2 Weeks After Carjacking, Stolen Chevy Flees Berkeley Police, Crashes in Oakland

A Chevy Impala that was carjacked at gunpoint in Albany on Oct. 25 crashed and was abandoned two weeks later in Oakland shortly after it was spotted and briefly chased by Berkeley police, police said.

A subsequent investigation led to the arrest of a 20-year-old Oakland man who was in the car in the Nov. 7 chase and crash, said Berkeley Police Officer Jennifer Coats. The driver and a female occupant are still being sought.

Coats said she doesn't know if the arrested man is the suspect in the carjacking in Albany and referred questions to Albany police about any link to the carjacking.

Albany Police Lt. Dan Adams said he couldn't comment on whether the carjacking suspect is the person who was arrested because it's "an ongoing investigation." He said Albany and Berkeley police are working together on the crimes related to the vehicle.

About 9:12 p.m. on Oct. 25, a 47-year-old restaurant worker who had just gotten off work was sitting in his silver Chevrolet Impala on the tree-lined 800 block of Ramona Avenue, about half a block from Solano Avenue, when a man with a gun tapped on the car window, according to Albany police.

The robber demanded the vehicle and the victim's phone and wallet, all of which the victim surrendered without resistance, Albany police said at the time. The victim was told to walk away, which he did. When he looked back, he saw the car being driven off, according to police.

The suspect was described as black, of medium build, about 30 years old and 5-feet, 11-inches tall, with a mustache, Albany police said.

Two weeks later, on Nov. 7 at about 5:52 p.m., Berkeley police officers attempted to stop a silver Impala near the intersection of Herzog Street and 62nd Street, Coats said.

"The driver of the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed," she said. "Officers followed the vehicle, but due to public safety concerns discontinued the pursuit."

A short time later officers were informed that the vehicle was involved in a hit and run collision near the intersection of Stanford and San Pablo avenues in Oakland, Coats said.

When officers arrived on scene, the car was unoccupied, she said. It was the same Impala reported stolen in the Albany carjacking, according to Coats and Adams.

The next day, Nov. 8, Berkeley police responded to another carjacking – this one in the 1600 block of Portland Avenue in North Berkeley, on another quiet residential street eight blocks from the Oct. 25 carjacking.

For more information on the Nov. 8 carjacking, see the Patch article, "North Berkeley Carjacking, Police Chase, Another Car Damaged."
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