A man authorities say used a rock to strike a cyclist in downtown Berkeley walked to the police station to turn himself in after the crime, according to BPD.
The arrest, on suspicion of attempted murder, has been categorized as a hate crime, said Officer Byron White, BPD spokesman, because the assailant “made statements indicating the crime was motivated because of the victim’s race.”
The incident happened Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at the bike racks at Shattuck Avenue and Center Street. A man bent over to unlock his bike and someone struck him from behind with a large rock. The victim, concerned the attack would continue, was able to run away, White said.
As first responders were going to help the victim, the man alleged to have wielded the rock showed up at the Berkeley Police Department, at 2100 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, a few blocks west, to turn himself in.
White said that man, Jeffrey Frazier Pachingger, who is 38 and homeless, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, commission of a hate crime and probation violation.
The victim was taken to a local hospital and treated for a head injury.
Pachingger is being held without bail at Berkeley Jail and is set for arraignment Thursday morning at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland, according to jail records online.
Pachingger has a handful of other Alameda County criminal cases listed online, dating back to 1999. Most have been for misdemeanors or infractions.
