Man charged with violent robbery of UC Berkeley student
Police say Amahd Mabry "punched the victim once in the face causing him to fall to the ground" when the student chased him.
A man police say snatched an iPhone from a UC Berkeley student and then punched him in the face has been charged with robbery, court papers show.
The incident happened Saturday, Dec. 28, near Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue, on the border of the UC Berkeley campus in the Southside neighborhood.
According to court papers, Amahd Mabry grabbed the phone from the student at about 6:10 p.m. last Saturday.
But when Mabry tried to run off, heading west on Bancroft Way, the student chased him, authorities said.
That's when Mabry "punched the victim once in the face causing him to fall to the ground," Berkeley police wrote.
The student then tracked his phone about a block away to the Haas Pavilion where police found Mabry, according to court papers.
Officers arrested him "after a brief foot chase" and recovered the cellphone, which Mabry had tried to ditch during the chase, police wrote.
When police searched Mabry during his arrest, they found six "suspected meth pipes," BPD wrote.
According to court papers, after being advised of his right to remain silent, Mabry admitted to taking the phone and punching the student.
"UCPD surveillance cameras captured the incident in its entirety," Berkeley police wrote in charging papers.
Amahd Mabry. BPD
Mabry, 25, has no listed address, BPD said.
He is being held at Santa Rita Jail on $55,000 bail and appears to have picked up a new case related to battery and alleged violent conduct Dec. 31 while in custody.
That's the same day the DA's office charged him with robbing the UC Berkeley student, according to court papers.
Mabry was scheduled to enter a plea Friday morning.
It's worth noting that robberies overall fell significantly in Berkeley last year, according to BPD data.
There were about 220 robberies reported in Berkeley in 2024, including carjacking and home-invasion robberies, compared to 386 in 2023. That's a 43% drop.
Historically, the city has averaged about one robbery a day, although those numbers plummeted during the pandemic.
