Oakland cop, investigated in illegal pot grow house raid, now under scrutiny for work at homicide scene

OAKLAND — With a murder trial looming, a defense attorney has accused an Oakland police officer of taking questionable steps during the initial investigation into a shootout, including allegedly searching a vehicle without a warrant or probable cause.

The accusations against Officer Samson Liu add to his already-tumultuous year, which has included a police raid on an Antioch property owned by Liu that was being used for an illegal marijuana grow house, and an arrest on suspicion of domestic violence in Daly City, authorities said. Now Liu, 38, is being accused of conducting an illegal search and gathering key evidence without activating his body-worn camera during the investigation into the 2022 homicide of Charles Wright.

The allegations were filed in court Tuesday by the defense attorney for Bomani Bassette-Hairston, an Oakland resident accused of killing Wright during a drug theft on Sept. 24, 2022. Bassette-Hairston was shot by Wright’s friend during an ensuing gun battle, then ultimately charged with murder, and has been in jail for the past two years.

“As will be seen from the evidence at the hearing of this motion, there was no probable cause established for the search in this case, Officer Liu did not witness Mr. Hairston-Bassette committing a crime, nor have reasonable and probable cause to believe such a crime was occurring,” the lawyer, Steve Defilippis, wrote in court filings. “Moreover, the search in this case occurred without a warrant and without lawful justification for the search of Mr. Hairston-Bassette and was therefore illegal, as there was no application exception to the warrant requirement.”

Defillippis added that Liu later attempted to justify the search through a legal exception that applies to cars in police custody. Liu also gathered shell casings from the crime scene and obtained surveillance footage, all without activating his body camera, the defense motion says.

Prosecutors have not yet responded to the motion, which was one of several filed by the defense in anticipation of Bassette-Hairston’s trial.

The man who shot and wounded Bassette-Hairston that day, Antoine “Fuzzy” Ford, 40, was charged in federal court with possessing firearms as a felon and sentenced to 41 months in prison, records show.

Liu was investigated for possibility criminality over a summer raid into an Antioch property he owns, where authorities found a large-scale marijuana grow house inside a residence. Prosecutors in Contra Costa say they declined to file criminal charges against him. He remains on administrative leave, according to court records.

Authorities say that in late September, Liu was arrested in Daly City on suspicion of domestic violence, but court records show he hasn’t been charged in connection with that incident either.

Bassette-Hairston is a former SJSU college football player who was kicked out as a freshman in 2015 after allegedly striking a fellow player with a skateboard, authorities confirmed. Media reports from the time say the injured player was briefly hospitalized.