A man was attacked Thursday night in Southside Berkeley after he refused to answer questions posed by a man who walked up to him outside Bongo Burger, authorities report.
Thursday at 10:15 p.m., a man was standing outside the burger shop talking to an acquaintance when someone “approached him and began asking him questions that he did not want to answer,” according to an alert Friday morning from the University of California Police Department, Berkeley, and the Berkeley Police Department.
Authorities did not say whether the attacker and victim knew each other.
“When the victim did not answer, the suspect began punching him in the face. The victim fell to the ground and the suspect kicked him repeatedly in the stomach and once in the face,” UCPD said in the alert.
The victim, who was cut on the face, was taken to the hospital for treatment, authorities said.
UCPD searched for the attacker but could not find him. Police did not release a description of the man wanted in connection with the aggravated assault.
According to UCPD, “Physical descriptions of a suspect, including race are included … only when they provide several details that might help distinguish the suspect’s appearance from the general population.”
Authorities initially thought the location of the attack was in People’s Park, which is in UCPD’s jurisdiction. After police realized the attack happened west of the park, in BPD’s jurisdiction, UCPD stayed on the case, BPD said Friday morning.
UCPD did not respond prior to publication time to a request from Berkeleyside for additional detail.
