The man who will forever be known to us as the "naked BART acrobat," whose full name we now know is Yeiner Alberto Perez Garizabalo, appeared in court for a preliminary hearing yesterday to face multiple charges of felony false imprisonment, and misdemeanor battery. His public defender, Paul Myslin, is seeking to save Garizabalo from the more serious charges because he was, quite obviously, having some kind of mental breakdown. "People just don't understand how mental health works," he said.
Myslin says it's "outrageous" that the 24-year-old Garizabalo has been charged with any felonies at all, because of the mental health issues.
The incident, recorded for posterity on May 10, began after Garizabalo (whom the Chronicle thought was named Yeiner Perez after finding him on Facebook back in June) was first seen jumping on cars above ground near 16th Street, and then went sliding down the escalator railing at the station wearing only a pair of briefs. He then slipped out of those in order to perform, quite impressively, around the station, doing various splits and acrobatic flips in between randomly assaulting passengers. He remains in jail on $100,000 bail, and will be back in court again on August 19. He still may face deportation back to his native Colombia, and he was living here on an expired visa.
Garizabalo was a part of the Berkeley-based entertainment troupe ClownSnotBombs, who fired him after learning about his arrest. He was rehearsing with them at the nearby Stage Werx Theater on Valencia on May 10 when his fellow performers say he took on a blank stare and just walked out of the theater. His memory of the incident was that he was performing in a play, and he only realized the seriousness of what had happened after he saw the video himself. He's pleaded not guilty.
[Chron]
[Press-Democrat]
