Features

Not sham pain 

It was minutes before 2 a.m. Dec. 12; after driving a fare from San Francisco to the 2000 block of San Pablo Avenue in Berkeley, the cab driver figured he deserved payment. 

But his non-fair fare thought otherwise, and when the driver got out to demand payment, the scofflaw passenger belted him in the face with an empty champagne bottle. 

The driver refused medical aid, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan, while the belligerent passenger was able to make good his escape. 

Boarded  

An encounter between two homeless men ended with one bleeding and the other rolling off on the weapon used to inflict the injury—a skateboard. 

The attack took place about 2:30 p.m., Dec. 12, in the 2500 block of Telegraph Avenue. The injured man was taken to a local emergency for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, said Officer Galvan. 

Bald bandit 

A mustachioed gunman with a hairless pate, gold neck chains and white T-shirt thrust a pistol at a Piedmont couple as they walked along the 1000 block of San Pablo Avenue about 9 p.m. on Dec. 13. 

The couple wisely handed over their valuables, including a purse, a wallet and a cell phone. The gunman was gone by the time police arrived. 

Student attacked 

The principal of Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School called police on the Dec. 14 to report that one of his students had been shot with a BB-gun by two fellow students. 

Police took the pair into custody and took them to Juvenile Hall.  

Sword stealer 

It was last Friday afternoon when a Berkeley man walked into The Dark Entry, a shop in 2500 block of Telegraph that features replica swords and knives, and proceeded to rob some of the same by using them as the very weapons to pull off his caper. 

The timely response of officers found the fellow a short distance away, and he wisely surrendered to the arrival of deadlier armaments. 

Unusual weapon 

The owner of a used bicycle shop at 67th and Sacramento streets was attacked by an angry fellow who used a bike as his weapon. 

“He picked it up and swung it at him,” said Officer Galvan. The merchant declined medical attention. 

The store owner was able to get a license plate as his attacker fled, but the address it led to proved to be a dead end.