Dominic Fracassa
San Francisco Chronicle
OAKLAND, Calif. — A 27-year-old man was arrested at Oakland International Airport on Sunday morning after he brandished a small knife he said he intended to use to harm a police officer, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said.
Fabian Rocha-Ruiz can be seen on surveillance video released by the Sheriff’s Office apparently looking into a parked patrol car.
Sgt. Ray Kelly said Sunday that “luckily our deputies were not in the car. They were out on foot patrol.”
One deputy eventually made contact with Rocha-Ruiz and brandished her gun after seeing the knife, Kelly said. Rocha-Ruiz allegedly refused to comply with the deputy’s demand to drop the knife.
“It looks like he’s going to comply, but he changes his mind, picks up the knife again and starts moving forward toward her,” Kelly said.
Several more deputies responded to the scene and were able to de-escalate the tense encounter by getting Rocha-Ruiz to drop the knife and submit to an arrest, Kelly said. The entire incident lasted less than four minutes.
Rocha-Ruiz was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a weapon and making criminal threats.
He “spontaneously stated upon his arrest” that he had gone to the airport to harm a cop, and “maybe other people at the airport,” Kelly said.
https://www.facebook.com/ACSOSheriffs/videos/401299003979838/
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