BART pays $6.75M after shooting woman, making false assertions
BART pays $6.75M after shooting woman, making false assertions
BART has agreed to pay $6.75 million to a woman whom they shot in the back and then made false assertions about her driving recklessly and assaulting an officer.
UNION CITY, Calif. - BART has agreed to pay $6.75 million to a 33-year-old woman whom they shot in the back and then made false assertions about her driving recklessly and assaulting an officer, the transit agency and plaintiff's attorneys announced on Friday.
In a joint statement, BART and lawyers for Jasmine Gao, 33, discussed the mediated legal settlement that was agreed to in June, regarding what happened on Nov. 18, 2024 in Union City.
"Our priority is public trust," BART’s Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost said in a statement, indicating BART reached out to the Gao family to stave off a lawsuit. "BART believes resolving this matter promptly is also in the best interest of our riders, employees, and the community."
That's when Officer Nicholas Poblete, who has been given notice of termination, shot Gao, which has left her with significant physical injuries, including not being able to fully use her left arm, to this day.
BART police shot and wounded Jasmine Gao on Nov. 18, 2024 in the Union City parking lot.
"Ms. Gao was badly injured by a police shooting that was an unreasonable overreaction to a vehicle registration that had expired so recently that California law prevented police from taking any law enforcement action against her," Gao's attorney, Ben Nisenbaum, said in a statement. "Ms. Gao… nearly died."
On the evening in question, Poblete had gone to the parking lot of the Union City BART station because someone had reported a driver doing donuts.
He stopped Gao for allegedly driving recklessly, BART police said at the time. BART police also released body camera video at the time, showing Gao telling the officer she didn't know how to do donuts, and Poblete's partner saying that her tires weren't hot.
As she was about to be let go, police realized her vehicle registration was expired. She was able to produce ID from Massachusetts.
Graphic: BART releases video of police shooting at Union City station
The BART Police Department on Thursday released body cam video of officers shooting a woman in the parking lot of the Union City Station.
And then Poblete and Gao got into a heated conversation about why she didn't have valid registration or insurance, and the body camera video showed her snatching her ID away from the officer before driving off.
Poblete then fired his gun three times as Gao drove away.
His bullet struck her, and he claimed that she dragged him and his partner with her car.
About 12 hours after the shooting, BART Chief of Police Franklin did state to the public that "the driver is alleged to have assaulted a police officer."
Franklin also said at the time that Gao would be booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on police, reckless evading, failure to follow a court order, and resisting arrest with an enhancement of committing a felony while out on her own recognizance.
But that turned out not to be true.
In the announcement on Friday, BART said that "having reviewed the body-worn camera footage, BART acknowledges that Ms. Gao did not assault the officers with a deadly weapon and that she was driving away when Poblete discharged his gun."
BART's statement on Friday also acknowledged "that when Ms. Gao drove away, no officer was being dragged or had any body part stuck in the window of her car when Poblete fired, and that no officer was otherwise endangered by the Ms. Gao’s driving of the vehicle."
BART stated that after conducting an administrative investigation of what happened, the agency has issued an "intent to terminate" Poblete.
No criminal charges were ever filed against Gao.