ASUC President Arrested

ASUC President Kris Cuaresma-Primm was arrested outside a Southside bar early Saturday morning and booked into the Berkeley jail on suspicion of public drunkenness, possession of an open container and resisting arrest, police said.

Officers patrolling the Southside area saw a man later identified as Cuaresma-Primm leave a Telegraph Avenue bar while still holding what they suspected to be an alcoholic beverage at about 1:20 a.m., said Berkeley police Sgt. Tom Curtin.

But when the officers attempted to issue an "open container" citation, Cuaresma-Primm allegedly took off running, discarded the beverage and ducked into a business on Durant Avenue.

Officers escorted Cuaresma-Primm from the business and after a brief struggle in which one arresting officer suffered minor injuries, Cuaresma-Primm was detained and transferred into a police car, Curtin said.

Cuaresma-Primm ended the night with a gash on his chin and bruises on his wrists, according to his chief of staff Jamie Liu.

Cuaresma-Primm declined to comment until after his court date.

Some ASUC members called the arrest "embarrassing" and said they hoped the student body's opinion of the ASUC would not be swayed by the incident.

"I'm embarrassed for the ASUC as a whole," said Student Action Senator Suken Vakil. "But I don't think one instance of public intoxication by President Primm should be representative of the entire ASUC."

One witness questioned the need for what he called the "excessive use of force," and the five to six police officers reportedly involved in the arrest.

"As a student, I was truly shocked," said UC Berkeley senior David Glasgow, who said he witnessed the incident. "I did not see an action on behalf of Kris that necessitated the excess."

Others said the incident does not speak to Cuaresma-Primm's ability to serve as ASUC President.

"I just don't feel that something that has happened personally to an elected official is really that pertinent to students," said International Student Senator Imad Ahmed. "That's his private life."

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