Update: 3:30 p.m. The woman whom Berkeley firefighters rescued from under a BART train at the Berkeley station Sunday morning jumped in front of the moving northbound train, according to a witness. The BART driver did not see her before she jumped.
Erika Dumaine, 28, and her partner were on the platform waiting for a San Francisco-bound train when they heard a man yell, “She’s jumping!” They turned around and saw the northbound train come to a stop. They later heard the woman talking from under the train.
“It was really horrible,” said Dumaine. “My partner was really shaken up. There were sirens immediately. People were scared. They didn’t know what was going on. There was a guy yelling, ‘I can’t believe she jumped. I can’t believe she jumped,’ over and over.
Dumaine heard the BART driver say she didn’t see the woman before she jumped in front of the train.
There were about 30 people on the BART platform at the time of the incident.
Original story:
BART police rescued a woman Sunday morning who had been run over by a train at the Berkeley BART station.
BART police responded to a report of someone on the tracks around 8:24 a.m., according to Lt. Randy Gregson. When police arrived they found a woman who had been run over by a train. She was rushed to the hospital. Lt. Gregson did not know the extent of her injuries but said he believes she will survive as she was able to talk to emergency personnel.
The station was still closed at 10 a.m. as BART police continued their investigation into what happened. Trains were running through the station, however, and Lt. Gregson said normal service should be restored soon.
Update 12/21: The BART police log had these additional details:
“The victim sustained a severe injury to one of her legs. The victim was transported to Highland Hospital for her injuries. The train operator from the incident train told officers that the female appeared to have jumped down onto the track way on her own and laid across the tracks as the train entered the station. The female was placed on a 72 hour Psychiatric Hold.”
Police do not know yet how the woman ended up on the tracks, said Lt. Gregson.
This story was updated as Berkeleyside got new information.
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