Man's body recovered from steep canyon in Berkeley Hills
Authorities said the homicide unit is investigating the death but that it does not appear to be suspicious.
First responders recovered a man's body from a creek in the Berkeley Hills over the weekend, authorities report.
The recovery happened Sunday shortly after 6 p.m., according to radio traffic reviewed by The Berkeley Scanner.
Authorities said the homicide unit is investigating the death but that it does not appear to be suspicious, based on preliminary indications.
The man appeared to be unsheltered, authorities said.
A reader asked The Scanner about what happened after seeing "Two firetrucks, two EMT trucks, and at least two Berkeley PD vehicles on the downhill side of Arlington just a few houses south of the Berkeley-Kensington line."
Another reader described many first responders and bystanders looking down into the ravine just south of Arlington and Amherst avenues.
Berkeley police said a neighbor in the 400 block of Arlington Avenue called police at about 4:20 p.m. Sunday after spotting a body in the creek where a canyon drops 8 feet from nearby properties.
Once Berkeley firefighters arrived, they set about determining the best way to reach the body.
"He's going to be fairly inaccessible," BPD said over the radio. "There's steep terrain leading down to a creek here."
Providing a further update, the Berkeley Fire Department said the body was "in the flow of the water."
Authorities closed off access to nearby streets, resulting in an AC Transit detour, while the body recovery was underway.
The Berkeley Fire Department used a type of rescue stretcher called a Stokes basket to remove the body from the water.
"When you hear the phrase, 'the pea is in the pod,' that's when we can change it to a haul line," a Berkeley firefighter advised over the radio at about 5:55 p.m.
A short time later, the Berkeley Fire Department terminated the incident and said the recovery had been successful.
As of Monday night, the Alameda County coroner's office said the man had not been identified.
The Scanner will update this story if additional information becomes available.
Update, Oct. 15: The coroner's office identified the man as 60-year-old Lenard Andrus. His family posted a GoFundMe page and KTVU had a story in late April.
