A man was stomped and punched Friday night outside a bar near UC Berkeley by a group of men in dark sweatshirts who yelled, “you think you’re banging?” at him, authorities report.
The University of California Police Department put out a notice Saturday morning about the aggravated assault, which left the man with a 1-inch laceration to his temple. He was taken to the hospital for treatment, and the suspects have not been found.
UCPD officers became concerned Friday just after 8 p.m. when they saw a man walking, covered with blood, in the 2600 block of Channing Way near Bowditch Street, according to the statement.
UCPD said the man wore a white polo shirt: “The shirt, his head and face all had large amounts of blood on them.”
The man told police he had been drinking with two friends at the Graduate Bar, at 2600 Durant Ave., just before the assault. About 10-15 minutes before he saw the officers, he left the bar and walked east on Durant to smoke a cigarette.
That’s when three to five Hispanic men in gray and black hooded sweatshirts accosted him.
“They yelled something consistent with, ‘Oh you think you’re banging up here?!'” according to UCPD.
One of the men punched the victim and knocked him to the ground. Then “he was hit and stomped by the suspects as he laid there,” according to police.
The Berkeley Fire Department responded to provide medical care. They ultimately took the man to the hospital “for further examination,” UCPD said. Officers who searched the area for the suspects were not able to find them.
Authorities ask anyone with information about this incident to call the Berkeley Police Department at 510-981-5900.
