Oakland PD is sued ‘for letting mentally-ill squatter MURDER his banker neighbor
The Oakland Police Department is being charged with the murder of a man killed by a mentally ill squatter in 2020. The victim’s family said the police were not doing their duty, despite receiving several 911 calls detailing the situation developing at the time.
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed this week in California federal court on behalf of the family of slain Miles Armstead — who had moved his family out of their home on Ney Avenue when he was shot in the back of the head by now-imprisoned Jamal Thomas.
The fatal act of aggression, police said at the time, served as the culmination of a month-long confrontation between the two men, which reportedly began after 46-year-old Thomas illegally occupied the house next door after being evicted months earlier.
At that point, beginning in November 2019, Thomas would set off a pattern of harassment, with the suspect frantically banging on the door of the family of six and even attempting to break in.
For months, Thomas would continue the harassment campaign, eventually leading to police making an arrest for “terrorist threats” against the family about a month before the murder.
Oakland Police Department is being sued by the family of Miles Armistead (second from right) who was killed by a mentally ill squatter in 2020
The wrongful death lawsuit was filed this week in California federal court on behalf of the slain father, who had taken his family from their home when he was shot in the back of the head by now-imprisoned squatter, Jamal Thomas (seen here)
But Thomas was released just days later, and most of Armstead’s 23 calls to the department detailing his former neighbor’s behavior would go unheeded.
When police did respond, the indictment alleges, officers largely dismissed Armstead’s complaints — complaining that they were understaffed — and even likened the fight between the father of four and his terrorist to the one between two ’12- year-old girls’.
“On Thanksgiving Day of 2019, Thomas frantically pounded on the front door of the Armsteads’ home and yelled unintelligibly as he attempted to break in,” the indictment, filed Monday, explained how police inaction left the family in the lurch .
“Unfortunately, this was only the first incident in a six-month streak of increasingly harassing and threatening behavior directed at the Armstead family,” it continued, detailing the dangers Armstead and his family were exposed to over six months.
“Initially, the ongoing pattern of threats and harassment consisted of taunts, verbal threats, door knocking, ringing the doorbell and other disruptive behavior,” the indictment says.
“The Armsteads faithfully called and reported the incidents to the police. Nevertheless, defendant officers working for the Oakland Police Department failed to arrest, detain and/or restrain the conduct.”
Instead, lawyers demanding damages for the family’s pain and suffering said officers would arrive and complain’they were understaffed, overworked, and the family’s pleas for help were not a high priority.”
The suit adds that officers made these comments outside, all within earshot of Thomas next door, “implicitly communicating to him that he could continue his harassment with impunity.”
It also alleges that an OPD officer, apparently fed up with Armistead’s complaints, told the two men that they were “acting like 12-year-old girls.”
Armstead had recently moved into the house at 76th and Ney with his pregnant second wife, Melina, and his three children when the harassment began. He was moving them when he was shot by Thomas, who was squatting in the house next door (seen here)
A photo shows the eventual killer putting on a chilling grin after being arrested on February 26, 2020 for harassing the family with a baseball bat.
The wrongful death lawsuit alleges Oakland police abandoned the father, who is survived by four children and his wife, calling the department dozens of times over the course of six months
That statement was issued by Oakland officer Alejandro Padilla on February 26, 2020, according to the indictment, and came shortly before Padilla and his partner arrested Thomas after arriving at the scene to find the suspect threatening Armistead with a baseball bat.
Officers reportedly only responded to the call — the family’s 11th since November, the lawsuit says — after Armistead told them the suspect threatens to burn down Miles Armstead’s house with his family inside.
By then, the department claims the lawsuit three filed police reports detailing acts of violence, including an incident where a then-pregnant Melina suffered serious injuries “from broken glass hitting her” during one of Thomas’ tirades.
The lawsuit includes photos of Jamal sitting in Padilla’s patrol car during his arrest, sporting a grin that the family said showed satisfaction that police were not taking Armstead seriously.
Laywers added that James had “obvious mental health issues that contributed to his experiencing violent, uncontrollable but sustained outbursts,” but officers would still release him less than 48 hours after his arrest, only to kill Armistead a month later.
The suit reads about the February 26 incident: ‘When Ofc. Padilla got out of his vehicle, he ordered Jamal Thomas and [Armistead] to divorce.
‘While you do that, [Armistead] complained to Ofc. Padilla that [Thomas] threatened his family. Ofc. Padilla told them they were “acting like 12-year-old girls, both of you!”
When Armistead replied that Thomas was terrorizing his family—threatening to burn them alive while brandishing a bat and hurling rocks at their windows—Padilla “continued to berate” the father for what he claimed fostered conflict.
“In response,” the suit adds, “Thomas smiled knowingly confirming Ofc. Padilla’s comments, and she apparently interpreted them as assurances that agents would not intervene on Miles’ behalf.’
It adds that ‘Oakland officers made these remarks outside the Armstead home, well within earshot of Mr. Thomas, who had taken up residence next door.
“Based on information and belief, Mr. Thomas learned that the accused officers underestimated the seriousness of the situation and implicitly informed him that he could continue his harassment with impunity.”
A photo accompanying that paragraph shows the eventual killer putting on a chilling grin while handcuffed in Padilla’s patrol car, as if aware of the extreme steps he would take to end the conflict between the two.
It adds that Thomas — whose downward spiral came when faced with the prospect of homelessness after being evicted — ultimately killed Armstead because of the failures of not only the Oakland Police Department, but also the Presiding County of Alameda.
“Unfortunately, this was only the first incident in a six-month streak of increasingly harassing and threatening behavior directed at the Armstead family,” lawyers wrote, noting how the family “faithfully called and reported the incidents to police.”
“Nevertheless, defendant officers working for the Oakland Police Department failed to arrest, detain, and/or restrain the conduct.”
The bombshell indictment lists both the region’s police forces and defendants, as well as the individual officers who responded to the February 26, 2020 call for “their negligence, dereliction of duty, negligent supervision…[and] violation of public order.’