Man Stops Shoe Thief On SF Train, Dies From Stab Wounds

A man was stabbed to death after he allegedly stopped a shoe theft aboard a Bay Area train on Tuesday.

The victim, who was said to be in his 40s was a commuter aboard a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train when he witnessed another man trying to steal another passenger’s shoes.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the police are still looking whether or not the victim was a Good Samaritan who tried to stop the theft.

The victim was stabbed around 1 p.m. while the train was pulling onto Hayward Station

Interim BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said that the incident did not endanger other passengers because it “was a fight involving two individuals that engaged each other.”

Alvarez said upon stopping in Hayward, California, transit officers responded to 911 calls reporting the incident and found the victim bleeding, Fox News reported. The victim later died of his injuries.

“Our thoughts are with the deceased and his loved ones,” BART tweeted.

BPD confirms they’re investigating a fatality aboard a train at the South Hayward Station. Our thoughts are with the deceased and his loved ones.
— BART (@SFBART) November 19, 2019

The suspect, identified as 39-year-old Jermaine Jeremiah Brim, escaped from the station and tried to steal a van from a car dealership, Elias Motors; a block away from the station.

An employee from Elias Motors, Steve Castro said that he was showing a customer the van when a man snatched the keys from his hands, Yahoo News reported.

The two men fought for the keys and Brim tried to open the van doors. Castro said that Brim asked him to stop. “I told him, ‘Give me the keys, and I’ll let you go’,” Castro said.

Brim then crossed the street to a bus stop where he was arrested by transit officers.

“This is something that’s very tragic, it’s rare on BART,” Alvarez said in a statement. “I do want to assure our ridership that BART is safe and we’re continuing to reassure them by providing a presence in our system.”

On July 2018, a stabbing incident also occurred on BART with the victim being 18-year-old Nia Wilson who was stabbed in an unprovoked attack on her and her sister in an Oakland BART station. A judge agreed to seal a motion for the high-profile case to be dismissed on October of 2018.