A concertgoer leaving the UC Theatre late Saturday night watched in horror as a bald man tried to shove an older rider off the platform at the Downtown Berkeley BART station, then pulled out a large knife and threatened people nearby before getting stuck trying to flee through the station's fare gates. The suspect, identified by BART as 60-year-old Kevin Pina of Castro Valley, was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
The witness, who had attended a show at the UC Theatre, described the incident to The Berkeley Scanner. The outlet reported that a woman was treated at the scene for a minor abrasion, which BART attributed to the altercation. The witness said Pina reached the fare gates but could not work out how to get through them before police arrived.
BART installed Next Generation Fare Gates at Downtown Berkeley in February 2025, replacing the old wedge-shaped gates with tall swinging gates, according to Berkeleyside. The Scanner reported that Pina did not have a BART ticket and could not get through the gates. The account does not establish that the gates delayed police or caused his arrest.
Witness Says Police Response Was Fast, but Station Was Unstaffed
The witness told the Scanner they called 911 and that roughly 20 police units responded, including officers carrying long guns. According to the witness, Pina surrendered after armed officers told him to do so. A second reader who spoke to the outlet reported that Pina had two knives, dropped them and cooperated with his detention.
The witness described the police response as professional but criticized the lack of BART staff and security on site, saying the station agent booth was empty. BART has also described changes to its policing model: the agency doubled sworn officer presence inside trains while assigning unarmed Transit Ambassadors and Crisis Intervention Specialists to non-violent and mental health calls, according to statistics released by Bay Area Rapid Transit. The witness said Pina appeared to be in a potential mental health crisis.
Suspect Hit With Stay-Away Order, Bail Set at $30,000
BART issued Pina a stay-away order from the station following his arrest. Pina's bail was set at $30,000, and his arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday. As of Monday, he was no longer listed in custody, per the Scanner's reporting. BART did not respond to requests for a booking photograph or additional information.
New Fare Gates Part of a Broader Crime Crackdown
The Downtown Berkeley gates are part of a $90 million systemwide overhaul that BART completed in August 2025, installing all 715 Next Generation Fare Gates across its 50 stations four months ahead of schedule, according to the Richmond Standard. KQED reported that a 2023 state bill required BART to implement the gates to receive emergency pandemic-loss funding. BART reported a 41% drop in overall crime in 2025 compared with 2024, including a 31% reduction in violent crime and a 60% drop in robberies. BART leaders have credited the decline to doubled officer presence and the new gates.
More recent figures suggest the trend has continued. Data released by BART in September showed passenger-targeted crimes per million trips fell 67% between December 2024 and mid-2026, according to KQED. BART police have said that lower baseline crime rates have allowed officers to respond more quickly to acute emergency calls. The agency's police department recorded an average systemwide emergency response time of 4 minutes and 21 seconds in July 2025, against an official five-minute target. Available reporting does not say whether that figure reflects the response time at Downtown Berkeley during the Pina incident.
What BART’s crime figures and staffing descriptions show
According to Mass Transit, BART’s December 2025 Chief’s Monthly Report showed overall crime down 41%, violent crime down 31% and property crime down 43% in 2025 compared with the same timeframe of the previous year. Those are year-over-year comparisons; the passenger-targeted-crime figure reported above is measured per million trips, a different measure. The figures do not by themselves establish that the fare gates caused the declines. BART Police describes Transit Ambassadors as providing a visible uniformed presence and monitoring stations and trains during revenue service. A Crisis Intervention Specialist assisted a person experiencing a mental-health crisis. These Transit Ambassador and Crisis Intervention Specialist job descriptions outline general duties; they do not establish whether either role was assigned to or present at Downtown Berkeley during the incident.
For concertgoers leaving the UC Theatre, the incident is a reminder that new infrastructure and systemwide crime trends do not remove the unpredictability of an emergency unfolding on a platform.
