San Leandro Police Chief Placed On Administrative Leave After Hit-And-Run Charge

SAN LEANDRO, CA — San Leandro's Chief of Police has been placed on paid administrative leave after being charged with a misdemeanor hit-and-run stemming from a crash in 2025, authorities said.

Assistant Chief of Police Luis Torres will serve as acting chief of police while the city looks for someone to fill the spot in the interim, San Leandro city officials said in a statement Wednesday.

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The Alameda County District Attorney's Office chose to file charges against San Leandro Police Chief Angela Averiett on Tuesday. If convicted of the crime, she could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, prosecutors said.

Averiett is accused of clipping a woman's car on the freeway while driving in an unmarked police car with emergency lights on and taking off.

Nobody was injured in the crash. Averiett, meanwhile, denied knowing she had crashed into anyone and that she briefly turned on her lights and began trying to hastily get through traffic, including turning her emergency lights, because she was experiencing chest pains, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Those pains later subsided, she told police. CHP's investigation determined Averiett was at fault for the collision, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Alameda County District Attorney's Office says it learned of the incident this year after it received media attention around March 31.

The office then requested the CHP report of the incident and decided there was enough probable cause to charge Averiett, prosecutors said.

"Our office has a duty to independently review the evidence and pursue charges when the facts support criminal charges," District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said on Wednesday.

Averiett has been in law enforcement for more than 27 years, spending the majority of her career with the Hayward Police Department. She was appointed as San Leandro's Chief of Police in June 2024.