BART GM Apologizes To Rider Accused Of Eating Sandwich: VIDEO

PLEASANT HILL, CA — The general manager of BART — Bay Area Rapid Transit — issued a written apology Monday to a passenger who was taken away in handcuffs last week after eating a breakfast sandwich while waiting for his train to arrive at the Pleasant Hill BART station.

Video of the Nov. 4 incident was recorded by the sandwich-eating passenger's girlfriend, and has since gone viral. The video shows a white BART police officer confronting the rider, a black man, about eating on the train platform. The officer appears to hold onto the rider's backpack in an effort to detain the rider.

"It's a violation of California law, I have the right to detain you," the officer says.

"I'm not going to jail for eating a f***ing sandwich," says the passenger, identified by news media as Steve Foster.

The officer continues to hold onto the backpack and accuses Foster of resisting arrest.

"I was feeling upset ... Honestly, I feel like I was singled out because of my skin color," BART rider Steve Foster told KRON4.

As of Monday morning, the video had been viewed more than 318,000 times on Twitter. It has also prompted eat-in protests such as "Eat a Breakfast Sandwich on BART."

BART has a no eating or drinking policy in its "Paid Areas," defined by BART as places where a ticket is required, such as inside the fare gates of a station, on platforms or on any train. California state law sets the fine for the infraction as high as $250 and up to 48 hours of community service.

BART General Manager Bob Powers said he has "seen the video of a man eating a sandwich on our platform and our police response."

"The officer was doing his job but context is key," Powers said. "... I’m disappointed how the situation unfolded. I apologize to Mr. Foster, our riders, employees, and the public who have had an emotional reaction to the video."

Here is the full Nov. 11 statement from GM Powers:

"Moving 415,000 riders each day comes with complexities and there are laws in place to keep our system safe, welcoming, and clean.

"I’ve seen the video of the incident involving a man eating on our platform and our police response. Eating in the paid area is banned and there are multiple signs inside every station saying as much. As a transportation system our concern with eating is related to the cleanliness of our stations and system. This was not the case in the incident at Pleasant Hill station on Monday.

"The officer asked the rider not to eat while passing by on another call. It should have ended there, but it didn’t. When the officer walked by again and still saw him eating, he moved forward with the process of issuing him a citation. The individual refused to provide identification, cursed at and made homophobic slurs at the officer who remained calm through out the entire engagement.

"The officer was doing his job but context is key. 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.

"I’m disappointed how the situation unfolded. I apologize to Mr. Foster, our riders, employees, and the public who have had an emotional reaction to the video.

"I’ve spoken to our interim Police Chief about my feelings related to this incident and our Independent Police Auditor is conducting an independent investigation. He will report his findings to our Citizen Review Board."