An elderly woman was allegedly pushed toward an oncoming train Monday night at Powell Street Station, hitting her head and landing on the platform.
The incident happened at approximately 11:06 pm Monday night. A 74-year-old woman was standing on the BART platform at Powell Street Station when she was allegedly pushed by another individual into an oncoming, Millbrae-bound train. The train struck the woman in the head and she fell onto the platform.
According to a release from BART police, a 49-year-old man was quickly arrested on the train platform.
The victim was transported to the hospital where she died from her injuries.
"A quick reaction by BART Police last night resulted in the arrest of a suspect believed responsible for pushing a woman into a Millbrae-bound train at Powell Street Station," the release states.
The suspect, who is reportedly transient and homeless, was identified as 49-year-old Trevor Belmont (also known as Hoak Taing).
Belmont was booked into SF County Jail, where records show he is being held without bail on suspicion of murder, and inflicting injury on an elder adult likely to cause great bodily injury.
BART police say they are reviewing surveillance video, interviewing witnesses, and processing evidence, and it's not yet clear whether Belmont knew the victim, or what the motive may have been.
Update: The victim has been identified by family as Corazon Dandan. The Chronicle reports that Dandan was a 40-year employee at the Westin St. Francis, where she worked as a telephone operator, and Monday night she was commuting home from work to Daly City.
This is the 18th homicide in the city of San Francisco this year to date, and the first homicide of the year in the BART system.
Homicides are down over 30 percent year over year. At this time last year there had been 25 homicides in the city.
And this is of course everyone's worst nightmare who rides BART or any public train system, and there is an entire genre of these horror stories involving the New York City subway. The most recent fatality involving a so-called "subway shove" in NY was in March, when a man was pushed in front of a train in East Harlem.
Photo: jonthesquirrel/Unsplash