A liberal California city council candidate got a reality check about the homeless rights platform she’s running on when a homeless woman stole her campaign funds.
Homeless woman robs political hopeful
Charlene Wang, 33, had organized an campaign event at a local park in late August to support her run for the Oakland City Council.
Towards the end of the gathering, a woman, described by California Globe as homeless and “visibly mentally unstable,” started snatching several bags and purses.
Wang managed to retrieve most of the bags, but the homeless woman clung tightly to the one that had numerous donation checks from the rally inside of it.
Wang and her team trying to persuade the woman to return the bag, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
“I very much tried to have a de-escalatory conversation with her to convince her to hand over the bag,” Wang told another outlet.
“Offer her a warm meal at the grocery store, even give her money in exchange for the bag, but that did not work out.”
Wang also sought help from the Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland Program, which provides assistance for non-violent, non-emergency 911 calls, but nobody was available to help.
Oakland police lack manpower to stop homeless woman
After that didn’t pan out, Wang, who is running on a platform of helping the homeless and reducing crime, called the police. However, they were too inundated with other incidents to show up.
“I think this is yet another example of first responder service. I was left to fend for myself in an essence,” she complained.
“I’m frustrated by the idea that progressives are automatically anti-police, that we don’t care about public safety,” Wang remarked.
“That is the state of the first responders in Oakland, and that’s why I’m running.”
They said there were 250 calls ahead of us, and they said they would actually come by to take a report afterwards,” Wang said to the outlet.
The homeless woman threw some food around and exposed herself to rally goers, before taking off with the donation bag that contained around $1,000 in checks to Wang’s campaign.
“I’m not angry at her or anything like that,” Wang said about the homeless thief. “I can only imagine the trauma she’s experiencing, living on the streets.”
California mayor attacked by homeless man
In another part of California, a homeless man threw fists at a mayor and then punched a city councilman.
Mayor Chris Branscum, Councilman Dom Belza, Police Chief Christian Sachs, and congressional staffers were taking a walk through Marysville, California, on Aug. 22.
They were out inspecting a historic building recently damaged by fire when a homeless man suddenly approached and randomly struck Mayor Branscum, 75, in the back.
“I thought I was hit by a car. I was hit so hard,” Branscum said about the punch.
“We were standing on the sidewalk near the site having a casual conversation. An individual was crossing at the crosswalk,” Belza remarked. “And right as he got to the mayor, who had his back turned, the individual reached back and swung and hit him right square in the back,”
“There was no communication, no altercation. There was nothing that instigated the punch,” he added. “It was just a complete random act of violence.”
Belza chased 36-year-old Derek Hopkins down the street and took a punch for his trouble.
When Belza caught Hopkins, the homeless man turned and hit him in the side of the head.
“After that, I engaged him and took him down to the ground and restrained him until the chief of police was able to get there. We held him in custody until he was officially arrested,” the councilman recalled.
Hopkins faces eight charges for the attack, including felony assault of a public official and felony elder abuse.
With a bail set at $50,000, he remains incarcerated at Yuba County Jail.
Belza remarked that the incident highlights a larger issue facing California.
“This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented over the last 10 years,” he commented to Fox News.
