Retired 76-year-old schoolteacher Darlene Scalf was visiting Oakland from Louisiana when she was killed by a hit-and-run driver the morning of July 13, and the driver was allegedly intoxicated and is now facing murder charges.
In mid-July, retired 76-year-old Louisiana schoolteacher Darlene Scalf was visiting Oakland to see family, though her trip was tragically cut short when she was killed in a hit-and-run car crash at Fruitvale Avenue and East 27th Street in East Oakland. As seen in the video below, Scalf was hit by a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck while making a perfectly legal pedestrian crossing at 8:40 am on a Sunday morning.
UPDATE: I’ve learned Jeremiah Mendoza, 40, arrested by @oaklandpoliceca, charged by @AlamedaCountyDA w/murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI & hit-and-run in pickup crash at Fruitvale & E. 27th that killed Darlene Kay Scalf. @bett_yu: pic.twitter.com/msaMvIIrub
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) July 16, 2025
Within hours, police arrested 40-year-old Oakland resident Jeremiah Mendoza at a gas station not far away on 35th Avenue, having tracked him there using traffic surveillance cameras. And when they arrested him, police say Mendoza smelled of alcohol, was slurring his words, and had an open container of beer in his car…