Features

Police Blotter By RICHARD BRENNEMAN

Tuesday February 14, 2006

Failed kidnapping 

University of California Police issued a crime alert Monday, two days after they say an unknown man tried to kidnap a 7-year-old girl at University Village Apartments. 

According to the alert, the girl was playing with two other children near the baseball field bear the corner of Tenth and Harrison streets when a man grabbed her and carried her for several feet before she was able to break free and run off. 

The youth wasn’t physically harmed during the aborted kidnapping, said UC Berkeley Police Chief Victoria L. Harrison. 

The suspect is described as a white male in his mid-20s who stands about 6’1” and who has short blond hair and may have a goatee. He was wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt and blue jeans, and may have a large tattoo on his forearm. 

Anyone with information on the crime should call Detective Jason J. Collum of the UC Berkeley department’s criminal investigation bureau at 642-3184. 

Anyone who sees an individual matching the description of the suspect is asked to call the department’s main number at 642-6760. 

 

Hot wheels  

When a citizen who lives in the 3000 block of Prince Street called to report a car theft in progress early last Monday, little did officers know that they would get a twofer. 

Officers nabbed the fellow red handed as he was trying to make off with a Toyota, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

Further investigation revealed that the suspect, a 28-year-old, had arrived on the scene in a small white Chevrolet pickup that had been stolen in Richmond. 

The fellow was booked on suspicion of committing a laundry list of potential felonies, ranging from auto theft to burglary, and possession of burglary tools to receiving stolen property. 

 

Bribe probed 

Berkeley Police are probing a possible attempt to bribe a manager at the city’s Building and Safety Department last Wednesday afternoon after the official reported the incident to investigators. 

No further information is available, said Officer Galvan. 

Purse snatched  

A strong-arm bandit relieved a San Leandro woman of her purse and its contents as she walked along the 2000 block of Seventh Street in Berkeley last Thursday afternoon. 

 

Problem house problem 

The 1610 Oregon St. home that neighbors have repeatedly called a public nuisance was the scene of yet another crime last week—this time, a stabbing. 

Neighbors of the house recently won $70,000 in damages in a Small Claims Court action which featured the testimony of one city police officer who called it “the most notorious drug house in southwest Berkeley.” 

The latest incident occurred about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday when a 17-year-old boy was stabbed in the back of the head by a girlfriend of the same age who is a relative of homeowner Lenora Moore, reports Officer Galvan. 

The boy’s injuries were not life-threatening, and he was treated at a local hospital. 

The girl was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and domestic abuse. 

 

Armed heist 

A fellow claiming to have a gun robbed the Roxie Food Center at 2250 Dwight Way shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, making off with the store’s cash. 

He can’t have been the world’s brightest stick-up artist because the bald bandit walked into the store wearing only his beard, while his accomplice waited outside, wearing a mask. 

 

Pellet gun shooting 

A UC Berkeley student was the victim of a drive-by pellet gun attack shortly before midnight Sunday as she sat with a group of friends on benches at the southwest corner of the intersection of Channing Way and Warring Street, reports UC Berkeley Police. 

The shot, which didn’t break the young woman’s skin, was one of several fired from the rear passenger seat of a late model light gray four-door Honda Civic that was last seen speeding northbound on Piedmont Avenue. 

The shooter was one of several occupants in the car, police said.›