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Four heists, 20 minutes
Robbers struck four times within 20 minutes in the south of campus neighborhood last Thursday, Aug. 27, according to campus police.
The first stickup took place at 11:41 p.m. at the corner of Milvia and Stuart streets, according to UCPD Chief Mitchell J. Celaya III.
Two robbers, at least one of them armed with a pistol, braced a woman and demanded her purse. Bag in hand, they departed.
The second, eight minutes later, was a strong-arm robbery, with a pair of robbers forcing a pedestrian to hand over a cell phone in the 2300 block of Piedmont Avenue.
Five minutes after that, yet another pair of robbers, one claiming to be packing a pistol and the other flashing a knife, confronted two pedestrians in the same block of Piedmont Avenue where the previous incident took place. They made off with a purse and a cell phone.
Finally, at two minutes after midnight, a lone robber stole a pedestrian’s cell phone near the corner of Channing Way and College Avenue.
Celaya asked anyone with information about the robberies to call Berkeley city police at 981-5900.
Lone gunman
A solo stickup artist produced a pistol and demanded a woman’s purse and cell phone as she walked near the corner of Parker Street and College Avenue at 2:09 a.m. Monday, Aug. 31.
According to Celaya, Berkeley police searched the area but were unable to turn up the suspect, who had been wearing a heavy coat and a black beanie.
Park arrest
Campus police arrested a 56-year-old man Aug. 25, less than two hours after he allegedly brandished a knife at a fellow denizen of People’s Park.
According to Celaya, officers were summoned to Bowditch Street near the park at 6:52 a.m.
After an initial fruitless search for the suspect, the officers departed. Then at 8:41, the victim flagged down a passing campus officer at the park and pointed out the suspect, who was nearby.
Ricardo Coleman was arrested near the corner of Dwight Way and Telegraph Avenue and taken into custody on suspicion of brandishing a deadly weapon.
