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Resident stops burglar 

A resident foiled a “hot prowl” burglar around 1 a.m. Saturday in an apartment building in the 2200 block of Cedar Street. 

The resident had opened his bedroom window about 15 minutes before the burglar appeared. Before he went to sleep he heard the window open wider and saw someone stick his arm through the window and try to enter. The resident jumped up and yelled, said Police Capt. Bobby Miller. The prowler left immediately. He was wearing a dark blue jacket. 

Knife wielding alleged 

An Oakland man allegedly brandished a folding knife in a movie theater in the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue on Friday night. 

The incident happened around 6:30 p.m. According to Berkeley Police Capt. Bobby Miller, the man was arguing with a security guard, and then pulled out the knife with a red handle and waved it at the guard. Another person called the police and the suspect and a friend tried to walk out of the theater and onto the street. Police officers stopped them and ordered the man wielding the knife to give it up several times before he complied, said Miller, who described the men as “very drunk and very belligerent.” 

Police arrested 31-year-old Damont Richardson, who allegedly wielded the knife, and Byron Smith, 35, also of Oakland. 

Thief steals purse 

A thief who got out of the passenger side of the car about 5:30 p.m. Friday in the 1500 block of Posen Avenue, snatched the purse of an 82-year-old woman who was in her driveway. 

The woman was waiting for a friend to drive her when the suspect’s car approached and parked about three houses away from her. She walked up her driveway to close a gate and did not notice the suspect walking toward her in the shadow of the trees, said Police Capt. Bobby Miller. Then she felt the strap of her purse being yanked off her shoulder, and she turned around and he ran to his car without seeing the thief clearly. She thought he was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and wore dark clothing. She lost a small amount of cash, and her driver license and credit cards. 

Items stolen from store 

A burglar smashed the plate glass window in the front of Paper Heaven at 2018 Shattuck Ave. about 4:30 a.m. Sunday. 

The burglar reached inside and took five T-shirts and a foam display pole. A witness heard the glass breaking and then saw a white male about 6 feet tall in his 30s wearing a burgundy-colored overcoat walking south on Shattuck carrying a long pole and T-shirts under his arm. 

Man arrested for assault 

A 33-year-old man was arrested for allegedly attacking his mother’s friend at his mother’s home on King Street early Sunday morning. 

Police Capt. Bobby Miller describes the suspect, Mark Braddy, as being “very drunk” and entering a bedroom where his mother and her friend were asleep. The suspect had no explanation for why he hit the victim with his fists and a blunt object. The victim said the son was holding a statue and he believes the son hit him with it. The victim had cuts and abrasions and his friend took him to see a doctor. 

– Daily Planet Staff