Officer Breaks Window With Drunks Face

The lawyer for the BART rider whose videotaped arrest by a transit police officer resulted in injuries to both men when the suspect was pushed into a glass window says he will sue the agency for civil rights violations and police brutality.

John Burris, an Oakland civil rights attorney, said Monday that his office will represent Michael Joseph Gibson both on criminal charges stemming from the arrest Saturday evening and in a civil suit that he says he will lodge later.

BART police said they will present their case today to Alameda County prosecutors, who will then decide whether to file charges.

Gibson, 37, of San Leandro, suffered cuts on his right arm when the glass panel atop a concrete wall at the West Oakland Station shattered as he was being arrested. The officer who pulled him off a Pittsburg-Bay Point train at 5:45 p.m., after riders complained that Gibson appeared drunk and was being unruly and threatening, suffered a gash to his head and a concussion.

BART has not released the name of the officer, who has been put on paid leave. The agency said he joined the transit police in May after working for six years as a Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy.

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