CAUGHT ON TAPE: BART police officer sends man crashing through glass during arrest November 22, 2009
Posted by californiabeat in BART Police Shooting, East Bay.Tags: BART, Police, Cop, Video, Train, arrest, YouTube, glass, West Oakland
trackback
BEAT STAFF REPORT
A video posted onto YouTube Saturday night shows a BART Police Officer, attempting to arrest a drunken man, shoving the individual into a heavy duty glass window, shattering it, and bloodying both the officer and man at the West Oakland BART station Saturday evening.
Seen above, it’s already raising questions about whether the appropriate amount of force was used to arrest the man, identified by BART as a 37 year-old San Leandro resident, especially in light of the high-profile videotaped slaying of Oscar Grant by ex-BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle.
BART held a hastily called news conference Sunday afternoon to discuss the incident and to ask the public not to come to any preliminary conclusions about whether the officer seen in the YouTube video acted inappropriately.
- SEE THE VIDEO: BART Police officer sends man crashing through glass (via cbs5.com)
- MORE: Oscar Grant BART Shooting Coverage
The drunk man was arrested and booked on several felony charges Saturday night. His family tells the San Francisco Chronicle that he suffers from a history of substance abuse and mental illness. He sustained injuries as a result of the shattering glass.
BART Police say that the officer suffered injuries as well, including a cut to the face and a concussion from the falling glass.
An investigation into the matter has begun, BART Police said.
This incident follows the videotaped slaying of Grant, which touched off massive rioting in Oakland and created a media frenzy over the multiple videos that surfaces showing Mehserle, the former BART policeman, standing over Grant and shooting the unarmed father to death on New Year’s Day at the Fruitvale BART station.
Mehserle is now charged with murder. Last week, an Alameda Co. judge decided to move the murder trial for Mehserle to Los Angeles County, where it is expected to start next year.
No word from BART as to whether this officer will return to his patrol duties soon. He was treated and released from a local hospital, and remains on “industrial leave” because of his injuries, according to BART.
What do you think about this new video? Post your comments below.
E-mail the Beat at californiabeat@gmail.com. Join the California Beat on Facebook, and get breaking news headlines, story alerts and previews when you follow us on Twitter.
My letter to BART internal affairs director, the Board of Directors, and the SF Chronicle:
Dear Sergeant Chlebowski and the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle,
I find the actions of BART Police officers to be absolutely reprehensible at best. In the last year alone, the public has captured footage of BART Police officers maiming or murdering two individuals who were not resisting officers.
It’s amazing what the public has done to out these incidents so that others can see the sheer lack of reservation BART officers have in using force. What is even more amazing is that BART seems to take no accountability for their officers’ actions. The press conference given today to members of the media after a BART police officer smashed an intoxicated patron into a plate glass window at West Oakland station demonstrates this arrogance. It seems the phrasing the media is using – which accurately describes the incident that took place last night – is too accurate for BART to acknowledge outright. It is unfortunate that BART belittles the media for doing its job (by denouncing the media’s spot-on portrayal of the incident).
Not only are officers going above and beyond what they are entitled to do in handling law enforcement situations, BART station attendants attempt, in the depth of their ignorance, to enforce laws that don’t exist. For example, I was told by an attendant – via loudspeaker at the Powell Street station in San Francisco – that my photographing the inside of a bart station (even as a paying passenger inside the ticket gates) was not allowed. There are no laws against doing so, and the US Supreme Court set a precedent in 2003 saying that non-invasive photography taken from a public space is not illegal (see Barbra Streisand v. Kenneth Adelman et al, 2003). Why does BART continue to harass its patrons against all law and logic?
It is with great hesitation that I continue to support BART with my patronage. I really shouldn’t have to be writing this letter.
Respectfully concerned,
Andrew Leonard
Hope the officer is not hurt badly.. He needs to return to continue to protect and serve from the drunk crazies. I can only imagine how bad a situation it could have been. Yet he became a victim of this person being amung us while making poor choices.