Berkeleyside blotter: Crime in Berkeley, 8/27-9/2

Selected calls to the Berkeley Police, via CrimeMapping.com. Scroll down for detailed maps. Click the map above for the list. See the map key here.

This overview of recent crime in Berkeley is based on reports to the Berkeley Police unless otherwise noted. Please share photos, videos and tips, about breaking news or neighborhood safety issues, via email at crime@berkeleyside.com or on Facebook or Twitter; let us know if you prefer to be anonymous. Don’t assume someone else will alert us — you may be the only one to get in touch. We very much want to know about issues of neighborhood concern and rely on our readers to help us stay informed.

From Aug. 27 to Sept. 2, there were reports of 11 robberies, 16 burglaries, 12 assaults or batteries, no weapon-involved calls and one sexual assault, according to CrimeMapping.com. There were also 12 stolen vehicles, 22 disturbances and 25 auto break-ins or thefts from vehicles reported. Two burglaries, an assault and two sex crimes were reported by the University of California Police Department (UCPD). These numbers are subject to change. Click the links for the latest numbers. The following items represent a sampling of calls, and times may be approximate; incidents that took place during a range of time are listed unless otherwise noted by the beginning of that time period.

Thursday, Aug. 27

There was a commercial burglary at 1 a.m. in the 1200 block of University Avenue.

There were three home burglaries: at 2 a.m. in the 2300 block of Fulton Street; at 8 a.m. in the 2200 block of Seventh Street; and at 1 p.m. in the 2400 block of Piedmont Circle.

Two vehicles were stolen, at 5:30 a.m. in the 1200 block of Sixth Street.

There was a robbery at 7:30 a.m. in the 3100 block of College Avenue.

There were three disturbance calls: at 4:24 p.m. at Cornell Avenue and Gilman Street; at 9 p.m. in the 2100 block of Eighth Street; and at 11 p.m. in the 2300 block of Piedmont Avenue.

There was a sex crime at the Strawberry Canyon Pool at 6:15 p.m., according to UCPD, in which a man groped six children. The case is under investigation.

Police arrested Donel Goodwin, 30, and Kelvin Grant, 39, in the 1300 block of 66th Street. Grant was arrested on suspicion of marijuana sales, and has been released on $90,000 bail. Goodwin was arrested in connection with marijuana sales, use of a firearm during a felony and several other firearm-related violations, and was later released on a $135,000 bond. They are scheduled for a pretrial hearing Nov. 3.

There were 16 burglaries (shown in black) reported over this period, via CrimeMapping.com. The prior week there were 20. There were also 11 robberies (in blue), following 10 the prior week. Click the map for a list.

Friday, Aug. 28

Three vehicles were stolen: at 2 a.m. in the 1400 block of Eighth Street; at 10:15 a.m. at Wildcat Canyon Road and Woodmont Avenue; and at 11:25 p.m. in the 1200 block of Delaware Street.

There were two commercial burglaries, at 11:38 a.m. in the 2900 block of College, and at 3 p.m. in the 1600 block of Sixth Street.

There was an assault (some type of domestic violence) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at 11:39 a.m., according to UCPD.

There were two disturbance calls, at noon in the 3000 block of Hollis Street, and at 12:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Potter Street.

Saturday, Aug. 29

There were three robberies: at 12:45 a.m. at Dwight Way and College Avenue; at 4:20 p.m. at Fulton Street and Bancroft Way; and at 5:10 p.m. in the 1700 block of Solano Avenue.

On Solano Avenue, the robber “jumped over the counter with a gun pointed at the employees and told them to fill his backpack,” according to unconfirmed scanner traffic. Police later arrested Covan VanHook and say he was also responsible for another Berkeley robbery two days later.

After the strong-arm robbery at Dwight and College, according to UCPD, a UCPD officer was flagged down by two students. A male suspect threatening to have a gun robbed the students of their belongings. The robber was last seen getting into a white four-door vehicle occupied by four males and one female. The vehicle was last seen driving east on Dwight.

There were five disturbance calls: at 1:02 a.m. in the 2300 block of Warring Street; at 1:03 a.m. in the 2300 block of College; at 3:09 p.m. in the 1200 block of Haskell Street; at 4:10 p.m. at Hearst and McGee avenues; and at 4:19 p.m. in the 2200 block of Harold Way.

There was a commercial burglary at 2:25 p.m. in the 2900 block of College.

There were five second-response calls: at 10:13 p.m. in the 1500 block of Arch Street; at 10:18 p.m. in the 2200 block of Haste Street; at 10:54 p.m. in the 2600 block of Telegraph Avenue; at 11:09 p.m. in the 2400 block of Blake Street; and at 11:58 p.m. in the 2500 block of Dwight Way.

According to Officer Jennifer Coats, police received several calls from the community reporting possible gunshots or fireworks at 11:15 p.m. Police responded but did not locate a victim or property damage. Several reporting parties indicated the noise could have been fireworks.

Shown above: assaults or batteries, weapon calls, sexual assaults, arsons and disturbances. Click the image for a list. Source: Crimemapping.com

Sunday, Aug. 30

There were three second-response calls: at 12:12 a.m. in the 2300 block of Blake Street; at 12:40 a.m. in the 2200 block of Parker Street; and at 11:54 p.m. in the 2600 block of Regent Street.

There was an arson call at 4:19 a.m. in the 1300 block of Carrison Street.

There was a home burglary at 4 p.m. in the 1400 block of Curtis Street.

Two vehicles were stolen, at 5 p.m. in the 1100 block of Parker, and at 7 p.m. in the 2600 block of Virginia Street.

There were two robberies, at 6 p.m. in the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue, and at 6:20 p.m. at Adeline and Fairview streets.

A car thief stole a blue, two-door 1998 Honda Civic DX from the North Berkeley BART parking lot between 9:40 p.m. Aug. 25 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

There was a disturbance at 6:58 p.m. at Shattuck and Alcatraz avenues.

Monday, Aug. 31

There were three commercial burglaries: at 12:50 a.m. in the 2300 block of Shattuck; at 6 p.m. in the 2300 block of Fourth Street; and at 9:20 p.m. in the 1500 block of Shattuck.

There was a disturbance at 4:14 a.m. in the 1500 block of Blake Street.

A vehicle was stolen at 5 a.m. in the 1100 block of Bancroft Way.

There were three home burglaries: at 7 a.m. in the 1600 block of Derby Street; at noon in the 1600 block of California Street; and at noon in the 2400 block of Carleton Street.

There were three robberies: at 10:45 a.m. in the 2900 block of Telegraph Avenue; at 10:47 a.m. in the 1600 block of Berkeley Way; and at 9:28 p.m. at Virginia and Arch streets.

Police later arrested Covan VanHook in connection with the armed robbery on Telegraph, and say he was also responsible for an armed robbery at Pharmaca two days prior.

Police arrested 19-year-old Ayvreigh Dison in connection with the robbery on Berkeley Way. She remains in custody and is scheduled for a preliminary examination Oct. 16.

There was a burglary at Evans hall at 1:53 p.m., according to UCPD. Items worth $3,175 were taken between 6 p.m. Friday and 1:30 p.m. Monday.

There were 25 thefts or burglaries from vehicles, via CrimeMapping. There were 31 the prior week. There were also 12 vehicles stolen (in purple). Click the map for a list of incidents.

Tuesday, Sept. 1

UCPD is investigating a sexual battery reported earlier this month. At 12:37 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the 2100 block of Shattuck where a 20-year-old woman reported that she had been the victim of a sexual battery in a university library approximately 10 minutes earlier. No further information is available at this time. UCPD is investigating this crime. (This item first appeared in a prior blotter for timeliness.)

There was a burglary in the 400 block of Gooding Way, in University Village in Albany, at 1:48 p.m., according to UCPD. A thief was able to get inside via an unlocked window and stole $1,937 worth of property between 8:40 a.m. and 1:48 p.m.

There were two commercial burglaries, at 3:33 a.m. in the 2000 block of Ashby Avenue, and at 4:20 a.m. in the 2500 block of Shattuck.

There were two robberies, at 11:30 a.m. in the 1500 block of Shattuck, and at 12:20 p.m. at 55th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

A vehicle was stolen at 8:30 p.m. in the 2000 block of Haste Street.

Wednesday, Sept. 2

There was an arson call at 2 a.m. in the 1300 block of Haskell Street.

Three vehicles were stolen: at 6 a.m. in the 200 block of Marina Boulevard; at 3 p.m. in the 2500 block of Ellsworth Street; and at 6:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of Ellsworth.

There was a felony sexual assault at 7:30 a.m. at Hearst and McGee avenues.

A BART officer discovered a vehicle in the Ashby station parking lot with a smashed rear passenger window at about 9:30 a.m. It appeared as though the stereo had been removed, according to BART.

There were two disturbance calls, at 1:42 p.m. in the 2200 block of Shattuck Avenue, and at 7:30 p.m. in the 2100 block of Eighth Street.

Police responded to a crash involving a pedestrian and vehicle at Berkeley Way and Shattuck Avenue, according to police spokeswoman Coats. The call came in at 2:31 p.m. The pedestrian was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but no additional information was available.

UCPD received a report from an 18-year-old female student related to a man in his 50s who was exposing himself at Unit 1 (Freeborn) from 10:30-11:30 p.m.. The man was described as white, 5 feet 7 inches tall, with gray hair, black glasses, a light tan jacket and dark khaki pants. The incident is under investigation.

See the Berkeley Police Department’s crime reports on CrimeMapping.com. See the list of calls to UC Police at Berkeley, which are also posted in brief on CrimeMapping. See also Local Crime News’ regularly published list of arrests of Berkeley residents. Other sources of information on crime in Berkeley include the Police Department’s CrimeView Community and CrimeMapping.com. The Berkeley Police Department also posts “calls for service” spreadsheets — containing more data — online for those who would like to see more. New reports may be added to CrimeMapping in an unpredictable manner, so numbers may increase in the days after this report. This post does not reflect every call. See recent Berkeley crime blotters here.

Do you rely on Berkeleyside for local news? Support independent journalism by becoming a Berkeleyside member for $10 a month or even less, or by making a one-time donation.

Emilie Raguso