. 

Less than a second after the teen's Nissan crashed, Abdelaziz let off the gas and asked his partner, "Did he 901?" referring to a traffic accident. 

Abdelaziz: "I think so." 

Marin-Coronel: "Can’t tell." 

Abdelaziz: "Well then let’s go back." 

Marin-Coronel: "Oh he did, huh? He smacked the f--- out of that truck." 

Abdelaziz: "Man, listen. I wouldn't mind going over there. Hopefully he's f---ing dead." 

Marin-Coronel: "Did he?" 

Both officers laugh.

Abdelaziz mocked the driver’s death with the sound "dee-dee-dee," according to the video and court filing.

Then the two officers made a U-turn at 52nd Avenue and International Boulevard.

A car driving behind the police honked at them in an effort to get the police to help out with the crash, according to the court filing, which is based on some of the police Internal Affairs investigation. 

Abdelaziz is heard on his body camera saying, "B--ch, I know you're behind me. Shut the f---ing hell up." 

Shortly afterward, Abdelaziz turned off his body camera. 

The two officers drove away and parked at the High Street police substation, according to a new element in the court filing.

Once the dispatch call came out about the crash, the officers then turned on their lights and sirens and returned to the scene, according to the video and the filings. 

Chaotic scene

Once there, they found a chaotic situation. 

Soakai's mother, Lavinia Soakai, whose back was injured during the crash, lay atop her son's bleeding body, sobbing. "Please keep him alive." His cousins were also there. One suffered a fractured spine. 

At 1:55 a.m., Abdelaziz and Marin turned their body cameras back on and detained Linaldi, according to the video. 

About 10 minutes later, a witness came up to them saying that he saw a "police car chasing" Linaldi. 

The two officers looked at each other, told the witness to leave and then turned off their cameras again, according to the video and the court filings. 

The officers didn't tell their supervisor what happened, including their sergeant, which was required, the motion states. 

They did end up taking Linaldi to the hospital, where they watched the bodyworn camera of their chase and categorized what happened as accidental "so that it would automatically delete," according to the court filing. 

Officer Long Tran actually went to his sergeant and told him that he witnessed the police chase. 

Oakland police brought in their Internal Affairs investigators, who determined that the former officers violated dozens of policies, including a policy of treating the chase as a video game and joking about the crash, according to the court motion. 

"Oakland police did a damn good job," Pointer said in an interview, adding that federal oversight of the department has come a long way. 

In a deposition, Abdelaziz made up several stories, according to the court motion, and Marin-Coronel told Pointer's team in a video deposition that Abdelaziz was the one to suggest lying about why they were chasing the black Nissan, that it was one of 78 on a hot list. 

Marin-Coronel said he was scared and ultimately decided to confess what happened, including the fact that they were involved in an unauthorized pursuit, and that he had told his partner to slow down. 

Crux of legal argument

The simple crux of the legal argument is this: The attorneys for the former Oakland officers are arguing that whenever police are in their patrol cars, no matter the circumstances, they are immune from civil liability. 

Conversely, Pointer and Buelna are arguing that the officers should not be immune because they weren't acting in the line of duty.

"The irrefutable evidence demonstrates that the defendants intentionally used their police vehicle to cause a suspect to crash," Buelna wrote, "watched the suspect crash into innocent bystanders at speeds of 80 mph, laughed and hoped the people died, delayed medical services, tried to destroy any evidence of their involvement and tampered with witnesses."

He continued: "As such, defendant[s] acted outside ‘the line of duty’ by misusing their patrol vehicle for an improper purpose – acting with an intent to harm or terrorize unrelated to a legitimate law enforcement purpose."