BART officer, passenger injured in scuffle caught on video

By CNN

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(CNN) -- An Oakland, California-area transit police officer was captured on video forcing the head of an unruly man into a heavy-duty glass window, which shattered, during an arrest at a passenger station.

The video, posted on YouTube and released Sunday by police, shows an unidentified Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer in a scuffle with a man identified by authorities as Michael Joseph Gibson, 37, of San Leandro, California. Gibson, who appears disgruntled and gesturing while on a train at the West Oakland station, is pulled off the train by an officer, who has the man in an arm grip. The officer forcibly walks the man toward the station wall, which is toped by large widows, and one window shatters as the officer appears to force the man against it.

The incident happened about 5:40 p.m. Saturday (8:40 p.m. ET), according to a statement from BART police Sunday. The officer sustained facial lacerations requiring stitches and a concussion, while Gibson suffered cuts to his hand, forearm, palm and a cut to his head. Both were treated at a hospital.

"This is a use-of-force case that we will thoroughly investigate," BART Police Patrol Commander Daniel O. Hartwig said in the statement. "We will review all available information and video and are requesting anybody with any other video or information to please come forward."

According to BART police, witnesses had alerted authorities about Gibson, who "appeared to be intoxicated and was yelling racial slurs and profanity at passengers and challenging customers to fight."

Once released, Gibson was booked into the Santa Rita County jail. He faces charges of battery on a police officer with injury and resisting arrest -- both felonies -- and public intoxication, a misdemeanor. Gibson had not retained at attorney as of Sunday night.

The officer was placed on leave due to his injuries, authorities said.

The suspect's sister, Lisa Gibson, of Antioch, told CNN Sunday that her brother was diagnosed with bipolar/schizophrenic disorder and currently is under a doctor's care. She said he was released from hospitalization earlier this month.

Lisa Gibson said her brother appears to have been intoxicated in the video. Still, she blasted the officer who made the arrest, saying, "Whoever this officer is shouldn't have a job. He has no integrity and a combative mindset."

Saturday's scuffle is the latest incident to draw attention to BART.

Johannes Mehserle, a former BART officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed man at a transit station, faces trial in Los Angeles County. The circumstances of the shooting -- also caught on video -- prompted widespread media coverage and protests, both of which a judge recent cited in an October order moving the trial, as factors affecting the likelihood of a fair trial in Alameda County, where the shooting happened.

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