A woman in her 20s who works as a bartender did not go home when she realized a car was following her off the Bay Bridge into Berkeley on Saturday. Instead, she steered straight to the Berkeley Police Department, where officers quickly intercepted the trailing vehicle and said they found a loaded gun and drugs inside.
According to the City of Berkeley, the woman called dispatchers as she exited the bridge into Berkeley and reported that a driver appeared to be following her. Dispatchers instructed her to head for the nearest police station so that officers could intercept the suspicious car before she reached home.
Officers soon spotted the vehicle on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, just past the police station, and detained the driver. As reported by KRON4, the suspect is a 36-year-old San Francisco man who was arrested on suspicion of several weapons and drug offenses. Authorities have not said whether he and the woman knew each other.
What police say they found
In its release, Berkeley police said officers immediately saw a loaded handgun on the vehicle’s floorboard. After a search, they reported recovering a BB gun, suspected crack cocaine, several crack pipes, a flashlight-style stun device, and gloves.
The department said the loaded handgun had reportedly been stolen from Richmond and logged the investigation under case number 2025-00054612. “We are grateful for our dispatchers and officers whose quick actions got this woman home safely and the suspect into custody,” the release said.
Charges and next steps
Berkeley police say the man was arrested on suspicion of multiple weapon and drug offenses, and KRON4 reports that formal charges and booking details were not immediately available. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office will review the case to decide whether to file formal charges.
Police praised the woman’s decision to call for help instead of driving straight home and credited the quick work of dispatchers and patrol officers with preventing a potentially worse outcome. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Berkeley Police Department and reference the case number.
