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. more ›

Though small bits of blood on the ground are not a rare sight in the Civic Center/Tenderloin environs, we felt we should mention a not-insignificant amount of spilled plasma being mopped up at Civic Center BART station last evening (9/29) around 7:40 p.m. Whatever incident had occurred (we have a call in to the SFPD), it was over and what was left was a lot of blood droplets ranging from one end of the platform all the way to the other end, with a small pool next to one of the round benches, and several officers manning the exits. It appeared that whoever was bleeding, it was from a decent-sized wound and they had wandered the length of the platform and back before seeking help or being carted away. BART police have no information on the incident, and though we think there were at least a couple SFPD officers on the scene, we were too busy side-stepping blood droplets and getting on our train to deal with being proper journalists or taking photos. We'll let you know if anyone calls us back, and do tell us if you have any better info. more ›

80% of black residents surveyed and 33% of white residents already believe Johannes Mehserle is guilty in the case of the New Year's shooting death of Oscar Grant, therefore his attorney Michael Rains is arguing for a change of venue. In papers filed last week, Rains said the trial should be moved out of the Oakland area on account of these racial divisions. Meanwhile, four of the six BART police officers involved in the incident that night have quietly returned to work, while Mehserle and one two other officers remain on paid leave. more ›

The father of Oscar Grant III, Oscar Grant II, is suing the transit agency that he thinks is responsible for his son's death. According to CBS 5/AP, "Oscar Grant Jr., who is in prison for murder, filed the civil rights lawsuit in San Francisco federal court, seeking unspecified damages." His attorney says that he"hopes people look past his client's murder conviction to understand there was a close relationship between father and son." Which is oddly touching. And depressing. Anyway, BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, if you recall, sits in the clink, facing murder charges for killing Grant on New Year's Day. more ›