Berkeley Police Too 'Occupied' to Deal With Brutal Beating That Left Man Dead

A man in Berkeley was beaten to death while confronting a man trespassing on his land. And according to reports, police were too busy dealing with Occupy protesters to respond.

The San Francisco Chronicle has the story explaining how an unidentified victim savagely beaten by a trespasser -- suspected to be a mentally ill 23-year-old named Daniel Jordan Dewitt -- attempted to call the police regarding his assailant. The call was ignored because Berkeley police were too busy dealing with Occupy Oakland protesters:

The victim had called police on a nonemergency line after first seeing Dewitt, according to sources familiar with the case. But police were busy monitoring an Occupy Oakland march to UC Berkeley, and officers were dispatched only to high-priority calls.

The trespassing call was even further ignored when an officer told the dispatcher he had plans to go check out the call, but was told not to go. Minutes later, the victim was beaten to death with a potted plant.

The alleged perpetrator, Dewitt, is a graduate of Alameda High, where he played football, as well as the grandson of a former Berkeley city councilman. His mother told authorities he had a "history of mental illness," though of what kind, it is not known.

Occupy Oakland, on the other hand, has been far more consistent and understandable in its application of violence and trespassing. Protesters have already degenerated into violence in the city -- as even the Huffington Post, which many believe is sympathetic toward the movement, reported:

A protest that shut down the Port of Oakland to show the broadening reach of the Occupy Wall Street movement ended in violence when police in riot gear arrested dozens of protesters overnight who broke into a vacant building, shattered downtown windows, sprayed graffiti and set blazes along the way.

Ironically, they claim to be the wronged party in these events. A lawsuit filed by Occupy Oakland against the city alleges that they have been the victims of excessive police brutality -- brutality that offers claim was warranted, given the high amount of violence that has taken place among the protesters.