Homeless Woman On Destructive Rampage Arrested: Police

BERKELEY, CA — A homeless woman has been arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly woman and battery on a police officer for allegedly striking two strangers in the head with a large stick and throwing a tree branch at a police officer in downtown Berkeley, police said.

Officers responded to the area of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way at about 9:30 a.m. on Thursday after receiving multiple calls that there was a person knocking over garbage cans and throwing sticks at passing vehicles, according to police.

While officers were on their way to that location, witnesses also reported that the same person had struck someone with a stick and was breaking a large plate glass window at the GameStop store at Shattuck and Allston, police said.

When two officers who are trained in crisis intervention attempted to contact the suspect, later identified as 29-year-old Dawn Carraway, in front of GameStop, she threw a tree branch, striking one of the officers in the head, according to police.

The two officers requested emergency help from other officers and were able to take Carraway into custody, police said.

Officers who spoke to several witnesses in the area learned that Carraway had also struck two different people in the head with her sticks, requiring one of them, a 22-year-old man, to be transported to a hospital to be treated for a head injury, according to police.

The attacks appeared to have been unprovoked because the victims were simply waiting at the stoplight to cross Allston Way, police said.

The officer who was struck with the tree branch was treated a hospital for a possible concussion and two other officers were treated at the scene for cuts and bruises, according to police.

The attack on the officer is at least the third time since June that a homeless person has attacked a police officer in Berkeley.

In June a homeless man was charged with misdemeanor battery on an emergency officer for allegedly punching and giving a concussion to an officer who's a trained medic and crisis intervention team member at the corner of Shattuck and Allston.

In July a homeless man was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer for allegedly punching an officer in the chest in the 1700 block of University Avenue.

Carraway is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $185,000 bail on suspicion of multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, battery on police officer, resisting arrest, vandalism and violating her probation.

Carraway was charged with felony assault in April for allegedly attacking a woman with windshield wiper parts but an Alameda County Superior Court judge dismissed that case on Aug. 23.

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— Bay City News; Image by Renee Schiavone, Patch