Suspect in pistol-whipping, shooting aboard BART train arrested

SAN FRANCISCO -- A man arrested on theft charges in San Francisco was identified as the person who pistol-whipped a BART passenger on a train earlier this month, police said Thursday.

During the incident on a train arriving at Embarcadero Starion on March 16, the gun accidentally fired during the pistol-whipping and the bullet grazed the victim's head. The victim was later found near the 16th Street/Mission station and he was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

BART Police said a patrol officer reviewing surveillance camera images of the assault, which began as an argument between two men aboard an SFO-bound train, was able to identify the suspect as 20-year-old Adonte Bailey. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Bailey and distributed a bulletin to other law enforcement agencies.

On Wednesday, police in San Francisco arrested Bailey on grand theft charges. A check of outstanding warrants revealed he was also wanted in the BART incident.

BART Police said Bailey was in possession of a firearm at the time of his arrest and the weapon was being tested to see if it matches a bullet recovered from the pistol-whipping incident.

"This is one more example in which the combination of our network of high-quality surveillance cameras and our dedicated officers leads to an arrest," BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said in a prepared statement. "We want to thank the San Francisco Police Department for their tremendous partnership in this case."