White Man Arrested After Being Videotaped Throwing A Black Homeless Man’s Belongings Into A Lake
A white man who was nicknamed “Jogger Joe” after he was seen throwing a Black homeless man’s belongings into an Oakland lake was arrested on Monday.
On Friday, Henry Sintay, 30, appeared in a viral video, which showed him dismantling the homeless man’s camp and throwing the items in the lake and trash. Sintay was caught in the act by several onlookers, one of whom recorded and posted the video.
Sintay was arrested on suspicion of stealing the phone of a man who confronted him on Saturday, Oakland police told the San Francisco Chronicle.
In the original video, Sintay rummaged through the items belonging to the homeless man, who was later identified as Drew. As Sintay tossed the items, he said he was “cleaning up trash.” In the process, several onlookers begged Sintay to stop and said Drew had been living there for years.
Although the video does not catch Sintay throwing the items in the lake, the bystanders said they saw him do it.
After the video went viral, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf told KPIX the jogger’s actions were “not appropriate.”
“It’s not appropriate to take someone’s belongings, it’s not appropriate to trash our beautiful Lake Merritt,” Schaaf told KPIX.
Then on Saturday, Oakland resident Matt Nelson saw a man wading in the lake water and pulling out the items. The man told Nelson he cleaned up the area on the previous day and was fishing out items that fell into the lake.
During the conversation, the man snatched the phone from Nelson’s hand to check if he was recording the conversation.
Residents in Oakland who were disturbed by Sintay’s actions got together and bought new clothes and food for Drew. They also started a GoFundMe page for Drew.
Sintay is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.