Press Releases

Just after 11 p.m. Saturday Berkeley police received a flurry of calls from witnesses saying they heard a man screaming and a dog howling outside their windows. 

Police arrived on the scene, on the 2700 block of Virginia Street, to find a dog near death at the bottom of a staircase connecting two streets, and a man lying naked in the street nearby, seemingly unconscious, said Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes.  

The dog had suffered numerous stab wounds to its stomach and died shortly after police arrived, Lopes said. 

When police attempted to rouse the man in the street he allegedly leapt to his feet and battled the officers. At one point the man, who police described at 6 feet 8 inches and 180 pounds, “bear hugged” a tree to avoid being taken into custody, Lopes said.  

It took six officers to eventually detain the man and transport him to Alameda County Medical Center for drug testing and psychological evaluation, Lopes said. 

Police found a pile of blood stained clothes near the dog and a bloody knife discarded in some bushes. Lopes said police don’t know to whom the dog belongs. 

The man, a Berkeley resident with no criminal history, is being investigated for cruelty to animals and being under the influence of illegal substances.