Update, April 23, 10:45 p.m. Police arrested Derrick Garcia, 57, of Richmond on Sunday after he went into the Berkeley Police Department to get his vehicle out of impound. Officers identified him Saturday. He was arrested him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, and evading. Both are felonies. He remains in custody at Berkeley Jail on $70,000 bail and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse.
Update, April 22, 7:25 p.m. BPD says officers are clearing the scene. No arrests have been made.
Original story, 4:15 p.m. The Berkeley Police Department reports “Police activity in the 1300 block of Derby, near Acton Street.”
Several officers are looking for a suspect, BPD said in a Nixle alert released just after 4 p.m. “Call 911 if you need assistance.”
According to scanner traffic reviewed by Berkeleyside, an officer tried to make a stop on Acton near Derby at 3:50 p.m.
The SUV took off and nearly clipped the officer, he said, in an unconfirmed scanner broadcast. He spotted the SUV a short time later abandoned in the 1300 block of Derby.
Officers spotted the man running away and BPD set up a perimeter.
The driver was described as a dark-skinned black man in his 40s or early 50s. He had a shaved head or short cropped hair, and was wearing a dark navy or other dark-colored top, and jeans or pants.
Initially, he was wearing what the officer called a “fancy hat” he later described as a fedora. The man wasn’t wearing it when another officer saw him running, however.
BPD is describing the offense initially as an attempted assault on a police officer, as well as a vehicle code violation.
A search of the vehicle turned up blood inside the SUV, according to unconfirmed scanner broadcasts.
Berkeleyside has reached out to BPD for confirmation.
