This story has been updated to reflect new information released by the Oakland Police Department on Thursday evening.
OAKLAND — “I will be talking to the city, and we’ll be dealing with this place.”
That is the grim threat made by Oakland police Officer Hector Chavez in March 2015 as he stood in the open doorway of the Ghost Ship warehouse, talking to a party promoter and looking over the inside of the cluttered firetrap for 20 minutes. Chavez was responding to a call about excessive noise and drugs being sold, and he determined that the “illegal rave” at the unsanctioned artist collective had no permits, according to body cam footage obtained exclusively Wednesday by the Bay Area News Group.
But there is no record of him following through. Spokespersons for the police department and city administration said Wednesday that they could not find a record of Chavez sending a report to City Hall. He issued no violation that night, saying that if he had to return to the art collective he would issue a large fine.
Almost two years later, 36 people attended a similar dance party at the warehouse and never got out, dying in an inferno, trapped inside.
Chavez did not return an email requesting comment. In a statement late Thursday, the Oakland Police Department said Chavez filed report about the incident that was entered into the department’s records database and routed to the Vice Unit. The report was then forwarded to the department’s Alcohol Beverage Action Team, where it remains pending in the system.
“At the time, reports noting a potentially (or alleged) unlicensed cabaret were viewed as low-priority infractions,” the department statement said. “Since the Ghost Ship tragedy, those policies have changed.
The 20-minute, often-heated video is the latest shocking revelation into just how much the city and its various departments knew about the dangerous conditions before the Dec. 2, 2016, tragedy at the Fruitvale area arts collective.
“This is yet more evidence of the pervasive culture of neglect and lack of accountability within both the fire and police departments of the city of Oakland which led to the deaths of 36 innocent people; the very departments which are in place to serve and protect failed to do either,” said Mike Madden, whose son died in the fire and has been critical of the city’s failure to shut the venue down before the tragedy.
Chavez responded to the “illegal rave” call around 1:30 a.m. on March 1, 2015, after a 22-year-old woman flagged him down and reported alcohol and drugs were being sold inside, including marijuana and Ecstasy, and that there was a $25 cover charge to get in, according to his police report.
Chavez wrote that he observed people loitering outside, but when he drove up “all the subjects ran inside and closed the door behind them.” As loud music thumped from inside, he banged on the door and that’s where he switches on his body camera.
For about a minute, Chavez kicks and rattles the metallic door of the warehouse yelling multiple times “Open up, it’s the police!” A smiley face drawn on paper taped to the door shakes violently with each kick.
Eventually, the door opens and Chavez begins speaking to rave promoter Sean “Hatter” Griffith and alerts him that there’s been a noise complaint.
“I’m sorry you can’t enter the premises,” Griffith tells him as Chavez stands at the door.
“What you need to do is get everybody out of this place and turn the music down,” the officer responds.
Griffith explains that they are hosting a private event and again tells Chavez he cannot come inside. A fracas breaks out as the officer pushes the warehouse door open.
“Stop pushing it on me dude!” one man inside yells at the cop. The altercation ends quickly and Chavez can see inside the dimly lit interior. A tribal statue, assault rifle poster, altar and other wooden objects and musical instruments, including a large organ, are strewn about.
“We had a lot of people out there say you’re selling dope, and that this is an illegal rave, OK? I will report this to the city. I have a person saying you are charging $25 to get in. So I will be talking to the city, and we’ll be dealing with this place,” Chavez tells the promoter.
Griffith tells his security to kick everyone out “except for people that live here.”
“There’s only two people I’ve talked to who actually live here, everybody else has to come out,” the officer tells the promoter while the body cam is rolling.
The warehouse is not permitted as residential, making living inside illegal. Other city departments had also been alerted of illegal dwellings inside the warehouse, according to documents released by the city since the deadly fire.
On camera, Chavez sternly explained to the promoter that if he charges money, he needs a permit, and grills him on what type of club they are operating. Griffith defends himself.
“Essentially the Constitution of the United States allows people to gather in private,” he tells the officer.
As people start leaving the party, Griffith laments to another unidentified attendee: “Oakland’s changing.”
The event appears eerily similar to the fatal dance party 20 months later. Over the course of the video more than 40 people leave the event, captured by the officer’s body camera.
Chavez appears to have knowledge of the inside of the warehouse, telling another officer who arrived to the scene that there’s two floors and the top “is like a dance floor area.”
As Chavez prepares to leave, he tells Griffith he has been to the warehouse a “few times,” and again warns him that he plans to report the venue to city officials and the building owner.
In his written report, Chavez wrote that he did not cite Griffith for a cabaret permit violation, but did not give a reason.
In May, this news agency obtained another body cam video from a Ghost Ship visit in 2014 where police visited the warehouse for a reported arson fire and master tenant Derick Almena lied to those officers and said he did not live in the warehouse. The videos show a pattern of deception by Almena with law enforcement since he signed the warehouse lease in November 2013 and before the Dec. 2 fire. Almena and another resident, Max Harris, have each been charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the fatal fire in December.
Obtaining the body camera footage has been challenging. On Feb. 14, the Bay Area News Group requested nine videos from police interactions with Ghost Ship be released. The incidents — between 2014 and 2015 — include an illegal rave, assaults, a strong-arm robbery, a stabbing, a petty theft and arson.
After multiple requests and letters from BANG’s attorney, on May 15 police released the video of the arson response by two officers. Oakland police officer Michael Erickson recorded almost 11 minutes of his interview with Almena on Sept. 26, 2014, outside the 31st Avenue warehouse. Erickson did not step into the warehouse or ask to see inside in that video recording.
The release of additional videos stalled for months as city officials said they first needed the approval of the Alameda County District Attorney before they could make the footage public. Before it was released the footage was edited to remove sensitive information, such as people giving Chavez their birth dates and phone numbers. The city still hasn’t responded to the request for other videos.
After the first body cam report was released, the Oakland police chief and president of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association lashed out at this news organization for intimating the officers played a role in the deadly Dec. 2 fire. They said police are not trained in zoning, permitting or code enforcement and have other issues to deal with while responding to calls for service.
In February, after this news agency reported on several visits Oakland police made to the warehouse, Assistant Chief David Downing, who has since retired, issued an order requiring officers to report unlicensed cabarets and unpermitted special events to the department’s Special Event Unit and to their supervisors. Downing also told officers to report “obvious hazardous conditions” for “referral to the appropriate city or county agency.”
That is exactly what Chavez promised to do, but there is no record he ever followed through.
“If I come back, I’m gonna give you a fine. It’s gonna be a very, very expensive fine,” Chavez says on the body cam recording. “I’m still gonna make sure that the city knows about this place, and I’m gonna talk to the owner of this place as well. We’ll figure out what you guys are doing.”
