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Man arrested for cigarette threat

By William Inman Daily Planet Staff
Saturday July 15, 2000

Talk about a nicotine fit.  

A man arrested for felony robbery yesterday must have needed a smoke really badly after his run in with the Alameda County Sheriff’s department because Berkeley police arrested him after he threatened to kill a man sitting in front of the Barnes and Noble bookstore on Shattuck Avenue and Channing Way, if he didn’t hand over a cigarette, said Captain Bobby Miller of the Berkeley Police Department. 

He was previously involved in an argument aboard an AC Transit bus. AC Transit dispatched the Alameda County Sheriff after it was reported that the man had a gun. Miller said that the robber didn’t have a gun and didn’t know if the argument was over cigarettes.  

After the argument was settled and he was released, the suspect walked a block to Shattuck and Durant where he told a man that if he didn’t give him a cigarette that he would kill him. Miller said that it was technically robbery even though it was just a smoke that was taken. 

The robber then turned around and walked two blocks to the corner of Shattuck and Bancroft Way where police apprehended him while he was enjoying his cigarette. 

The Sheriff’s office has jurisdiction over the AC Transit, and Miller said that the two departments work in conjunction with one another if an incident arises on board a city bus.