When the Oakland Police Department put Chau Van on its most-wanted list last year for a brutal attack in February, at least one person cowered in his home, afraid that he could be the next victim of a violent assault.

That man was Chau Van, an accountant incorrectly identified by the police as a wanted criminal and kept on the list for six months despite the city’s knowledge that they had made a mistake. They finally took him off the list months after he hired an attorney.

Van turned himself in to authorities, on the advice of his attorney, days after friends saw his name and photograph broadcast on television, identifying him as among the most-wanted criminal in Oakland. Internet sources depicted him as a violent criminal who shot someone. Van told people he was afraid the police would bust into his home and harm him.

The day after he surrendered to police, they put out a press release trumpeting the apprehension of “one of Oakland’s four most wanted suspects.” Police Chief Howard Jordan personally basked in the glory. “Today we have one less criminal on our streets,” he told a group of community members.

But there was no record of an arrest warrant and Van was released after being held for 72 hours without an apology or an explanation. The police also kept his name on the wanted list until he filed a damage claim. Van’s attorney told the Courthouse News Service that a year later, “We don’t know how this mistake was made.”

Perhaps they will find out in court. Van sued the city, the police chief and a couple of police officers in federal court last week for “defamation, false arrest and imprisonment, civil rights violations and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” according to the news service.

The beleaguered Oakland police force barely escaped a federal takeover late last year for bad behavior stretching back years. A last-minute settlement with civil rights attorneys put the department under the guidance of a “compliance director” who will oversee court-ordered reforms dating, back to 2003, dealing with police abuse.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

“Most Wanted” for What? (by Steve Pastis, Courthouse News Service)  

Oakland Cops’ Error Lands Man in Jail (by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle)

Oakland Police Chief Says Gangs to Blame for Recent Murders (by Bob Melrose, CBS SF Bay Area)

Oakland Police Compliance Director Named (by Henry K. Lee and Justin Berton, San Francisco Chronicle)

Oakland Police Dodge Federal Takeover, Sort of (by Ken Broder, AllGov California)