Family seeks $3 million in BART teen mob attack

Three members of a Dublin family who say they were accosted and robbed by a mob of teenagers at BART’s Coliseum Station last month filed legal claims against the transit agency Monday seeking $3 million in damages, alleging that proper security could have prevented the attack.

The claims, precursors to lawsuits, were filed by attorney Paul Justi on behalf of Rusty and Patricia Stapp and their 18-year-old daughter, Amanda. They cited 11 allegations, including that lax security allowed the suspects to easily vault the fare gates and that BART fails to coordinate with other police agencies.

The transit agency did not immediately comment on the claim. A spokeswoman, Alicia Trost, said BART police have been working with victims to identify suspects and have

increased patrols at Oakland stations.

According to the claim, the operator of the Dublin-bound train should not have stopped and opened the train’s doors at the Coliseum Station on the evening of April 22, as 40 to 60 juveniles slapped the windows and yelled at the passengers inside.

Rusty Stapp said in an interview that he was sitting opposite his wife and daughter, returning from a celebration of his daughter’s birthday, when he heard the commotion and a fellow passenger said, “Oh, no.”

When the doors opened, Stapp said, two male suspects jumped him, raining down punches, and then a third kicked him. He said he relinquished the iPhone he had been holding. He said he was injured, but not seriously.

At the end of the brief beating, Stapp said a female suspect grabbed his wife’s purse, which contained two iPhones, her driver’s license and other valuable items, as dozens of teenagers fled the train and the station.

Stapp said Uber was “going to get a lot of my money because it’s hard to get on BART” due to fear from the attack. He said he had taken BART into San Francisco once since the incident, adding, “It was hell. Every little bump and noise, I’m looking around now going, what’s going to happen? And I don’t want to go out in public like that.”