A 55-year-old transient who was struck and killed by an outbound Muni train Saturday afternoon has been identified as Michael Mendez. Mendez may have fallen off the platform at Powell Station at around 2:40 p.m., and the incident shut down Muni service between Embarcadero and Van Ness until after 6 p.m., creating some chaos for people trying to attend the Chinese New Year parade at Union Square.
Mendez was pronounced dead at the scene, as the Chron reports.
According to ABC 7, Mendez did not fall and did not commit suicide, but he was trying to retrieve a backpack stored under the Muni platform at the time of the accident. The area has been known as a common storage spot for homeless people.
Regular Muni service resumed at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, but the incident was the first of two involving police action in Powell station over the weekend, the second being the shooting that occurred outside the Westfield on Sunday evening in which the victim ended up down in the station.
