Berkeley police arrest boy, 14, after bizarre auto crime spree
He racked up more than a dozen auto crimes in Berkeley in less than three days, Berkeley police said in response to a Scanner inquiry.
Police have arrested a 14-year-old boy from Pinole who spent several days in Berkeley stealing cars and evading officers who tried to stop him, authorities report.
The boy stole multiple cars and tried to steal several others, among other crimes, Berkeley police said in response to a Scanner inquiry. His name was not released because he is a minor.
The crime spree began Saturday around 10:35 p.m. with an auto theft attempt in the 2200 block of Blake Street in the Southside neighborhood, police said.
Less than three hours later, shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday, there was another car theft attempt on the same block.
A third auto theft attempt followed less than an hour later in the 2300 block of Parker Street, just a block away, with an auto burglary a few minutes later in the 2000 block of Addison Street in downtown Berkeley.
The next few hours were quiet, until about 5 a.m. Sunday when police first tried to stop the boy in a stolen Kia in the 1600 block of Addison Street downtown, police said.
He fled from police again, in a different Kia, just before 12:30 p.m. in the 2600 block of Telegraph Avenue south of campus, BPD said.
On Monday, Berkeley police said they linked the boy to more crimes, including a vehicle theft in the 1000 block of Kains Avenue in Albany and several incidents of evasion.
After one of those incidents, at about 10:45 p.m. at Adeline Street and Ashby Avenue, witnesses saw the boy "driving dangerously" in Berkeley and Oakland, authorities said.
He got away again at about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday when an officer spotted him driving near College and Coronado avenues in Oakland, according to BPD.
On Tuesday morning, "after an extensive investigation," Berkeley police found what they believed to be the suspect's stolen Kia Soul under a car cover in the 800 block of Cornell Avenue in Albany.
Officers surrounded the car, removed the cover and arrested the teenager inside.
He was taken to Alameda County Juvenile Hall in San Leandro on suspicion of multiple counts of vehicle theft and evasion, BPD said.
Police listed multiple Kia Souls along with a Kia Niro, Kia Rio, Kia Optima, Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Accent and Toyota Tacoma among the targeted vehicles.
Auto thefts, auto burglaries both down in 2025
Auto thefts and auto burglaries in Berkeley are both down significantly from last year, and down even more steeply from a spike in 2023.
There have been about 430 vehicle thefts in Berkeley this year compared to more than 900 at this time last year, according to BPD data.
Auto burglaries are also down, with about 550 so far this year compared to about 1,000 over the same period last year.
Evasion — refusing to stop for a police officer — is much less common in Berkeley than property crimes like auto burglary and auto theft.
But it's worth noting that, while the numbers have been up and down, 2025 has already outpaced Berkeley's annual evasion numbers dating back to at least 2017, with at least 22 incidents listed through Oct. 20, the most recent date available.
Those numbers, which do not include the recent crime spree, are likely to tick up even more in the next two months before the year is up.
Last year through Oct. 20, there had been just eight evasion incidents, according to BPD data.
