San Jose: Light rail standoff continues with 'agitated' man atop train
Source: Mercury News
SAN JOSE -- A "despondent, agitated and incoherent" man climbed on top of a light rail train early Thursday morning, starting a standoff with authorities that prevented light rail service in the northern part of the system.
Sheriff's officials said for safety reasons they are playing a waiting game with the man, thought to be in his 20s.
Meanwhile light rail trains are not running in either direction through the Component Station in North San Jose, and North First Street is closed between Charcot Avenue and East Trimble Road.
Two bus bridges are operating to work around the stoppage.
Authorities believe the man may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He has been spitting at deputies who have been trying to coax him down. He has been seen sitting, lying down and standing up.
Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_29854122/san-jose-light-rail-service-halted-by-man
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For one, the San Jose Police Department has recently been embroiled in controversy after reports were disclosed that they arrest more people for public intoxication and resisting arrest than any other city in the state, with Latinos and Blacks being severely disproportionately over-represented in that number. So Daniel Pham’s death, while Asian and not an arrest incident, comes at a time mired in suspicion and public outrage regarding police practice by communities of color in San Jose. But it is not only the present police accountability issues that magnifies the significance of the Pham death, it is the story his reminds us of – Cau Bich Tran – and the fact we may be worse off in terms of police practice issues now than we were six years ago when she was killed.
While questions are still being asked about the shooting of Daniel Pham, the basic fact pattern that has been disclosed by the San Jose Police Department is sadly reminiscent to a 2003 incident involving a young Vietnamese mother, Cau Bich Tran, who was shot by San Jose police in her home. In Pham’s case, officers arrived at his home in response to a domestic disturbance call, after Pham has reportedly cut his brother with a knife. Within three minutes after police arrived, and had found Pham in the backyard, allegedly with a knife, he was dead. According to reports to the Mercury News, Pham’s siblings at the time of the incident were yelling to officers not to kill him, and that he was mentally ill.
The impulse by Pham’s family to yell a warning not to kill their brother was informed by the Cau Bich Tran case which has been a defining moment in police and community relations in San Jose, and six years later still looms over the city, not only due to the loss of life, but in the outrage it sparked in the Vietnamese community. Cau Bich Tran, 25-years-old, was also shot and killed in her home when officers arrived at her house responding to a domestic disturbance call and shot her after police mistakenly took her vegetable peeler for a cleaver.
They were cramming people into the damn buses like it was Manhattan or something. 
Then the bus hit the inevitable traffic. It made one stop in the middle of the street rather than pull over! 
This is the third such incident this year (that we know of). Santa Clara County is not exactly known for its mental health services. Nor is VTA known for its efficient operations. 
They had damn well better have him down by this afternoon. The buses would already be cattle cars when they got down to me. 
