A 49-year-old man shoved a 74-year-old woman into an oncoming BART train in San Francisco on Monday, police say. (KTVU/YouTube)
A shocking incident transpired in San Francisco when a man shoved an elderly woman into the path of an oncoming Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train, killing her in a seemingly random attack.
It occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Monday at the Powell Street Station, according to BART police. A press release said 49-year-old Trevor Belmont, also known as Hoak Taing, pushed a 74-year-old woman as the train approached the station. She hit her head on the train and fell down onto the platform, cops said. Paramedics rushed the woman to a hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.
Several onlookers pointed to the suspect and BART officers arrested Belmont shortly after the incident. Cops took Belmont to the San Francisco County Jail where he’s facing charges of murder and inflicting injury on an elder person, likely to cause great harm. Investigators are reviewing surveillance video, interviewing witnesses and searching for a possible motive. There’s no indication so far that the suspect and victim knew each other.
The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victim as Corazon Dandan. Family said she was headed home from her job as a hotel telephone operator at Parc 55. Her nephew Alvin Dandan told The San Francisco Standard that she immigrated to the Bay Area from the Philippines some 40 years ago. She dedicated her life to helping pay school tuition for her nieces and nephews. She had no children of her own.
“Great does not even define what I think this woman is,” he told the outlet. “I wouldn’t be here and a lot of my cousins wouldn’t be here … She put a lot of people through school.”
She worked at the Westin St. Francis near Union Square for decades before retiring, her nephew said. Despite not needing the money, she picked up a job at Parc 55 because she enjoyed working and “being around younger people.”
General Manager Peter Hart said in a statement to the Standard that the staff was “deeply saddened” by Corazon Dandan’s death.
“She made a lasting impact on so many of our guests and Team Members and will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her,” Hart said. “We extend our sincerest condolences to her family and loved ones at this incredibly difficult time.”
While this is the first homicide of the year on the BART system, some riders say crime is an issue.
“I have been verbally accosted. I’ve seen other people being verbally accosted and I know that the BART police are here, and we see them doing what they should be doing but it’s not enough,” BART rider Ana Showers told local ABC affiliate KGO. “I’m always carrying a weapon on me.”
An anonymous BART employee said in an interview with the TV station things start getting dangerous at night inside the Powell Street Station.
“It’s just a different animal at night. There is a lot of stuff going on. There are fights. There are jump ins, there are people being shot. The city is not safe anymore,” said the employee.
BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin told local CBS affiliate KPIX that incidents like the one Monday are almost unheard of.
“I just want to stress this is an extremely rare incident. I can’t recall another incident where somebody was pushed into a train like this,” Franklin said.
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