BART officer and suspect injured during arrest
Authorities say a transit police officer was hurt and a suspect is in custody after an incident at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station in Oakland over the weekend.
A video of the incident, filmed by another passenger and later uploaded to YouTube, shows the officer removing the suspect from a train and pushing him toward a heavy-duty glass wall, which then shatters. It has prompted an investigation into the officer’s use of force, according to a statement on BART’s website.
BART police Cmdr. Daniel Hartwig says officers responding to a report of a disturbance around 5:40 p.m. Saturday at the West Oakland station found a man, who appeared to be intoxicated, challenging other passengers to fight and yelling racial slurs.
While the officer was trying to take 37-year-old Michael Joseph Gibson into custody, Hartwig said, a window on the station wall shattered, injuring both the suspect and the officer.
The officer suffered several lacerations and a concussion, and has been treated and released, Hartwig said. The suspect was treated for “minor lacerations” and arrested on suspicion of battery on an officer, resisting an officer and other charges, he said.
In a statement issued Sunday, Hartwig called the incident “a use of force case that we will thoroughly investigate. We will review all available information and video and are requesting anybody with any other video or information to please come forward,” Hartwig said.
The officer is unable to perform his duties because of his injuries and has been placed on industrial leave, according to BART.
-- Times staff and wire reports
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