Hate crime, assault, arson reported at Park in Berkeley

BERKELEY, Calif. - A transgender person was allegedly assaulted in People’s Park Sunday morning in what is being investigated as a hate crime by the UC Berkeley police – one of several violent incidents at the park over the weekend.

According to the police report, the person was choked and hit  about 7:45 am. when three people allegedly attacked the person with a shovel and feet at the housing construction site south of the UC Berkeley. Police said they arrived and arrested a suspect as they tried to flee the scene. The other two remain at large.

The university identified the person arrested as a 20-year-old woman living in Antioch. Dan Mogulof, spokesperson for UC Berkeley, said he did not know if the woman was being held in police custody. 

The person who was attacked was taken to the hospital for treatment.

The hate crime followed an earlier assault at People’s Park where a person was allegedly attacked with a baseball bat. That person walked away while officers were completing the report. There were no visible injuries. That suspect is also still at large.

Meanwhile, there was also an arson reported at People's Park Sunday morning, where people have been occupying the space in an attempt to block the university from starting construction on new student housing on part of the historic park.

The university says all the incidents involved people in the park, and not any campus employees or construction workers.