UCPD made an arrest Friday in connection with an incident that occurred Feb. 19 on the UC Berkeley campus, in which a man tabling for the conservative organization Turning Point USA was assaulted on Upper Sproul Plaza.
UCPD arrested Zachary Greenberg on Friday about 1 p.m. and booked him into jail. Earlier in the day, an Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a warrant for Greenberg’s arrest.
“UCPD will formally present the case to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of the filing of criminal charges,” said campus spokesperson Diana Harvey in a statement. “Once the matter is presented and reviewed by the District Attorney’s Office, additional information will be made available regarding a charging decision.”
About 3:29 p.m. Feb. 19, the victim, Hayden Williams, said he had been tabling for Turning Point USA on Upper Sproul Plaza when two males approached the table. A verbal altercation ensued, and Williams began filming the interaction with his phone. The video was posted to Twitter on Thursday morning by campus junior Bradley Devlin, former president of Berkeley College Republicans.
“You are fucking encouraging violence,” said one of the two suspects in the video.
The suspect then proceeded to slap the phone out of Williams’ hand and knock over the table, according to Williams. While he and the suspect struggled for the phone, the suspect punched Williams several times, causing injury to the victim’s eye and nose.
The suspect, Greenberg, left the scene before authorities arrived, beginning more than a weeklong search that has generated backlash from the conservative community nationwide.
Shortly after the episode, many high-profile conservative figures, including Donald Trump Jr. and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, took to Twitter to condemn the incident.
This is abhorrent behavior against free speech on campus. No form of violence is acceptable! Conservative activist assaulted at UC-Berkeley campus during recruitment drive https://t.co/XC6Wi2apkq
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 21, 2019
Turning Point USA Founder and Executive Director Charlie Kirk also expressed his disappointment in the lack of arrests or charges related to the incident as of Monday.
“If the attacker was wearing a MAGA hat there would have been a nationwide manhunt for him,” Kirk said in a tweet.
In a statement released Feb. 22, campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof said UCPD had identified a potential suspect, adding that the suspect is not a student or affiliate of the campus.
The campus announced Tuesday that UCPD was seeking a felony warrant for the suspect’s arrest from the Alameda County district attorney, adding that UCPD would “immediately” pursue the suspect’s arrest if a warrant was issued.
