San Leandro police chief charged in 2025 hit-and-run crash, DA says
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- San Leandro Police Chief Angela Averiett is now facing misdemeanor hit-and-run charges after allegedly leaving the scene of an off-duty accident in May 2025.
Chief Averiett is set to speak Wednesday afternoon, just before Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson is set to announce the charges.
The crash happened on Interstate 580. Averiett told the CHP she didn't realize her mirror had clipped another car.
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ABC7 Eyewitness News previously spoke with Daffani Ryan, who's car was hit in the crash.
She was heading home with her husband and two children after a San Francisco Giants game, eastbound 580 approaching Dublin, close to 11 p.m. She drove in the fast lane through a construction zone. As traffic picked up to 45 or 50 miles an hour, Ryan told the CHP a silver "Jeep was flying on the shoulder," veered into her lane, and clipped her driver's side mirror.
"It woke up both my kids instantly. My four-year-old, when kids sleep, they're sleeping," Ryan told ABC7 Eyewitness News.
Ryan told the CHP, the Jeep had police lights flashing in the rear window, but that after the impact, the driver turned off all the vehicle's lights, quickly crossed four lanes, and exited the highway.
Her husband was able to catch the license plate, and the CHP ran the number. It turned out to be an unmarked San Leandro Police car assigned to Chief Angela Averiett.
Through a spokesperson, Averiett declined a request for an interview and didn't answer ABC7's questions when we met her after work.
She told the CHP that she was driving home, got stuck in the construction traffic, "started to experience chest pain and wanted to expedite her return home." So, she "began to travel in the center median."
The investigator asked if she went to the hospital.
Chief Averiett answered that she did not and the chest pain subsided after exiting the freeway. Averiett also told the investigator she "did not recall hearing any noises" from the impact.
Ryan says that's not believable.
"There's no way in hell that you did not hear our mirrors hit," she said. "You could do a test drive, two cars going- one going 55, one going 65 and hit mirrors and tell me you don't hear anything. Do a suburban and a Jeep. You'll hear it, I promise."
Damage to both vehicles' mirrors match up, but the CHP had previously decided not to file charges because of Averiett's statement that she "had no knowledge of the reported hit-and-run."
