Editorials

Behavior most fowl 

Berkeley Police, members of Berkeley Boosters and other community volunteers gathered at 6 a.m. Tuesday to prepare Thanksgiving baskets. 

By 8 a.m. current and retired Berkeley Police officers were on their way to deliver them, each complete with a turkey, to 280 disadvantaged households. 

Money for the seasonal bounty is raised by Berkeley’s finest during their annual 216-mile bike ride from Berkeley to Lake Tahoe.  

This year, officers raised $10,880, enough to prepare 500 baskets. A second round of deliveries at Christmas time will end this year’s deliveries. 

Y robbery 

A young woman called police last Thursday evening to report that she had been robbed by four strongarm acquaintances at the Berkeley YMCA at 2001 Allston Way. 

All are juveniles, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Joe Okies. 

GOA 

That’s police code for “gone on arrival,” which is what happened to both parties in an event a caller described as a possible carjacking in the 2300 block of Fourth Street at 6:44 p.m. last Thursday. 

Armed robbers 

Two men who fled in a dark four-door car approached a man in the 1100 block of Cornell Avenue just after 8 p.m. last Thursday, produced a pistol and then robbed him of his cell phone and wallet before speeding off. 

Hoodies 

Two teenagers, at least one of them armed and both clad in dark hooded sweatshirts (AKA “hoodies”), robbed a 25-year-old woman of a shoulder bag and contents as she walked along the 2700 block of McGee Avenue at 7:30 p.m. Friday. 

Drive-by purse heist 

A pedestrian walking near the corner of Milvia and Dwight Way at 10 p.m. Friday was approached by a young man who grabbed at her purse. Her resistance turned the crime into robbery, though it didn’t save the purse from the bandit, who hopped into a dark compact car, complete with a wheelman who sped him away from the scene. 

Flees by thumb 

A domestic dispute took a nasty turned Saturday morning when a woman smashed her 44-year-old male companion in the head with a bottle. 

She managed to flee by thumbing a ride from the scene—the 1200 block of Ashby Avenue—and remains at large, said Officer Okies. 

Sneaker heist 

A tall, thin bandit accompanied by two cohorts punched a pedestrian in the 1500 block of Hillegass Avenue shortly before noon, then robbed him of three pairs of sneakers.