UC Berkeley undergrad arrested in vandalism spree

A 21-year-old UC Berkeley student was arrested on suspicion of 35 instances of vandalism on a residential street just south of the university’s campus, police said. A 21-year-old UC Berkeley student was arrested on suspicion of 35 instances of vandalism on a residential street just south of the university’s campus, police said. Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close UC Berkeley undergrad arrested in vandalism spree 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

A UC Berkeley student who posted a criticism of the Berkeley Police Department that went viral this month was arrested following nearly three dozen instances of vandalism, much of it racist, just south of campus, police said Friday.

Ismael Chamu, 21, was arrested in San Francisco on Thursday night on suspicion of the graffiti vandalism, according to the Berkeley Police Department. He was held in Berkeley jail under $85,000 bail, records show.

Chamu had earlier been arrested around 3 a.m. on June 28 and then released without charges after police stopped him in the same area just south of the campus, said Sgt. Andrew Frankel, a spokesman for the Berkeley Police Department.

An ensuing investigation following the late-June incident pointed to Chamu as responsible for the vandalism on Hillside Avenue near Prospect Street in the heart of Berkeley, Frankel said.

Among the 35 documented incidents of vandalism, according to police: a car spray-painted with he term “f— white ppl,” and buildings with the phrase “kill cops” and an “A” stylized apparently to stand for “anarchy.”

Frankel said the vandalism was reported at 6:49 a.m. on June 28, after a victim came out of his home on Prospect Street to “find his car tagged.”

The victim “turns around to go back into the house and sees his front gate tagged and his partner’s car tagged,” Frankel said. “And he turns around and starts looking around the neighborhood and sees a number of his neighbor’s properties have been vandalized.”

At least 13 victims were identified, Frankel said, adding that investigators had no reason to believe the vandalism was targeted.

Officers said that on June 28 they were investigating a report of a burglary at a nearby home and stopped Chamu because he matched the description of one of the burglars. Frankel said officers discovered an illegal switchblade on Chamu, leading them to arrest him.

In an ensuing Facebook post that has since either been deleted or made private, Chamu railed against Berkeley police and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which booked him into jail.

The undergraduate, who could not be reached for comment on Friday, has a history of espousing far-left and activist causes on his personal Facebook page. On it, the 21-year-old describes himself as “A Tea Party Republican that Identifies as a Communist” who likes to “Revolution and Chill.”

A second student, 21-year-old Peter Estrada, was arrested Friday, the Berkeleyside website reported.

Frankel said investigators were probing the incident as a hate crime because of the language “targeting people based on their race.”

No charges were filed Friday in the vandalism case, according to a spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. She did not respond when asked why the June 28 weapons case against Chamu was dropped.

Following his initial arrest, Chamu penned a Facebook post that quickly went viral, Berkeleyside reported. The Berkeley publication reported that in the post, which was shared thousands of times and garnered widespread support — including from Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín — Chamu accused police of racially profiling him for “being Mexican.”

In the post, according to Berkeleyside, Chamu said that sheriff’s deputies when booking him into jail mocked him for not speaking English, adding that they also made assorted racial remarks.

He also reportedly wrote that he was “kidnapped by armed agents,” an experience that “humiliated” and “traumatized” him.

Frankel, the Berkeley police spokesman, declined to comment on the allegations. Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department, said he made the department’s internal affairs unit aware of them.

Kelly said that no internal affairs investigation had been opened, however, because Chamu did not report the matter. The spokesman added that he had “no reason to believe any of these allegations are true.”

In his Facebook post, Chamu reportedly did not mention the switch-blade.

Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley