A probationer found with an ice pick in his pocket has been charged with three felonies after an assault on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley that left a man without vision in one eye, authorities report.
Berkeley Police Officer Semir Muratovic detained Shawn Anderson, 46, at Telegraph and Dwight Way on June 20 because he matched the description of a man who had just punched another man in the face at about 9:40 p.m., according to court papers and records online. Anderson had blood on his hands when police found him, Muratovic wrote.
The victim had fled the area, but Muratovic was able to locate him. Berkeley paramedics took him to Alta Bates for his injuries. The man’s face “was covered in blood and swollen. The victim was unable to see out of one of his eyes and faded in-and-out of consciousness while I was speaking with him.”
A friend of the victim got in touch with Berkeleyside to ask for more details about the incident, writing, “My friend suffered a broken nose and lost his right eye vision.… My friend is highly traumatized.” The tipster said he was concerned about an apparent uptick in violence in the Southside neighborhood near campus: “I did not know that all this violence was going on.”
The victim identified Anderson as his attacker, police said. When officers searched Anderson, they found an ice pick “hidden in his pocket,” Muratovic wrote. Anderson was taken to Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where he remains in custody with a bail of $1.25 million.
He was on probation for auto burglary and assault causing great bodily injury at the time of his arrest, police said.
Anderson — who had no home address listed in court papers — was charged by the Alameda County district attorney’s office with assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, which is classified as a violent felony and could result in prison time, battery with serious bodily injury, and carrying a concealed dirk or dagger, due to the ice pick.
Court documents list four prior convictions for Anderson in Alameda County: in 1991 for commercial burglary, in 1992 for home burglary, in 1996 for attempted home burglary, and in 1998 for home burglary.
According to records online, Anderson was also charged in January 2015 with felony assault with a deadly weapon, battery causing serious bodily injury and second-degree robbery — but he took a plea deal in connection with lesser charges. That sent him to jail for 46 days and put him on probation for three years. Records indicate his probation was revoked in July 2016 due to an incident alleging misdemeanor assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, but he was released again on probation a short time later.
Anderson is scheduled for his preliminary hearing Aug. 22 at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in Oakland. In that proceeding, a judge determines whether there is enough evidence to send a case to trial.
