Now that Internet-infamous naked BART man Yeiner Perez Garizabalo, 24, is awaiting trial in July, BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey is ready to take questions from the peanut gallery. First order of business: figure out how they let their suspect go without making an arrest report.
To review: BART police arrested Perez on May 10th and he was taken to California Pacific where he was placed on psychiatric hold. He was later released from the hospital because BART police never filed a police report. Weeks later video emerged and the San Francisco DA's office charged Perez with two felonies for false imprisonment, four misdemeanor counts of battery on public transportation and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery. He pled not guilty yesterday.
Today, Chief Rainey told the press, “If there were any procedural failings we will correct them, and if there were performance issues with our officers we will address them." We can expect a full report at the BART Citizen Review Board meeting next week, which is probably the most action that board has seen in a long time.
On top of the current investigation, BART has hired retired police chief Patrick Oliver to watch over Rainey's shoulder as BART police undergoes a makeover. The department is still stinging from a 2010 report by NOBLE that criticized BART police in the wake of the Oscar Grant shooting.
As for the lengthy response time, last week after the video came out, BART spokesman Jim Allison defended the seven-minute response because no BART officers were in the area. (Pro-tip for Rainey: putting a few officers at one of your busiest and shadiest stations during rush hour would be a good place to start fixing what's broken at the department.)
Previously: All BART PD coverage on SFist
[BCN/Appeal]