BART riders hospitalized following pepper spray incident at Powell Street station

BART riders hospitalized following pepper spray incident

One of the injured riders told KTVU he saw orange clouds of chemicals that burned his eyes and made it difficult to breathe.

SAN FRANCISCO - Several BART riders were injured Saturday afternoon after they were exposed to clouds of pepper spray at the Powell Street station in San Francisco.

A BART Alert issued just before 12:45 p.m. told riders that the station at Powell Street was closed "due to police activity," and that trains would not stop at the station.

Paramedics at the station were seen helping injured riders flush their eyes out with water. The San Francisco Fire Department reported that two people were taken to a hospital for treatment of their injuries, while two others refused to be taken.

The station was closed for about 20 minutes as authorities responded to the scene.

Carlos Hernandez said he was riding the train during the incident and got a face full of caustic chemicals when he tired to investigate the commotion.

"I just stuck my head out of the train just to see what was going on, and as soon as I stick my head out, I just felt all the chemicals burning my eyes, I couldn't even breathe and my chest was feeling kind of compacted," Hernandez said. "It was kind of orange clouds, but at that point I never thought it would be something dangerous for myself."

Hernandez added he saw police officers at the station coughing from the effects of the spray, and a man on a skateboard running away from authorities on the platform.

Police did not say what caused the pepper spray incident, and there were no arrests reported as of Saturday night.