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Somebody caught this arrest on video Saturday night: a very obnoxious drunk guy starts screaming and generally making a nuisance of himself -- all while brown-bagging it -- as the train is stopped at West Oakland Station. A BART police officer quickly moves in and pulls the guy off the train, and pushes him across the platform where (it appears) his head ends up going through one of the glass barriers on the other side. While some might cheer this valiant effort to remove a drunk asshole from a train, others are raising questions about the officer's excessive use of force.
It is not entirely clear from the video what causes the glass to smash, but having learned their lesson about public opinion and YouTube with the Oscar Grant/Johannes Mehserle debacle, BART was quick to respond in having a news conference, launching an investigation, and getting the video taken down. It has, naturally, cropped again.
The drunk dude in question is 37-year-old Michael Gibson, who after being treated for his wounds was moved to Santa Rita jail in Dublin. The BART officer has not been identified.
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I watched that about a dozen times earlier and I think it's pretty clear by the way the drunk's right hand is moving that he tried to stop his head hitting the glass and his hand/fist/possible elbow is what broke the glass. Still, his face might've done it if he hadn't blocked.
Cool video. Love the commentary by the bystanders.
this video makes me realize that those windows are kinda weak. Otherwise, pretty standard arrest procedure (i.e. putting a perp up against a wall).
Haha. Your citation for "others are raising questions" lists only two people: the Oscar Grant family attorney, and the drunk dude's dad. Win.
That glass broke way too easily.
I agree. This cop was just doing his job. If you are in a communal area and act obnoxious in an area where this is not condone, be prepared to suffer the consequences.
I hope they make the hoodrat for the broken window. After all, it ws his arm/face that broke it and BART is underfunded enough as is.
-mm
and where, exactly, do police officers derive their legal authority to decide and impose consequences?
The consequence is called being arrested. That's a pretty basic authority that police have.
you're changing the subject. the consequence being discussed is of the officer putting the guy through a window.
So you really believe that the officer intended to break the window with some part of the drunk guy's body? And if so, you are really asking where the legal authority comes from?
Or is that a brilliant rhetorical question implying that BART cops are corrupt?
As someone who has coordinated many glass window installations, that glass broke way too easily. It should be able to withstand more force than what appeared to have happened in this altercation.
The cop giving the press conferences said exactly that. Something a bout "heavy-duty" glass that's .25" thick.
It doesn't look to me that the guy's head is quite at the window when it breaks, but I can't quite see his right arm clearly enough to see if he hits it. Considering how agitated he was on the train, I don't know how much I can blame the cop, especially if it seems reasonable to think the glass would hold.
It's ok, it's ok... he's not black. We don't have to care.
You're so right on, Jay. The big & mean ol' police officer should've been throwing pillows and Snuggies for drunk dude to curl up and take a nap.
Team BART Cop!
Everyone knows that if the drunk dude was a black guy, the whole f'n world would be protesting and there would be rioting. But he's a white guy, so it's alright.
I'm all for the cop laying the smackdown on this tard, but yeah, the glass broke way to easy, and i'll bet the cop thought it would hold up like plexiglass.
Right, because when a black man is shot and killed, that's equivalent to a white man being injured.
Yay for blatant racism!
When it comes to any sort of violence regarding police on civilian, race is always an issue no matter what their race is.
Of course a killing versus whatever-this-is, isn't the same, but you know what I said is true. If the perp was anything but a white person, BART would be on fire again.
juss sayin
Having said that...
That sfgate story pretty much proved your point.
Check out this quote -
“BART officials said Sunday that both the officer and Gibson are white. Gibson's father said his son is black but is light-skinned and often mistakenly identified as white.”
Sad that we as this great progressive leftist city have to break down a mentally ill drunk guys DNA for a news story.
watch the dude's right arm...
Bonquiqui: Sa-curity!! This dude need to go , he need to go!
KTVU's coverage of this video is inaccurate. I'm glad to see it for myself here.
Too much homemade Sparks.
It sure looks like the drunk dude smashes the window, not the cop.
I don't know about you guys, but...
I don't feel like I'm Him.
TODOS SOMOS EL BARRACHO HOMBRE!
Team figuring out what actually happened!
Good. I hate the crazy drunk people on Bart. I hope the cop doesn't get in trouble.
Some more quotes from the sfgate story where the crazy drunk guys dad even said they couldn’t take care of him -
Gibson's family said he had struggled with mental illness and substance abuse and had been in previous run-ins with police.
"We've been trying to get help for him," said his father, Joseph Gibson of Hayward. "He's got mental problems and should have been put away a long time ago. He's been in and out of so much stuff lately."
Records show Gibson was booked on suspicion of two felonies, battering a police officer and resisting arrest, as well as a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
***
This reminds me of the story a few years ago where kid with mental problems tells his girlfriend he’s going to die today, takes her to the movies at the Metrion to watch Swordfish, lights a cigarette in the movie theater, cops are called, guy pulls out a knife and then gets blown away. Family later collects almost a million dollars from the city.
We are still Idris.
What’s actually uplifting about that video is seeing how the passengers are supporting the cop.
They ask him if he’s OK and if he needs their help calling anyone. When they see that he’s bleeding people ask if anyone has something to stop the bleeding.
Normally when these things happen everyone on the bus is acting like it’s a KMEL concert. Nice to see that we can still act civilized on public transportation.
@Ramon
hahah bonquiqui!! you see me tryin to hav a conversashon! don't interrupt! RUDE!
Go Bart Cop Go!!!
If that plate glass is typical of what I've seen at various of BART's "finer" East Bay BART station platforms, its pretty crappy and easily vandalized glass. Thing could have been partially cracked already before Mayor McDrunktard went through it.
Nice to see the cops respond so quickly too what is unfortunately a not uncommon occurrence. Of course, we've probably all seen worse on MUNI - with or without kung-fu fighting old Chinese ladies.
We are all drunk morons on BART.
Oh wait, no we're not. Some of us actually just pay, get on, get to where we're going then get off the train. You know, the intended purpose of the entire line of rails, cars and drivers. When you go outside of the intended purpose, you are on your own.
Wasn't Oscar "Lovelle" Grant drunk too when he got tazed?
Oh, this story just get's better....
From KTVU's coverage -
On Monday, Daly City police announced that earlier that same day, officers arrested Gibson for assault and battery after he allegedly kicked an 84-year-old man in the seat of his pants on a Samtrans bus.
Its pretty clear its the drinks hand that breaks the window.
I dodnt see any use of excessive force. This guy was acting like an ass. There is no way to predict what he was going to do next. The cops job it to arrest him as quckly as possible and to also protect himself and others.
If idiots like this dont want to risk getting hurt during an arrest. Dont act like a total drunken ass in public