Features

Berkeley Police are asking the public’s help in locating the hit-and-run driver who fled after striking a motorcycle officer Wednesday on Ashby Avenue. 

The officer, Ben Cardoza, 26, was in good condition Thursday morning after surgery, but no arrests have been made in the case, police said. 

The motorcycle officer was driving westbound on Ashby Avenue at 12:42 p.m. Wednesday with his lights and sirens on when a white sedan, described as a late-1980s Chevrolet Caprice Classic, broadsided Cardoza’s Harley-Davidson before fleeing the scene, according to police and witnesses. 

Cardoza told the California Highway Patrol (CHP) Thursday morning that he got a good look at the motorist, describing him as a black male in his early- to mid-20s. 

Police are treating the incident as a felony hit-and-run. 

Paramedics took Cardoza, a five-year veteran of the force, to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was diagnosed with a compound fracture in his right leg, three broken bones in his right foot and a large gash in his left arm, according to Berkeley Police Department spokesperson Officer Kevin Schofield. 

Cardoza got out of surgery at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. 

“He’s doing well,” said Schofield who visited Cardoza, a personal friend, Thursday morning. “He was looking pretty beat up...[But] he’s looking forward to getting back to work and getting right back on his motorcycle.” 

Cardoza was on his way to an accident involving a car and a motorcycle about 10 blocks away at Ashby Avenue and Mabel Street when he was hit. 

Police have pulled out all the stops to find the person who struck Cardoza. CHP and every available Berkeley officer swarmed the crime scene Wednesday afternoon, as a CHP patrol plane flew overhead and police pulled over several white sedans, coming up empty.  

CHP and Berkeley police asked for the public’s help at a Thursday afternoon press conference in Oakland and six officers, from both departments, stopped drivers on Ashby Avenue and handed out flyers. 

“When someone goes flying and the guy doesn’t have the integrity to stop, that’s the kind of guy you want to find,” said CHP Traffic Officer Chris Konstantino, who was doling out flyers. 

According to witness accounts, the suspect came to a stop at the corner of Wheeler Street and Ashby Avenue in South Berkeley, and then pulled out and struck the officer, Ziese said. 

Justin Rosenthal-Kambic of Pleasant Hill was driving westbound on Ashby Avenue behind Cardoza when he saw the collision. He said it appeared that the bike may have struck the car. 

“It seemed pretty bad,” said Rosethal-Kambic. “It seemed like the bike just fell apart.” 

Another witness, who described himself as a Downtown Berkeley businessman but asked to remain nameless, had harsh words for the car driver. 

“As we approached the intersection, some a------- came...really fast and hit him really hard,” the witness said. “It was a really horrific impact. To say it was airborne may be an exaggeration. But it was off the ground.” 

Ziese said Cordoza nearly had a head-on collision with another vehicle as a result of the collision. 

Berkeley Captain Douglas Hambleton described Cardoza as a dedicated officer who has focused on reducing drunk driving. The officer recently won a $200,000 grant from the state’s Office of Traffic Safety to help curb the problem, Hambleton said. 

Schofield said Berkeley police brought parts of the car to a Richmond auto parts distributor who identified them as pieces of a 1987 to 1990 white Chevrolet Caprice Classic. But police say the parts are sometimes used on other General Motors cars from that era. 

Schofield said the vehicle likely has front end damage, concentrated on the left side of the car. 

CHP is the lead agency in the investigation. Berkeley police turn over major injury cases involving their own officers to CHP to ensure an independent investigation, Schofield said. 

Anyone with information should call CHP at 450-3821 or (888) 301-4247. 

Daily Planet reporter Matt Artz contributed to this report.