BART Commuters in Walnut Creek Prepare for Disruptions, Protests

As the Bay Area awaits a verdict in the trial of a former BART police officer charged with killing a passenger, Bay Area Rapid Transit commuters at the Walnut Creek station said they were preparing for public protests that may disrupt daily travel. 

BART released a statement Wednesday alerting riders of possible service disruptions once jury deliberations in the Los Angeles trial conclude.

The statement says the agency will be letting commuters know if services are impacted due to public demonstrations. 

Closing arguments for the trial of Johannes Mehserle finished Friday and the jury began deliberations before recessing for the holiday weekend. The jury will reconvene Tuesday. 

At the Walnut Creek station Friday morning, Gary Grounds of Danville said he and his co-workers at a cellular phone shop in downtown Oakland have been discussing all week how they would get home and whether to close up in the event of riots.

When violence broke out in downtown Oakland following Grant's shooting, protesters smashed the windows of his workplace. Grounds, who commutes daily to Oakland's MacArthur station, said he was also wondering how he would get home today if the verdict was decided and any protests disrupted BART travel. 

"I'll have to find another way back home," he said. "Maybe I'll have to get a car pool back." He added that his business had to close for the day following the riots to clean up all the broken glass. 

But like Grounds, the possibility of trouble in Oakland was not stopping other people from passing through it on BART, including a family from Scotland who were buying tickets for a ride into San Francisco. 

Bruce Lockhart, of Glasgow, Scotland and his wife and two teenage daughters are staying with an aunt in Danville, who talked about a Mehserle verdict possibly upsetting their plans to ride BART and be tourists in San Francisco Friday.  

"They were saying if a verdict goes a certain way there would be trouble in Oakland," Lockhart said. Still, the family was eager to get into San Francisco and ride cable cars and see Chinatown. If BART trains were delayed or halted later Friday, Lockhart said he and his family would just stay in the city, and relatives would use the San Mateo or Dumbarton bridges to drive in and pick them up. 

Lockhart did not seem overly concerned: "This happens everywhere," he said. 

Elsewhere in the East Bay, commuters expressed concerns about traveling on BART today. Maryann Barthe, a Pleasanton resident, said she'll drive with co-workers if train services are halted.

"I'm going to stay away from BART," she said.

Commuters looking for alternative ways to get around the Bay can contact 511.org, a free public transit planner for the nine-county Bay Area.

BART police and other law enforcement agencies are coordinating in case of any station closures from public demonstrations, according to officials. The agencies held mock riot exercises in anticipation of the verdict.

On Jan. 1, 2009, 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was unarmed, was fatally shot by Mehserle, 28, on the Fruitvale station platform while Mehserle and other BART officers were trying to arrest Grant after a disturbance on the train.

Mehserle, who has claimed he meant to use his Taser on Grant, is now facing a second-degree murder charge.  In the aftermath of the shooting, which stirred allegations of racism because Grant was black and Mehserle is white, violent protests and riots ripped through Oakland, and numerous businesses were attacked.

For two months, rallies were held at various BART stations, with some calling to shut down train service.

Walnut Creek Patch Editor Martha Ross contributed to this report.