Berkeley police reported on several crimes Tuesday night. They appear below. Send tips to Berkeleyside with your public safety questions.
HOME BURGLARY On Tuesday at about 6:40 p.m., police got a report about two people who had burglarized a garage in the 900 block of Spruce Street (near Marin Avenue) then drove away in white SUV. Just after 9:20 p.m., a Berkeley police officer saw the pair getting off Interstate 80 at the Albany exit. When the officer tried to stop the vehicle, the driver sped off and was not located, BPD said.
POLICE FIND GUN, ARREST PAROLEE AFTER BRIEF CHASE About 20 minutes later, Berkeley police officers were searching the Berkeley neighborhood near Albany’s University Village for the SUV from the earlier burglary when an officer saw a different vehicle — a white sedan — heading south on Fifth Street, BPD said. The vehicle “sounded like it had a flat tire or was dragging something,” police wrote. When an officer approached the vehicle, the driver sped away toward University Village, BPD said.
Another officer who was already in the Albany apartment complex saw the driver crash into a parked vehicle at Kinkead Way and Red Oak Avenue, police said, then run from the scene of the collision. The officer chased the driver and yelled for him to stop. The officer also saw the man drop a metallic object as he ran, police said, and later caught up with him and arrested him.
“Officers retraced the path and discovered that the metallic object the suspect discarded was actually a loaded handgun,” police wrote. BPD identified the man as 27-year-old Raymond Rodriguez and arrested him on suspicion of felony hit-and-run, resisting arrest, carrying a loaded/concealed handgun, parole violation and numerous other gun-related offenses. Rodriguez, whose occupation is listed as a pizza delivery man, is being held on $55,000 bail at Santa Rita Jail, according to county records online. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
During the incident, there was discussion over the police radio about gunshot wounds Rodriguez had, but authorities later determined those wounds were from a prior incident. The University of California Police Department assisted in the investigation, BPD said.
STABBING ON UNIVERSITY AVENUE Also on Tuesday night, police responded to a report of a man in his 40s who had been stabbed in the abdomen and legs. The incident was reported in the 1100 block of University Avenue (near San Pablo Avenue) at about 10:45 p.m. The man, who had been stabbed in an off-street parking lot and sought help from a nearby business, was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive, police said. BPD said the victim did not know the man who stabbed him and that, according to preliminary information, the stabbing was unprovoked. Witnesses described the assailant as a Black man with low-cut blond hair, 30-40 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, wearing jeans and a shirt of unknown description. Police ask anyone with information to call BPD’s Homicide Unit at 510-981-5741.
SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE INVESTIGATION Police investigated a suspicious package Tuesday night at Milvia and Center streets to ensure it was not an explosive device, police said. It turned out to be a manifesto of some kind, authorities told Berkeleyside. At 6 p.m., police told people to avoid the area due to the investigation. About an hour later, the intersection was reopened to traffic.
