The City of San Leandro has appointed an interim police chief as its top officer is scheduled for arraignment Thursday on a hit-and-run charge.
Joseph Kreins, former chief of police and assistant city manager in Sausalito, was named interim chief for San Leandro on Monday by City Manager Janelle T. Cameron.
Chief Angela Averiett has been on administrative leave since a misdemeanor accusation of hit-and-run was filed in connection with a freeway collision last year.
Averiett was placed on paid leave May 13 after the charge was filed by the Alameda County District Attorney. She is to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Thursday in the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin.
Kreins replaces Assistant Chief of Police Luis Torres who had been serving as acting chief while the city worked to identify an interim.
In addition to his posts in Sausalito, Kreins served as chief of police for the cities of Novato and Vallejo, according to an announcement from Cameron.
“Chief Kreins brings a wealth of experience and a proven record of leadership that will help ensure stability and continuity within the police department,” Cameron said in a statement.
The charge against Averiett stems from a May 19, 2025, collision about 10:50 p.m. on eastbound Interstate Highway 580 in Pleasanton near the Interstate 680 interchange, according to prosecutors.
The victim in the case took down Averiett’s license plate number and called San Leandro police to say they’d just been hit by a police vehicle, District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson said.
After hearing about the collision through a media report last month, Jones Dickson said she asked for the investigation report from the California Highway Patrol, which hadn’t sent it to her office with recommended charges.
After reviewing the CHP documents, Jones Dickson said there was, in fact, sufficient evidence to file the misdemeanor hit-and-run charge.
Averiett has said she didn’t realize she was involved in a collision at the time.
She said she was driving an unmarked police vehicle “when contact was allegedly made with another vehicle.”
She said the CHP responded, investigated and didn’t issue her a citation that day.
“I did not knowingly leave the scene of a collision,” Averiett said at a news conference.
There was a small scratch on the victim’s side mirror and given the “minimal nature of the damage,” she said she had no indication that she had hit the other vehicle.
At the time, Averiett said, she was trying to get off the freeway as fast as she could because she believed she was having some kind of medical emergency.