A Berkeley man with a machete slashed a woman Saturday afternoon when she asked him to move along and leave her alone, police report.
Lt. Peter Hong of the Berkeley Police Department said BPD initially got a call at 2:45 p.m. from a witness who said he had seen a man stab a woman near Hearst Avenue and Bonita Street.
When police arrived, they found the woman with a slash and puncture wound to her leg, Hong said.
She told police she had been inside her tent when a man walked up to her and “was kind of lingering around her tent making her feel uncomfortable.” She asked him, “can you move on,” Hong said, which “angered” the man.
“He started yelling at her,” Hong said, and asserting his right to be there.
“Suddenly, he takes out a machete and he starts swinging it at her,” Hong said.
The man ran away after cutting the woman, Hong said. She described him to officers, however, and they believed they knew his identity from prior contacts.
Police went to the man’s home in the 1800 block of Delaware Street and surrounded the apartment building where the man lives. Family members let the officers inside and the man was detained without incident.
The woman identified the man, 34-year-old Emmanuel Hall, as the person who attacked her. The woman was treated at the scene and did not require ambulance transport.
Hall was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, which is a felony. He is being held at Santa Rita Jail with a bail of $30,000 and is set for arraignment Tuesday.
Back in May, Hall was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a machete at a mother and daughter in a car, according to authorities. He was riding his bike when the car passed him. He became angry and blocked the car while brandishing the machete at them.
He was arrested, but ultimately took a plea to a lesser charge: the misdemeanor of causing a disturbance. He was placed on probation, according to court records.
In April 2017, Hall was also arrested during an altercation with Kyle Chapman at Civic Center Park. But the charges in that case were later dropped.
