An Oakland teen police say ripped a cellphone from another teenager’s hand then fled during a robbery in Berkeley last week has been arrested, authorities said Tuesday.
Last Thursday afternoon, at 2:35 p.m., a 19-year-old Berkeley woman was walking in the 2100 block of McKinley Avenue when a young man approached her from behind and tried to grab the cellphone she was carrying in her hand.
“The victim and the suspect began to struggle,” said Officer Jennifer Coats, Berkeley Police spokeswoman, via email. “The suspect then pushed the victim down ripping the phone from her hand. The suspect fled the area.”
Police responded to the area to search for the man, and spotted someone near Channing Way and Martin Luther King Jr. Way who matched the robber’s description. He fled on foot, and officers chased after him. They caught up with him and detained him on Milvia Street north of Channing.
Through the subsequent police investigation, said Coats, the man was arrested on suspicion of robbery, and the victim’s property was recovered.
Police identified the man as Tabias Brinson, 18, of Oakland. Brinson is being held at Santa Rita Jail on suspicion of robbery with a bail of $50,000. He was scheduled for an attorney and plea hearing Tuesday morning.
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