A Livermore man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly severely assaulting his mother in the parking lot of a Pleasanton hospital on Monday morning.
At 6:44 a.m. Monday, Pleasanton police officers were dispatched to the parking lot of Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare after receiving a report that a man was punching a woman, according to Lt. Larry Cox.
As officers were responding the suspect — later identified as 27-year-old Livermore resident Brian Bertoli — fled the area toward Old Santa Rita Road, according to Cox.
As police were looking for Bertoli, an officer found him in front of 3657 Old Santa Rita Road. Cox alleged Bertoli was agitated, covered in blood and refused to comply with the officer’s commands.
As officers moved in to detain Bertoli, he began struggling, prompting police to use a Taser on Bertoli, who was taken into custody without further incident, Cox said.
Police located the victim, Bertoli’s mother, at Stanford-ValleyCare as she was being treated for major head injuries including a large laceration over her left eye that appeared to have been caused by a sharp weapon, according to Cox. She also had cuts on her hands and severe swelling of her eyes and nose. She was transported to Eden Hospital due to the possible head trauma.
Bertoli was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with intent to commit mayhem and resisting arrest, Cox said.
In other news
* With recreational marijuana businesses allowed in California as of Jan. 1, the Pleasanton Police Department issued an advisory last week reminding residents what they can and can’t do with marijuana under state law and city regulations.
“We understand there may be some confusion and concerns with the continued change in laws related to marijuana. It remains our goal to keep citizens informed and to maintain the highest level of safety in our community,” the department statement read.
Proposition 64, passed by state voters in November 2016, decriminalized the use of recreational marijuana for people 21 years old and up, with some restrictions.
Smoking marijuana remains prohibited while driving a vehicle, on school grounds when children are present, while in any public place and in any location in which smoking tobacco is prohibited, Pleasanton police said.
The proposition also allowed those adults to grow up to six marijuana plants in their home for personal, non-commercial use if the plants are in a secured, locked area and out of public view. It further allowed commercial marijuana activities to begin operating under state law Jan. 1, 2018, though cities and counties could restrict or ban those operations if desired.
The city of Pleasanton prohibits all commercial marijuana activities, including cultivation, sales and transportation for sale. Residents also cannot grow personal marijuana outside in Pleasanton, with the city banning that “in order to protect adjacent properties from fire hazards, visual blight, unpleasant odors and other objectionable impacts,” police noted.
Driving while under the influence of marijuana remains illegal, dangerous and an arrestable offense, police said.
“Similar to alcohol, marijuana cannot be smoked or ingested while driving or riding as a passenger in a vehicle,” the department said. “Marijuana products must remain in sealed containers while being transported in vehicles.”
* Pleasanton police blocked off Old Stanley Boulevard for about three hours Tuesday afternoon while working to negotiate with a local man who barricaded himself in a family house just outside downtown after fleeing from a traffic stop.
Officers ultimately opted to reopen the neighborhood to residents and are seeking an arrest warrant from a judge after determining the unarmed man posed no threat to the community while holed up in the unoccupied home owned by a family member, according to police officials.
“After exhausting all attempts to communicate with (Scott) Hagan and believing he may be in crisis, officers did not make entry and have sought a warrant for his arrest,” Lt. Maria Munayer said in a statement.
The situation unfolded just after 12:45 p.m. Tuesday when a local police officer saw a white Chevy Silverado driving erratically on First Street, speeding and swerving, according to Munayer.
The officer turned on his emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop, at which point the driver — later identified as Hagan, 55, of Pleasanton — got out of his truck and walked toward the officer in a threatening manner, Munayer said.
Hagan then allegedly yelled threats at the officer before running back to his truck and speeding away.
Another officer arrived and a short police pursuit ensued before ending abruptly when Hagan drove to his former house on Old Stanley Boulevard and ran into the basement, Munayer said. The home is vacant and still owned by Hagan’s mother.
Police closed Old Stanley Boulevard between Main and First streets while trying to talk Hagan into coming out of the house, but the man just yelled back at officers and failed to comply with officers’ orders to leave the basement, according to Munayer.
After around three hours, police decided to clear the scene without forcibly entering the basement and instead seek a warrant for Hagan’s arrest on a charge of evading police, according to Munayer.
This was not Hagan’s first run-in with law enforcement in recent months.
Last June, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office reported Hagan was shot by a ranch owner in rural unincorporated Livermore after allegedly smashing his truck into a barn, the rancher’s home, a truck and a propane tank before trying to drive at the rancher.
Hagan was detained on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and felony vandalism at the time. The sheriff’s office has not yet responded to a request for an update on that criminal case.
* A man who’s serving a term of 80 years to life for murdering a former friend on a Livermore golf course in 2012 is among two inmates accused of slaying a fellow inmate at the Folsom state prison, California Department of Corrections officials said last week.
Jacob Kober, 29, of Livermore, is suspected in the death of inmate Devlin Stringfellow, 48, who was assaulted with inmate-manufactured weapons Jan. 10 in an exercise yard at the maximum security prison east of Sacramento and died about a half-hour later in the prison’s medical clinic.
Kober was convicted in February 2015 of first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Kenneth Robert Ogden, his former friend, on Dec. 28, 2012. Ogden’s body was discovered the next morning by a man who lives on Galaxy Court in Livermore and saw him lying on the grass alongside the Springtown Golf Course fairway and neighboring bicycle paths, police said.
State officials said Stringfellow was serving a six-year sentence for his conviction in Los Angeles County for drug, weapon and assault counts and was scheduled to be released in June 2020.
They said the second suspect in Stringfellow’s death is Stephen Dunckhurst, 49, who is serving a life sentence for his conviction in Shasta County for vehicle theft and possession and manufacture of a deadly weapon by a prisoner, plus a three-year term for second-degree robbery.
* Editor’s note: Information from the Bay City News Service was used in this report.
