The 49-year-old homeless man suspected of pushing a 74-year-old woman into an oncoming BART train Monday night has been formally charged with murder.
The incident happened around 11 pm Monday on the Powell Street Station platform. 74-year-old Corazon Dandan, a 40-year employee of the Westin St. Francis Hotel, was shoved to her death into an oncoming train. The train reportedly struck her in the head and she was knocked back onto the platform, later dying of her injuries at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital.
Trevor Belmont (also known as Hoak Taing) was charged Wednesday with one count of murder, as well as one count of inflicting great bodily injury on a vulnerable person, with an enhancement that he was lying in wait. His arraignment is scheduled for Friday, July 5, accoriding to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office. It was previously reported that Belmont was transient or homeless.
Belmont will be held in custody pending trial, due to his potential danger to the public, the DA's office says.
"The nature of this incident at Powell Street BART Station was tragic and truly shocking," said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in a statement today. "Unprovoked attacks, especially on our most vulnerable, are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Since the tragic incident, Dandan's nephew, Dr. Alvin Dandan, has come forward telling the Chronicle that his aunt was a "brave, independent woman" who had no children of her own but had helped put him through medical school.
After moving to San Francisco on her own from the Philippines in the 1980s, Corazon Dandan took a job as a telephone operator at the St. Francis, where she remained a loyal, beloved employee. Her family reported had encouraged her to retire, but she had insisted that she wanted to continue working.
Dandan was commuting home to Daly City from her job when she allegedly encountered Mr. Belmont on Monday.
BART police are conducting the investigation, and no motive for the murder has been reported. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the BART Police tip line at 510-464-7000.
Previously: 74-Year-Old Woman Killed After Being Pushed Into Oncoming BART Train In SF, Homeless Male Suspect Arrested
Photo of Corazon Dandan courtesy of Dr. Alvin Dandan