BART stabbing suspect makes court appearance, charged with murder

Dublin, Calif. - The man accused of stabbing a good Samaritan to death on board a BART train this week made his first court appearance on Thursday. 

The defendant, Jermaine Brim, 39 of Sacramento, did not enter a plea at the Dublin Courthouse, but he was charged with murder after sources say he attacked his victim with is own knife after also trying to steal a sleeping passenger on BART's shoes and then trying to steal the good Samaritan's shoes. 

Brim covered his face in the courtroom and hid behind a wall. Alameda County prosecutors charged Brim with murder for a deadly fight on-board a BART train in Hayward on Tuesday. 

New details emerged, including that the entire incident was caught on surveillance video on the train. 

Sources said Brim had removed a shoe from a sleeping passenger and tried to grab the other shoe. The victim, Oliver Williams, 49, intervened. That's when Williams and Brim began to fight each other on the floor of the BART train car. 

Then, sources said Brim tried to steal Williams' shoes. After struggling with the suspect for several minutes, the victim took out a knife from his pocket. 

Authorities said Brim overpowered Williams and stabbed him repeatedly in the neck with his own knife. 

According to police, Brim then left the South Hayward BART station and tried to wash the blood off of himself at a gas station before trying to carjack two cars. KTVU had interviewed a car salesman at a nearby dealership who said he and Brim got into a physical fight when Brim tried to steal a Dodge minivan from his lot. 

Authorities said only hours before the stabbing, Brim attacked a paramedic while being taken to San Leandro Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, but he walked away from the hospital. 

San Leandro Hospital was recently designated as one of several new facilities where psychiatric patients in Alameda County can be detained involuntarily for 72 hours. That move was designed to ease overcrowding at John George Psychiatric Hospital, also in San Leandro. 

Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Ray Kelly said it's not unheard of for psych patients to leave a facility especially if they're not under arrest.

"There would be no police cars or officers on the street if we stayed at every psychiatric hold that we do in this country," Kelly said. 

Brim is being held without bail. He's expected back in court Dec. 5.