Crime & Safety
Man Convicted Of Felonies That Began When BART Police Asked Him To Put Out Cigarette
The 29-year-old shot himself in stomach with his own gun during struggle with officers on station platform.
EAST BAY, CA – A Union City man was convicted of a felony Wednesday for discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner for an incident at the West Oakland BART station last year in which he shot himself during a struggle with officers.
Corey Powell, 29, was also convicted of felony counts of carrying a concealed weapon and being a felon in possession of a gun and two misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest for the incident at about 8 p.m. on
Sept. 1, 2015.
Jurors deliberated for three days before reaching their verdict.
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BART police said their confrontation with Powell began after two officers approached him on the platform at the West Oakland station to tell him to put out his cigarette, as smoking on the platform is prohibited by
state law.
Police said that when the officers asked Powell for identification he gave multiple false names and began behaving erratically, threatening to jump off the elevated platform onto the sidewalk.
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The officers then struggled with Powell as he threatened to harm himself and asked them to kill him, according to BART police.
When Powell reached for his waistband, one of the officers warned him that he would use a Taser stun gun on him, police said.
Powell then reached into his waistband and accidentally shot himself in the stomach with a gun that was tucked into his pants just before the officer shocked him with his Taser stun gun, according to police.
Police recovered Powell's gun and a bullet casing at the scene.
Powell suffered a single gunshot wound to his abdomen and underwent multiple surgeries at Highland Hospital in Oakland.
BART police asked the Alameda County District Attorney's Office to charge Powell with attempted murder but prosecutors filed lesser charges against him.
At the time of the incident Powell was on parole for felony burglary and armed robbery and had a no-bail warrant out for his arrest. He also has prior felony convictions for drug and weapons counts.
For another BART-related criminal case, also see: Public Defender, Claiming Bias, Seeks Judge's Removal In BART Battery Trial
--Bay City News/Shutterstock image
