Features

Students robbed 

Two UC Berkeley students, a man and a woman, were robbed at 1:13 a.m. Sunday as they walked along Fulton Street near Dwight Way, campus police report. 

The suspect, brandishing a pistol and clad in a hoodie, demanded their valuables, then fled north on Fulton after they complied. 

Another couple robbed 

A second student couple was also robbed, this time at 1:50 a.m. Saturday as they walked along the 2500 block of Dwight Way near the corner of Telegraph Avenue, said campus police. 

They were approached by a gang of five teens, one armed with a knife, who demanded their possessions. After they complied, the couple was allowed to leave. 

Rat-packed 

A 19-year-old Cal student was slammed in the head with a skateboard early Saturday morning by one of a gang of five teens matching the descriptions of the suspects in the knife robbery. 

The student told university police the group approached him as he walked along Regent Street near the corner of Dwight Way at 2:40 a.m. 

One of the rat packers slammed the student in the head with a skateboard before the group headed south on Derby Street. 

The student was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, police said. 

Octogenarian robbed 

Two strongarm bandits robbed an 87-year-old Yountville man of his wallet as he was walking along the 2100 block of Woolsey Street at 11 a.m. last Wednesday, reports Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

The bandits were last seen headed northbound along Shattuck Avenue. 

Willard Park mugging 

A 27-year-old homeless man was mugged in Willard Park at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday by a 30-something man clad in a black and yellow shirt who punched him in the face. 

The assailant was last seen near the park restroom, said Officer Galvan. 

i-Jacked 

A bearded bandit who made like he was packing a pistol in is pants demanded a 30-year-old Berkeley man’s i-Pod as the victim was walking along the 2300 block of Stuart Street shortly before 4 p.m. on the 24th. 

Though the music listener thought the fellow was faking it with the purported pistol, he decided discretion was the proper course and handed over the music machine, reports Officer Galvan. 

Gang of three 

A trio of strong-arm bandits robbed a Berkeley woman of her cash after they braced her near the corner of 10th and Delaware streets shortly before 8 p.m. on the 24th, said Officer Galvan. Though they inflicted some hurt, the woman declined the services of Berkeley paramedics. 

Baddies busted 

A partial car plate remembered by a man who was robbed of two backpacks and a duffel bag near the corner of Bancroft Way and College Avenue just before midnight on the 22nd led police to four suspects in a stolen van. 

Officer Galvan said the victim’s information—which included the description of their hot wheels—led an officer to stop an older model van on University Avenue near the Sacramento Street intersection moments later. 

Not only did the van prove to be stolen—from Alameda—but the four occupants precisely matched the descriptions provided by the robbery victim. 

“Sometimes you get lucky,” said Officer Galvan. The four suspects, ranging in age from 17 to 19, came from Alameda and Oakland. 

Gummed up 

By resisting a security guard who nabbed him as he stole out of the University Avenue Andronico’s Park and Shop just before 4 p.m. on the 22nd, an 18-year-old Berkeley man turned a minor shoplifting into robbery. 

“All that for two packs of Trident gum,” said Officer Galvan. 

His three associates managed to get away and were last seen speeding away down Addison Street in their car, along with whatever booty they’d managed to pilfer. 

Another rat pack 

A 17-year-old Berkeley man was robbed by a gang of three, one of whom—decked out in the usual hoodie—punched him in the face just before 4:30 p.m. on the 22nd near the corner of Channing Way and McGee Avenue. 

The man handed over his cash and the trio of teenage felons departed. The man declined medical aid, said Officer Galvan.