Editorials

Four men were robbed and one of them pistol-whipped Wednesday night around 1 a.m. at the Leconte Elementary School playground at Oregon and Fulton streets, said Lt. Russell Lopes of the Berkeley Police Dept. 

Lopes said three men were walking home and cut through the playground then stopped to talk to a fourth man. 

The suspect came up behind the group and pistol-whipped one and told the others to lay on the ground and empty their pockets. 

He then told them to get up and run away, which they did, leaving their belongings behind. 

A juvenile was arrested for attempted assault after he threw a metal napkin dispenser at street vendors and missed Saturday afternoon around 4 p.m. in front of Smart Alec’s restaurant at 2355 Telegraph Ave. 

Lopes said four or five juveniles were harassing the vendor when another vendor stepped in to help him.  

The juvenile then picked up the dispenser from a nearby dining table and threw it at the vendors, Lopes said. 

Police arrived and arrested the youth, then arrested another for interfering with police.