BART police on Friday released body camera footage of two officers involved in a November traffic stop in the Union City Station parking lot, during which one of them shot and injured the woman they stopped.
The nearly 49-minute video shows camera footage of both officers who arrested 32-year-old Jasmine Gao around 9:30 PM on November 18when Officer Nicholas Poblete shot her in the torso as she appeared to try to drive away.
During the initial interaction, Poblete told Gao that her car matched the description of a vehicle that was reportedly doing donuts in the parking lot. Gao seemed perplexed by the statement and asked if anyone was eating donuts and then said she was not well enough to perform the illegal maneuver.
The other officer who responded to the call with Poblete — but whose name was not released — checked Gao’s left front tire with his hand before saying, “Yes, it’s not hot.”
At that point, the officers seemed ready to send Gao on her way before Poblete recalled someone from the dispatch center telling him that her registration had reportedly expired.
The officers then tried to show Gao her driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance for several minutes as she seemed to become increasingly agitated.
At one point, Gao asked the officers not to scare her, and when Poblete told her to get out of the car, he said she “freaked out.”
“It’s because you’re police, you’re police officers and I’m just standing in a parking lot,” Gao said.
She then grabbed her driver’s license from Poblete’s hand and both officers reached into the car to try to get her out as she repeatedly shouted “No.”
She soon appeared to roll up her window with at least one officer’s arm still inside and drive away.
Poblete immediately fired three shots and Gao’s car came to a stop a short distance away. The officers then removed her from the car and handcuffed her as she began bleeding profusely from at least one gunshot wound to the upper body.
Paramedics soon arrived to administer aid and took her to a hospital, where she was treated and released, BART officials said.
Neither officer was injured.
The case has been referred to the Alameda County Prosecutor’s Office and Poblete, who has been with the BART Police Department for more than six years, is on administrative leave.
“Due to the severity of this incident, we have retained an experienced third-party investigator to conduct the internal administrative investigation to ensure an impartial and objective review,” BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin said in a news release Friday.
Spokespeople for both the BART Police and the Attorney General’s Office did not respond to questions about whether Gao has been charged with a crime.
She is not currently in custody in Alameda County, according to jail records.
