Transit police probe officer-rider fracas

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- San Francisco transit police are quizzing witnesses to an altercation that ended when an officer forced a man against transit station window that shattered.

Daniel Hartwig, Bay Area Rapid Transit police force patrol commander, said detectives have identified and begun interviewing a dozen witnesses to the weekend incident at BART's West Oakland station, CNN reported Tuesday.

"We will take our time and we will cover everything that needs to be covered," Hartwig said.

The incident was videotaped and posted on the Internet, but since has been removed, officials said. The video showed the man, Michael Joseph Gibson, being removed from the train by an officer who had Gibson in a firm grip while walking him toward the station wall that included large windows. In the video, the officer forced Gibson against the window, which shattered.

Why the glass broke remained unclear, officials said. The officer sustained facial cuts and a concussion, while Gibson had cuts to his hand, forearm, palm and head.

Police also released the tape of 911 calls in which witnesses and a train operator complained that Gibson seemed drunk and belligerent, CNN said.

Gibson, 37, of San Leandro, Calif., was charged with battery on a police officer with injury and resisting arrest, both felonies, and public intoxication, a misdemeanor, in the Saturday incident.

His sister, Lisa Gibson, told CNN her brother was diagnosed with bipolar-schizophrenic disorder and is under a doctor's care.

Hartwig said police "can't assume this person was mentally unstable."