© CBSA BART passenger shot this video of police on the scene when an officer uses a stun gun on a passenger at the San Bruno station on January 29, 2014.
A woman who witnessed the incident, who did not want to go on camera, told KPIX 5 the man was harmless and that the officer used the stun gun for no reason.
The video, which was taken on the evening of January 29th, begins with the BART officer giving the man a stern warning on a train at the San Bruno station.
"Sir, get off the train. Get off the train, Sir!" the officer said.
KPIX 5 has learned that someone on the train called BART Police to say the man was harassing riders. An officer arrived and tried to convince the man to come talk to him on the platform. He did not comply.
While witnesses were heard on the video saying the man had done nothing wrong and not bothering anyone, the officer used the stun gun on the passenger.
As riders look on, the video shows the man being dragged to the aisle. "Don't move or I'll tase you again," the officer was heard saying.
But that was not the end. Moments later, the officer said to the man, "Get on your stomach or I'll tase you again."
Minutes pass and more officers arrive. As the man was being held down and handcuffed, the video shows the same officer using the stun gun on the passenger for five seconds.
One witness was so horrified that she wrote a blog post about the incident and later reported it to BART Police.
In a statement to KPIX 5, BART said, "As per policy and protocol, BART Police has initiated the proper investigation into the incident."
The video has been forwarded to the independent auditor for BART Police.
The man was booked for resisting arrest and public intoxication that night. Officials said he also had a warrant for a parole violation.
BART policy states that a stun gun can only be used if the suspect poses an immediate threat of bodily harm to the officer or another person.
Reader Comments
Definitely no victim!
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People should collectively address that all police should serve them and not taze or kill them or their dogs.
To protect and serve ehh!
Would like to ask these thugs, WHO are YOU serving?
WHO are YOU protecting?
Certainly not the PUBLIC!
Hey now everyone, not all Police are rouge cops or working for Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan as was the case in New York during the Occupy Wall Street protests.
There are more good cops then there are bad ones.
Maybe we need more stories about the good things that the Police do .
I am on the Police Officers side on this one. He did give multiple warnings to the guy and the guy was displaying mannerisms that were a tad psychotic to say the least. Which of course could have turned into a dangerous situation for everyone.
This was not like the killing of Kelly Thomas (R.I.P.) those cops in Fullerton were the psychopaths in that case. Here, the Officer was respectful ("Sir") gave multiple warnings and I felt it was not excessive.
God Rules!
Yes i agree that not all cops are bad cops, and that they are a lot more good cops than bad cops.
The guy was drunk and a tad rowdy, but i think tasing him with 50000 volts of potentially lethal force
was rather excessive. BART policy states that a stun gun can only be used if a suspect poses an
immediate threat of bodily harm to the officer or another person. Didn't look like he was posing an
immediate threat to anyone when he was tased the 2nd time for 5 seconds while he was on the floor
with 3 cops around him.