Berkeley Police Department scapegoats Occupy Oakland

An elderly couple in Berkeley, CA, the Cukors, called the Berkeley Police Department to report a trespasser near to their home. When the Berkeley PD failed to send a patrol car to investigate the matter, Peter Cukor left his home and went to the local fire station for help. The station was out on a call, however. When he returned home, the trespasser beat him to death with a flower pot.

The alleged assailant, Daniel Dewitt, was arrested near to the crime scene and has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Despite his illness, Dewitt failed to obtain the in-patient care he needed. Despite the Cukor’s calls to the Berkeley PD, they failed to get the assistance they needed to manage a situation that was more dangerous than they initially believed. Mr. Cukor is dead because of these failures.

The Berkeley PD’s explanation for its initial failure to respond to the Cukor’s call:

“At that time, available officers were being reconfigured in order to monitor a (Occupy Oakland) protest which was to come into Berkeley from Oakland in the next hour,” Greenwood said. “Only criminal, in-progress emergency calls were to be dispatched, due to the reduction in officers available to handle calls for service.”

So, the Berkeley Police Department blames Occupy Oakland for an event in which the movement was not involved. It is ironic that the march was peaceful, according to an Occupy Oakland activist interviewed by the Huffington Post.

Occupy Oakland has yet to release a statement on the incident and the blame placed on it by the Berkeley PD.

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• Berkeley victim’s call for help went unheeded (sfgate.com)
• Berkeley man, 67, slain outside his house in hills (sfgate.com)
• Berkeley victim’s call for help went unheeded (sfgate.com)
• Berkeley victim confronted murder suspect twice (sfgate.com)