A 60-year-old man who slipped and fell while crossing Foothill Boulevard near Fairmount Avenue in San Leandro was still lying in the roadway when an SUV struck him a little before 8 p.m. on September 18, and the driver allegedly took off moments later. Now 51-year-old Oakland resident Shameka Edwards is facing a vehicular manslaughter charge in the death of Michael Adams, with a judge setting her bail at just $1,000.
According to The Mercury News, California Highway Patrol investigators reported that Adams was crossing Foothill Boulevard near Fairmount Avenue when he slipped and fell. A witness told police Adams was still down in the roadway when the SUV collided with him. CHP investigators said the SUV had been traveling faster than other vehicles on the road at the time.
Per CHP, the driver briefly stopped after the crash to assess that Adams had been seriously hurt, then drove away. Authorities later identified Edwards from surveillance footage of the crash, and she was arrested on September 30, nearly two weeks after Adams died.
Prior Crashes Cited in Court Filings
Court filings cited by the same outlet note that Edwards had been involved in two prior crashes — allegedly driving into a ditch near an Oakland construction site and allegedly rear-ending another vehicle on a separate occasion. She was arrested for allegedly hitting a pedestrian and driving away, and was ultimately charged with vehicular manslaughter. Judge Diane Meier set her bail at $1,000, and Edwards was released from jail. She is set to enter a plea on October 16.
Under California law, as outlined by California Legislative Information, manslaughter is defined as the unlawful killing of a human being without malice, divided into three distinct kinds under Penal Code section 192 — though the specific category applicable here was not detailed in available filings.
A Separate, Fatal Night on I-880
Adams' death came at almost the same time as another pedestrian fatality a few miles away, on northbound Interstate 880 in Oakland. The incident happened just before 8:15 p.m. that same Friday in the freeway's northbound lanes at 29th Avenue, as reported by mercurynews.com. Police said the I-880 victim was a pedestrian struck while on the freeway, though it is a separate case from the San Leandro crash.
In that incident, the vehicle that struck the pedestrian remained at the scene, and the outlet's report notes that alcohol and drugs were not suspected as factors for the driver. As of the following afternoon, no arrests had been made, and it was not known why the pedestrian had been walking in the freeway's traffic lanes.
A Pattern of Hit-and-Run Deaths in the East Bay
The San Leandro case adds to a string of recent pedestrian deaths around the East Bay. On October 3, a man was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing in a marked crosswalk near 17th Street and Lakeside Drive by Lake Merritt in Oakland, according to Oaklandside. NBC Bay Area reported that the man was walking just before 6 a.m. that Saturday when a fast-moving vehicle on northbound Lakeside Drive struck him; the driver did not stop, and the suspect had not been located as of 6 a.m. the following Monday.
Oakland police said the suspect in that crash fled in a white Nissan and has not been found, per the same Oaklandside report. That outlet also noted that a planned redesign of the Lake Merritt roadway had been delayed two years after the Oakland Fire Department raised concerns about roadway clearance, with the revised plan — featuring a buffered, non-protected bike lane rather than the originally planned protected cycletrack — not set to begin construction until 2027.
Statewide, the California Office of Traffic Safety has said California's pedestrian fatality rate runs almost 25% higher than the national average. The City of Oakland tracks local traffic deaths through a dedicated platform offering real-time data via an interactive map, according to the city's own Transportation Department.
For now, the circumstances that led Adams into the roadway on Foothill Boulevard, and the reasons behind the I-880 pedestrian's presence on the freeway that same night, remain unresolved. Edwards is due back in court on October 16 to enter her plea.
