A homeless man charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon after an attack with an aluminum baseball bat in West Berkeley in July is scheduled to appear in court to be sentenced Wednesday.
According to court papers, Zuber Awad, 26, was with another man’s girlfriend at University Avenue and West Frontage Road on July 1 when angry words were exchanged.
Police say Awad then hit the other man with an aluminum baseball bat causing an injury that required eight stitches.
According to scanner traffic reviewed by Berkeleyside, Awad was identified to police as a homeless camper in the area who was known to wear a diving weight around his neck.
Police arrested Awad the day after the baseball bat assault at about 10:10 a.m. at Cedar and Second streets in West Berkeley. According to police, he was on probation at the time of his arrest for battery causing serious bodily injury.
According to police, Awad said he did hit the man but that he did so with his closed fist, not the bat.
The Alameda County district attorney’s office charged Awad with assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury, a felony.
He could be sent to prison if convicted of the charge.
Initially Awad was scheduled to have been sentenced Monday. According to online records from the Alameda County sheriff’s office, the sentencing date was postponed until Wednesday, Aug. 17.
He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail. No information was immediately available from the district attorney’s office regarding what sort plea Awad may have taken.
According to sheriff’s office records, he has a prior conviction for felony battery causing serious bodily injury.
Awad — who also goes by the name “Miami” — is originally from Miami, Florida, according to records online.
According to a 2014 story in the San Francisco Chronicle, Awad lived at People’s Park and the Albany Bulb, then moved to the Gilman underpass before finally setting up his home in a vacant lot at Second and Jones.
“It’d be nice to stay here for a while, as long as everyone gets along,” he told the Chronicle in 2014. He was arrested in Albany that year on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine, according to UCPD records online.
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