BART Police Shooting

BART took the unusual step of shutting off cell phone service on BART station platforms Thursday night to prevent protestors from using their cell phones to communicate with each other.

Demonstrators snarled the evening commute July 11, evading police for hours and shutting down several BART stations, as they protested the shooting death of Charles Hill by a BART police officer last month.

BART warned commuters that a similar protest could take place Thursday and a posting on the web site of the group No Justice No BART invited protestors to gather at 5 pm at Civic Center. Only a few demonstrators showed up, but then quickly left.

The commute went on without a hitch, but no one could get cell phone service on the platforms or the trains. KTVU reported that BART's media relations department suggested cutting off the cell service during the protests.

BART police Lieut. Andy Alkire told Bay City News that while it was unusual to kill cell phone service, it was "a great tool to utilize for this specific purpose" with the agency facing a potentially volatile situation.

Alkire also told BCN that he did not believe the calls for a protest were hoax. "We had pretty good intelligence that it was going to happen," Alkire said.