SF Bay Area transit officers kill man on platform

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A man reportedly armed with a knife on a Bay Area Rapid Transit station platform was shot and killed by police, transit officials said Monday.

Dispatchers received a call of a “wobbly drunk” with an open bottle of alcohol on the platform of the Civic Center/UN Plaza station in San Francisco around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, according to transit officials.

Two transit officers arrived and then reported shooting a man in the torso. He died about an hour later at the hospital, officials said. Investigators said they found broken glass and knives at the scene.

One BART officer suffered cuts and bruises on his arm. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave.

BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey said that he was “comfortable” with how officers handled the confrontation “from what I know at this point.”

The transit agency has been battling an image problem after a white officer fatally shot an unarmed black passenger on New Year’s Day 2009 at a station in Oakland, a killing that sparked widespread debate and prompted racial unrest in that city.