Oakland to Pay $17M to Settle "Lolo" Soakai Case: Cops Engaged in High Speed Chase Without Lights or Sirens Causing Crash. Police Officers Caught on Video Laughing and Wishing He Was Dead- and He Was

The city of Oakland has agreed to pay one of its highest-ever legal settlements to the family of a 28-year-old man who was killed four years ago in a crash that was indirectly caused by a chase initiated by two rookie Oakland police officers.

As a trial was pending in a wrongful death case stemming from the June 26, 2022 death of Lolomania "Lolo" Soakai, following years in which the city and the police officers involved tried to argue that they weren't civally liable under statutes giving law enforcement "qualified immunity" in such cases, Oakland officials reached a settlement in late July, as KTVU reports.

Oakland has agreed to pay $17 million to Soakai's mother, Lavinia Soakai and his cousins, Daniel Fifita, Ina Lavalu, and Samieuela Finau, all four of whom were injured in the June 26, 2022, crash, along with Soakai who was killed.

The family members had all be standing near a taco stand at International Boulevard and 54th Avenue, just after 1 am on June 26, 2022, when a violent crash involving a speeding driver, several parked cars and a parked motorcyle led to the tragedy. A chain reaction reportedly led to the motorcycle becoming airborne and landing on Soakai.

19-year-old Arnold Linaldi had been seen doing donuts at a sideshow earlier that night by OPD officers Walid Abdelaziz and Jimmy Marin-Coronel. The officers followed Linaldi away from the sideshow and initiated a so-called "ghost chase," speeding after him without their lights or siren on — likely because such chases were not authorized under department policy for non-violent offenses.

While pursuing Linaldi down International Boulevard, the officers saw him crash into the parked vehicles and spin out at 54th Avenue. In bodyworn camera footage that would later become public, Abdelaziz and Marin-Coronel could be heard chuckling and joking about the crash, and audibly expressing hope that Linaldi died. [MORE]