Features

Rape 

A resident called police on the night of Sept. 13 to report hearing cries of help from a teenage girl. Police located the girl and several men in a home on the 1500 block of Allston Way, said Berkeley Police Public Information Officer Joe Okies.  

Police arrested Ryan Garvey, 23, and Lawrence Hardin, 29, for rape and lewd acts with a minor. Okies said the two men were acquaintances of the victim. 

Flying Manhole Covers 

A motorist driving at the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Bancroft Way got a shock Monday afternoon when a manhole cover burst from the street and struck his car. The vehicle’s air bag deployed, but the driver was unharmed, Okies said. 

The manhole cover dislodged when a high tension wire shorted out underground, sparking an explosion. Berkeley firefighters extinguished the fire from wire and police rerouted traffic away from the scene. 

Music to piano owner’s ears 

Some alert residents near the intersection of Fairview and California streets called police Wednesday evening when they saw three men walking off with a neighbor’s piano. The robbers didn’t get very far, Okies said. Police arrested Troy Burton, Charles Rodgers and Myron Head for grand theft. 

Robbery at gunpoint 

Four men, including one armed with a pistol, robbed a man of his wallet and cell phone while he walking along Hearst and Milvia Street just after midnight Friday. 

Assault 

Two men got into a fight at the 700 block of Harrison Street Wednesday. When it was over, the victim called Berkeley police to report he had been struck with a blunt object, Okies said. 

Robbery 

The clerk at a grocery store on the 1500 block of San Pablo Avenue avoided being slashed by a knife-wielding robber last Tuesday evening. He did, however, surrender all of the money inside the store’s cash register. 

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