BART GM issues apology to rider handcuffed over food policy

Editor's note: This story was updated Nov. 14, 2019, to correctly identify the station's location.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) General Manager Bob Powers yesterday issued an apology to a rider who was handcuffed by BART police for eating a sandwich on a train platform.

BART policy asks riders not to eat or drink on the BART system. On Nov. 9, a BART police officer stopped a rider who was eating on the platform of BART's Pleasant Hill Station in Contra Costa Centre, California. After declining to show identification when asked for it, the rider cursed and made homophobic slurs at the officer, then was handcuffed and led away.

The incident was caught on video, which went viral, prompting an "eat-in" protest by other BART users, The Washington Post reported.

Powers said he watched the video and was "disappointed" in how the incident unfolded.

"The officer was doing his job but context is key," Powers said in the prepared statement.

Powers added: "Enforcement of infractions such as eating and drinking inside our paid area should not be used to prevent us from delivering on our mission to provide safe, reliable, and clean transportation. We have to read each situation and allow people to get where they are going on time and safely."

Powers said he spoke to BART's interim police chief about the incident and the agency's independent police auditor is conducting an independent investigation.

"I apologize to [the rider involved in the incident], our riders, employees and the public who have had an emotional reaction to the video," Powers said.