An elderly Oakland ice cream vendor says he was assaulted and robbed after a crowd swarmed his cart in a video that spread rapidly online before the footage and the account that posted it both vanished. Manuel Mesa, who has sold frozen treats across a multi-block stretch of East Oakland for nearly 20 years, told reporters the ordeal left him fearing for his safety even as he described returning to the same streets to keep working.
Video Showed Crowd Stealing From His Cart
The video depicted people crowding Mesa’s cart and making off with ice cream, according to KRON4, which reported that the cart was robbed and vandalized in the process. “I was assaulted and they took my money,” Mesa told the station. Known in the neighborhood as a paletero because of his Latino background, Mesa said he has worked the area for so long that “a lot of the locals know me.”
The woman who originally posted the video deleted both the clip and her social media page after it went viral and drew a wave of criticism, the station reported. She did not respond to a request for comment, per the same account. KRON4 said it had reached out to the Oakland Police Department for comment and was still waiting to hear back.
Neighbor Says Attention-Seeking May Have Played a Role
Local residents said Mesa had faced robberies before, and neighbors said he had previously been shot, though those accounts come from people in the community rather than official records. Demeitri Randolph, a local resident, said community members should not take advantage of Mesa. Randolph suggested that people sometimes act out for attention, saying a young woman involved in the incident may have thought it was funny.
Despite the fear he described, Mesa returned to selling from his cart on the streets after the incident. “I feel a lot more secure and in control,” he said, describing his decision to keep pushing his cart through the same neighborhood that has known him for two decades.
Part of a Pattern of Attacks on Oakland Vendors
Mesa’s case is not the first time an Oakland ice cream vendor has been targeted. In 2024, 50-year-old vendor Felipe Ramos was surrounded by three men who pushed him to the ground and robbed him, according to a video described by NBC Bay Area. Afterward, community members lined up on a Sunday to buy out his entire cart in a show of support.
Other incidents stretch back further. In July 2023, a street vendor was robbed at gunpoint on the 3900 block of East 18th Street, with police saying one of two suspects held a handgun while the other grabbed the vendor’s belongings before they fled in a car, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. In July 2021, a 24-year-old vendor was robbed of her iPhone and cash in East Oakland by three men, one of whom punched her in the face, as reported by the East Bay Times. And in 2010, a 49-year-old vendor was shot during an attempted robbery outside an East Oakland church and remained in critical condition days later, per the same outlet's earlier report. Each of these cases stands as its own documented incident rather than proof of a broader citywide trend, but together they underscore the risks vendors like Mesa face simply doing their jobs on Oakland’s streets.
