Oakland Police Department via The Sacramento Bee
Oakland, California’s Lake Merritt is back in the news again following the “BBQ Becky” incident.
According to The Sacramento Bee, Henry Sintay, dubbed “Jogger Joe” online, was arrested in relation to dismantling the makeshift home of a Black homeless man named Drew last Friday (June 8). The 31-year-old tossed clothes and other possessions, saying that he was “cleaning up the trash” as bystanders filmed and begged him to stop.
The next day, after the video caused a local uproar, community organizer Matt Nelson streamed Sintay fishing Drew’s things from the lake on Facebook Live. However, Sintay grabbed Nelson’s phone, fought with him and ran off. In a Facebook post, Nelson said that he sustained a mild concussion and some cuts and bruises, KCCI Des Moines reports.
On Monday (June 11), Sintay was charged with suspicion of robbery and is being held at Santa Rita Jail on $100,000 bail.
“We’re all very concerned about an individual who presumably wanted to take it upon himself to disturb or dismantle a person camping in our public space and that’s just totally unacceptable,” Oakland City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney said. “Lake Merritt is an extremely robust space, from joggers to artists to people reading, but at the core of all that diversity of use there has to be mutual respect.”
Since Sintay’s outburst, the community has come together to replace Drew’s belongings.
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