Features

Violent Hotel Guest 

Police dodged a barrage of flying furnishings to arrest a man holed up in his Berkeley hotel room Saturday afternoon. Police received a telephone call from the Doubletree Hotel in the Berkeley Marina at 2:05 p.m. complaining that a guest had refused to check out and that they smelled drug-laden smoke coming from the room. When officers cut through the chain lock the guest hurled a lamp and a glass picture frame their way, but neither missile hit its mark. The officers summoned backup, then wrestled with the guest before finally subduing him. A search of the man, the room and his car yielded 13 rocks of crack cocaine as well as a stash of stolen hotel towels. Ronald Williams, 49, of Oakland was arrested for possession of narcotics for sale, possession of stolen property and parole violation. 

Attempted Getaway 

As a police officer watched, as a woman drove into a car parked in the 1200 block of Harrison Street Saturday. When she started to walk away from the accident, the officer told her to get into her car so she could back away from the car she hit. The woman backed up—and kept going. A quick check of the license plate revealed that the vanishing car was stolen, so the policeman followed her to the 2800 block of Acton Street, where again she plowed into a parked car. She fled on foot, but not fast enough. Lateesha Perkins, 19, of Berkeley was apprehended behind a house on the block and arrested for car theft, resisting arrest and hit and run. 

Drug Bust 

Police raided a house on the 2700 block of Sacramento Street Wednesday night, snagging 28 rocks of crack cocaine. The Berkeley Police Department’s Special Enforcement Unit (SEC), operating on a probation warrant, found the individually wrapped pieces of cocaine hidden throughout the property—including a car and the inside of a disabled smoke detector. Berline Covey, 43, of Berkeley, was charged with possession of narcotics with the intent to sell and violating parole. 

Botched Car Robbery 

A car thief was leaving with a prize catch when a chance run-in with the vehicle’s owner spooked him into flight on foot. According to police, the thief entered a car in a garage in the 2400 block of Prospect Street Monday afternoon, started the ignition and began backing out when the owner appeared. Stopping, the would-be thief bolted out the diver’s side door and jumped into a small blue car parked nearby, where a waiting friend drove him away. No arrests have been made. 

Robbery 

Police arrested a teenager they say was part of a pack of youths who robbed a woman walking at California and Hearst streets Sunday evening. According to police, the victim was walking on California Street when several teenage boys grabbed her while another boy on a bike ripped off her backpack. After the boys ran off, the woman went to a friend’s house and called police. Just three minutes later, police acting on her description, picked up a boy on a bicycle, who the woman then positively identified as the one who had snatched her backpack. The 15-year-old did not have the backpack when he was caught.