BART cop pushes suspect’s arm, head through window

By David Edwards and Daniel Tencer
Monday, November 23rd, 2009 -- 10:56 am
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bartbayarearapidtransit BART cop pushes suspects arm, head through windowA Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer is facing accusations of brutality after a video showing him pushing an unruly man through a plate-glass window went viral over the weekend.

Police in Oakland, California, have charged Michael Joseph Gibson with felony battery of a police officer, obstructing and resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and public intoxication after a BART officer pulled him off a train at a stop and pushed him into a plate glass window.

Both Gibson and the officer -- whose name has not been released -- were injured in the incident.

Gibson's sister, Lisa Gibson, told CNN that her brother suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and had recently been released from hospital. She told the news network she doesn't believe her brother was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

CNN quoted her as saying that the officer in question "shouldn't have a job" because he has "no integrity" and a "combative mindset."

Story continues below...

Amateur video of the incident shows Gibson standing and shouting in a train car, before a police officer grabs him and drags him out of the train, moving him against a wall of windows where the officer can be seen pushing what appears to be Gibson's head through a glass plate.

Train riders can be heard applauding as Gibson is pulled off the train, but the applause turns to silence as the officer is seen pushing Gibson through the glass.

One person can be heard to say, "No no, this cop's doing his job, that guy's out of line."

The same person can be heard saying, moments later, "This is awesome!"

For BART, the San Francisco Bay Area's commuter rail system, the incident marks yet another controversy over police brutality inside its transit network. In January, the transit system came under heavy criticism for the shooting death of Oscar Grant, who was shot in the back while lying down on the ground after having been pulled off a BART train on New Year's Day, 2009.

An officer in that case has been charged with murder.

This time, BART was quick to respond to the controversy. As blogger Zennie62 at the San Francisco Chronicle's City Brights blog states, "To BART's credit, it's not sitting on this issue; it responded rapidly, issuing a press statement and holding a press conference within moments."

Bart spokesman Linton Johnson told CNN that it was Gibson's arm, and not his head, that was pushed through the glass, and that the blood that can be seen on the video comes from the officer, not Gibson. The officer is on leave due to his injuries.

This video is from CNN, broadcast Nov. 23, 2009.



Download video via RawReplay.com

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Story comments are below...

  • eekeller
    Until these agencies wake up and realize that being a police officer requires a professional, which means an educated person, this type of behavior will never stop. High school graduates are NOT professionals. Every other profession claiming to be "professionals" requires at least an undergraduate degree, and some require post-graduate degrees as well as state licensing. But not the police "professionals." There are exceptions to this, e.g., the California Highway Patrol, the Portland Police Dept., and I hope many others; but still not enough.
  • Joe
    The officer did nothing wrong! All you internet tough guys calling him a pig, put yourself in the position of a passenger on that train with this drunk guy getting belligerent. This cop is there to protect YOU from all the crazies on Bart. All he did was try to subdue the guy. He didn't throw his head through a piece of glass. He was trying to subdue the man against a wall. Sometimes accidents happen. I guess if all your life is about is commenting on websites and critiquing those that get out of their PJs in the morning and try to do a job, it makes sense that you would have no concept of S#%t happens.
  • rickpetes
    Wow. You make a lot of faulty assumptions. My BS is in law enforcement. I did 6 years active duty, which included being shot at. I've been a bouncer at a dive bar, and this officer is behaving like a bad bar bouncer and not a good policeman. If he's so scared that he has to immediately resort to violence to get a suspect under control, he doesn't belong in uniform.
  • WJM51
    I don't think we saw the same video. What I saw was this cop marching this guy up to the window and shoving him into it like he would a wall. In fact, I suspect that this is what the MORON cop thought would happen, he would crack the guy's head on the window and that would be the end of it. What happened is that he injured BOTH of them in the process. GREAT police work. The very act of marching this guy up to the wall so he could slam him into it is disgraceful.

    He clearly had the guy under control, and thought he would go and deliver the usual response to "contempt of cop". Clearly you haven't dealt with cops. I have. They are dishonorable, lying, abusive, and demand more respect than they deserve as HUMAN BEINGS, let alone cops. And this cop is another perfect example of just how sadly out of control our police officers are. Ask them, and they will openly tell you that 9-11 changed EVERYTHING, and now they don't even have to give you a warrant until AFTER they have fucked up your belongings and home.

    Sorry, but cops do NOT get an automatic free pass from me. I'm way too old and have seen WAY too much abuse by them to allow such a thing to happen again. Maybe having YOUR life fucked up by some shit headed little maggot of a cop will change YOUR attitude.
  • buckqjohnson
    Spot on WJM51, spot on. Thats exactly whats happened, he was getting a response to the "contempt of cop". Which means that he didn't show the proper respect to sick individuals that can kill you or hurt you. I've been in situations like this from police, and believe me it's not nice and I didn't do anything. The cop was in attack mode and he wanted you to know it. Just wait Joe when you think your doing everything your supposed to as a "good" citizen and then have one of these guys grab you or throw you down because somebody called the police saying that you or a person like you attacked them or was robbing a place. Do you know why sick individuals call the cop on somebody when they didn't do anything. It's because they know how they act toward people. They know that there's a chance that said cop may hurt or kill said individual. All we have is thugs in uniform who are making it dangerous to be around cops of any persuasion.

    Go to Youtube and look for the Largest gang in America video and it will be a 60 minute video of cops gone bad.
    It's starting to be safer to be around criminals than cops it seems.
  • starvapor
    Joe,
    Don't be so naive and gullible...
    There are officers/cops and there are PIGS....
    By his visibly non-professional actions, this guy qualifies as a PIG.
    You evidently haven't seen this kind of shit occurring often enough to recognize the difference between the two.
  • Elim
    I usually err on the side of the citizen, but in this case, I can't see that the officer did anything wrong. You might make a case about him sending that guy into the glass, but the officer did not know how this guy would react to being arrested, didn't know if he was drunk or under the influence of drugs, and he had no back-up to help in case the guy went off. The best thing to do in this situation (and I'm speaking from experience) is to use an existing barrier to pin the arrestee up against. That's what the officer was doing, and it doesn't appear to me that he intended to ram that guy's head through the glass. That stuff should be shatterproof, or designed to break into rounded pieces. That is probably what the cop expected, or he would not have shoved the man up against it.
  • SSpeedracer
    This cop did nothing wrong. There was no intention to break the glass with the suspects head. It was an accident. Heck, the officer got cut too. I'd be the first to call police brutality. This was NOT. pick your battles.
  • jimthebeam
    without making any judgment on the behavior, I want to know how you know what the police officer's intentions were or were not?
  • SSpeedracer
    Omnipotent.
  • starvapor
    There are cops and there are PIGS....
    .............This is a PIG.
  • Concerned Mom
    What is the Contra Costa agency that the officer came from?

    The officer looks like a skin head.
  • jimthebeam
    He came from the Sheriff's department. He is now a BART police officer. Many cops shave their heads like skin heads. I wonder why?
  • WJM51
    What the hell is this idiot cop THINKING? Does he REALLY believe that he can shove a guy into a window and it WON'T break? Newsflash for an IDIOT cop: GLASS BREAKS.

    I am more than willing to bet that every one of this cop's injuries were a result of his OWN stupidity. If HE hadn't broken the glass with a suspect, the glass wouldn't have fallen on him and cut him on the way down.

    Do they not offer ANY intelligence tests to those who become BART cops? Do they just go out looking for IDIOTS to hire? It might be cheaper initially, but ultimately, the costs of abuse and wrongful deaths will outweigh those "savings" every time. And people will die and be locked up by these idiots until you get someone with SOME brains in the job.
  • CaptBebops
    If you ask a DA they'll tell you they don't hire cops for their brains. If they do then they'll start "interpreting" and "questioning" laws. This is the result. You basically get low IQ thugs in uniform. The public should stand up and voice disapproval of this practice. Not only that but other city and county employees need to be trained to be "people friendly" rather than act like gestapo. I see too much of that going on too. The first thing they need to learn is that they are "public servants."
  • johnnyenglish
    It appears to me that although this gentleman may have been on the train causing a nuisance he does not seem to be offering any resistance to the police officer once restrained. I don't know what the rules are in the US but should imagine they are much the same as those where I am in the UK and in the UK the police have a duty of care, not only to those suffering an offence but also to the offender once taken into custody. The police officer probably more out of fear and preconceived ideas as to what makes a criminal has obviously not considered that the 'drunk' may not be just 'drunk' but in fact ill i.e. a schizophrenic and therefore not in full control of his actions. I have experience dealing with schizophrenic suffers who unfortunately at times behave in ways that cause alarm and possibly fear in the observer but if I saw a policeman behave in the manner shown here I would assume the officer needed mental health help himself and would most definitely bring a private prosecution against him if the authorities were unwilling or unable to do so.
  • JakeW83
    It's time for these pigs to go away. The people of Oakland need to start snatching these fuckers up and drag them through the street.
  • thx1138a
    .
    MILITARY RECRUITERS OVERWHELM BART OFFICER WITH SERVICE REQUESTS

    -- Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR All Vie For Employment of Bay Area "Peace Officer" --

    -- Remorseful Cop Regrets Slamming Suspect's Head Into Window Instead of Brick Wall --
    .
  • joeopenmind
    All those officials in CA. should advise all of the officers to take a vacation for one week. The same week. Advertise the fact that there will be not one Police officer on the trains for said week and see who takes the trains, who gets murdered, robbed. This society that we live in is such a great one that we can walk around all day and feel pretty damn safe. That is mostly due to the officers that are willing to step in when A$$ho!es like this interfere with our daily, monotonous, (safe) grind.
    I guess what I am attempting to say is,... when a cop is pushing someone toward a steady area where he can balance himself and his prisoner and finds that every spot has a window above it, maybe, just maybe one of you scared video camera holding weaklings can give the officer a hand.
    Then judgement you may pass.
  • Freedom's Toast
    LOL....so, because people are speaking out about what they perceive as over-the-line physicality by the police, everyone should do without _competent_ police protection?

    Here's hoping a cop can help "balance" you out, and soon.
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