A 23-year-old Hayward woman was arrested after an auto burglary near College Avenue in Berkeley on Thursday.
The incident drew a large police response, and numerous questions from the community as a result. One reader saw “8-9 cop cars with full lights and sirens … flying down MLK.” A local resident reported more than a dozen police cruisers on the scene. Another person saw eight police cars on the block when he got home, and a fire engine leaving. He said “the police were going through a car with blue gloves … collecting evidence.”
Police got a report shortly before 1:30 p.m. of “suspicious circumstances” in the 3100 block of Eton Avenue, authorities told Berkeleyside. It’s a small street between College and Claremont avenues, near Woolsey Street.
Berkeley Police Sgt. Sean Ross said an officer arrived at the scene and found a vehicle that appeared to have been burglarized. He found a woman in the rear yard of a home on that block.
When the officer tried to put her in handcuffs, she resisted, Ross said. As other officers arrived, they were able to take the woman into custody.
One officer received minor injuries during the struggle. He was treated at a local medical facility and released.
The woman, identified as Shellena Tate, was arrested on suspicion of theft from a vehicle, resisting arrest and battery on a police officer causing injury, Ross said.
According to court records online, Tate took a plea in a misdemeanor battery case from 2012, and served a few days in jail followed by three years on probation. In 2016, she was arrested on suspicion of felony auto burglary.
Tate is not listed as in custody by the Alameda County sheriff’s office, so her next court appearance was not immediately available.
