Berkeley Police and BART Police responded to Downtown Berkeley BART station around 7 p.m. Friday after a witness reported seeing a person with a gun on the platform, according to BPD watch commander Lt. Katherine Smith.
BART PD and BPD detained a person matching the description.
BART spokeswoman Cheryl Stalter, responding at midnight Friday to a request from Berkeleyside for information, said BART Police swept the platform searching for a person with a weapon. “No gun was found, nor was anyone arrested,” she said.
Yeah 4 Bart police wrestled a man to the ground their guns drawn. Was he committing homelessness? pic.twitter.com/MELZ4u0Dyk
— ★Revolution Books ★ (@RevolutionBksB) August 31, 2019
A video posted to Twitter by @RevolutionBksB shows police, one of whom has a semi-automatic rifle, surrounding a person on the ground.
During the investigation, which took about 20 minutes, three trains ran through the station without stopping. Stalter said the impact on BART service was limited.
About one hour before the incident, a kickoff celebration marking the start of the Cal football season — the Bears play UC Davis Saturday — was taking place on the downtown Berkeley BART Plaza.
At the 2019 @CalFootball Kickoff Party, in @dwntwnberkeley! #gobears #earnit #berkeley #downtownberkeleyrocks pic.twitter.com/qPMeqp8O6v
— Linda Cogozzo (@calballgirl) August 31, 2019
