Features

Two Assaults Cap Busy Day for Berkeley Police

By Richard Brenneman
Thursday June 11, 2009 - 08:00:00 PM

A pair of assaults kept Berkeley Police hopping in the hours after a massive manhunt in South Berkeley Tuesday.  

Police who had fanned out over the neighborhoods near the intersection of Shattuck and Ashby avenues in search of a gunman who had led officers on a chase after a drive-by shooting found plenty more to keep them busy afterwards.  

One call alerted them to a man who was seeking treatment at Summit Alta Bates Medical Center for injuries sustained in a beating 24 hours earlier during a bizarre electric broom beating at the intersection of Telegraph Avenue and Carelton Street.  

According to Berkeley Police spokesperson Officer Andrew J. Frankel, the 42-year-old homeless man—who listed Peoples Park as his residence—said he had been walking across Carleton when he was bumped by a man toting a green electric broom.  

After a verbal altercation erupted, the man used the broom to beat the homeless man.  

The assailant remains at large, while the victim was treated for his wounds, albeit after a long delay.  

Police learned of the second attack after a bleeding man found his way to a house near the border of Live Oak Park in North Berkeley and begged for help from a good Samaritan.  

Police got the call at 9:34 p.m. and quickly arrived on the scene, where they found the 23-year-old victim bleeding from three stab wound in his lower back.  

The injured man told officers he’d been drinking with a friend outside the Berkeley Art Center in the park when an argument broke out, during which his erstwhile friend, 28-year-old Jeremy Hill, started beating him with his fist.  

“He said that he was afraid he’d be killed, so he pulled a knife and stabbed the suspect in the ear,” said Officer Frankel.  

But Hill ended up with the knife, and used it against his companion.  

Both men were taken to Highland Hospital for treatment of their injuries. Hill had sustained cuts to his left ear, left cheek and left arm. After treatment, he was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.