An unhoused man found dead on Christmas Eve was accidentally crushed by a Vallejo public works crew as they cleaned up an illegal dumping site, according to city officials, prompting outrage and concern among homeless advocates.
On Wednesday, the Solano County Coroner’s Office identified the man as James Oakley II, a 58-year-old resident of American Canyon.
The crew was using a backhoe to clear a site on the 2300 block of Broadway Street when they uncovered Oakley’s body, according to a Tuesday news release from the City of Vallejo, public records, and sources with knowledge of the matter. The Solano County Coroner’s Office concluded that Oakley died from blunt force injuries, which were “likely sustained accidentally by the heavy equipment,” according to the city, which did not refer to Oakley by name.
“The City sends its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased person,” said City Manager Andrew Murray in a statement. “This was a tragic incident.”
Vallejo police investigated the death and found no indication that any person intended to harm the man, according to the news release. The Solano County District Attorney’s Office on Monday declined to file criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence.
A community group called Low-Income Residents of Vallejo wrote in a Tuesday email to city leaders that the incident “is both horrifying and unacceptable,” according to a Facebook post published by the group.
“This incident underscores the urgent need to reassess how the city engages with its homeless population. The deceased individual was known to live at that location, and there have been various encampments at that site over the years,” the group wrote.
The group called on the city to halt encampment sweeps and review policies and procedures surrounding such clean-ups.
“We can’t allow another situation like this to ever happen again, and the general public, which includes our unhoused residents, deserves transparency,” the group said.
In his youth, Oakley was a star athlete at Vintage High School in Napa, according to the Napa Valley Register. He was named to the all-Napa County and all-Monticello Empire League teams in 1982 and 1983. Oakley also starred on the all-county baseball team in 1984 and set a record at his high school for 37 runs batted in that season.
Oakley attended Santa Rosa Junior College, but later dropped out, according to the Register. In 1989, when he was 22, Oakley was arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 19-year-old Benicia man in Vallejo, the newspaper reported. A jury convicted Oakley of voluntary manslaughter in the drug-related killing.
A drug informant, Oakley obtained the shotgun used in the killing from a Napa County sheriff’s deputy, according to the Register. Oakley claimed he was working as an informant at the time of the shooting, an allegation county officials denied.
