Pastor James Polk of the Greater House of Prayer, a Pentecostal congregation in East Oakland, was leading a prayer at the church Wednesday evening when he got the call. Something terrible had happened outside the house he shares with his wife and mother at the intersection of E. 21st Street and 12th Avenue, the details of which he would soon learn: A driver fleeing from California Highway Patrol cars had struck a fire hydrant, which snapped off and slammed into a passerby named Marvin Boomer, killing him.

Polk asked his parishioners to pray for the man’s soul, then he rushed home. Boomer’s body was still there, next to the staircase. The pastor stayed with him a long time, praying over him. It would be hours before the coroner came and picked up the body.

On Thursday, Polk seemed physica

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