Man accused of shoving woman to her death at S.F. BART station had dozens of arrests in Bay Area

The man authorities say shoved an elderly woman to her death at San Francisco’s Powell Street BART Station in July had been arrested dozens of times and was previously ordered by a judge to stay away from BART trains and stations, records show. 

Trevor Belmont, 49, was arrested July 1 on the station platform minutes after he allegedly killed 74-year-old Corazon Dandan by pushing her into an oncoming train, according to prosecutors, who cited eyewitness accounts and surveillance videos. Belmont was charged with murder and elder abuse but has been hospitalized for psychiatric care and unable to appear in court for four months. As of Thursday he had not entered a plea. 

The allegations represent the most serious charges yet against a mentally ill homeless man who appears to have cycled in and out of the criminal justice system for years, seemingly without meaningful intervention. His case reflects a persistent and widespread phenomenon in the Bay Area, in which people who pose a threat to themselves and others receive little care and, in many cases, cannot be forced into long-term treatment.

While BART in recent years has boosted its efforts to reach vulnerable populations by deploying crisis intervention specialists to help riders experiencing mental illness, homelessness and addiction, it was unclear whether Belmont was among them. His attorney in the shoving case, San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Bao Doan, called him a “very vulnerable” person who “suffers from serious mental health issues” and has been hospitalized due to his inability to care for himself. 

“Unfortunately, our city has not prioritized providing public health solutions to address mental health needs, and instead has poured vast resources into ineffective and harmful systems of punishment and incarceration,” Doan said. “These systems continue to compound tragedies rather than help restore people’s health, which could make us all safer.” 

Representatives for the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management would not say whether any of its Street Crisis Response Teams were aware of Belmont prior to the alleged incident. 

Belmont was arrested at least 27 times in multiple Bay Area counties over the past two decades, though it appears prosecutors did not pursue most cases against him, court records show. In 2018, he was ordered to stay away from BART trains and stations for three years after he was convicted of lewd conduct at a BART station in Alameda County. 

Records show Belmont was accused of repeatedly violating that stay-away order, however, and was subsequently arrested at multiple BART stations. In June 2018 he was booked into jail after officers saw him “swinging his closed fists at BART patrons on the platform of the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station,” according to court records. Belmont was cited and released after the arrest, with the officer noting that none of the patrons on the platform opted to press charges.  

In response to questions about whether BART officials were aware of Belmont prior to the night he allegedly shoved Dandan, spokesperson Alicia Trost confirmed that officers had “prior contact” with him but did not provide details. The transit agency turned over evidence from its investigation and will “continue to work with the district attorney to support the prosecution of this case,” Trost said. 

Dandan’s family last month filed a legal claim against BART, a precursor to a potential lawsuit, accusing the agency of failing “to uphold its duty to protect passengers from harm through its negligent security practices,” according to a copy of the claim that was reviewed by the Chronicle. Representatives for BART did not comment on the claim. 

Others have been shoved into oncoming trains in recent years. In 2020, a man waiting for a train at the Downtown Berkeley Station platform survived after he was pushed onto the tracks in an unprovoked attack. The next year, a woman survived after a man attempted to push her onto BART’s San Leandro Station platform. In New York City, transit officials reported several such attacks in recent years, resulting in fatalities that received national attention. 

Belmont has cycled in and out of San Francisco’s criminal justice system since at least 2007, records show. 

In July 2013, a judge ordered Belmont to stay away from San Francisco State University for three years after an assault and battery on a member of the university community, according to university representatives and court records.

That same year, a San Francisco jury found him guilty of lewd conduct and indecent exposure and he was sentenced to probation. Under the terms of his probation, he was ordered to stay away from all schools in California for an unspecified number of years.

In 2014, a judge ordered him to receive mental health counseling and to stay away from St. Monica’s Catholic School for an unspecified number of years. It was unclear what he was charged with and the school did not respond to questions about why it requested the restraining order. 

Belmont served two weeks in jail last year after he accepted a plea deal for a vandalism charge in San Mateo County, records show. 

His attorney declined to comment on previous cases. 

On the night of July 1, prosecutors allege Belmont approached Dandan silently and “surreptitiously” while she was waiting for a train home to Daly City after clocking out from her night shift as a telephone operator at a hotel in Union Square. 

“Just as the train got close enough, he full-force shoved Ms. Dandan into its path, using both hands … and sending her flying into the oncoming train,” prosecutors wrote in court filings. The moving train “struck her in the head, sending her body spinning across the platform.” 

Paramedics took Dandan to San Francisco General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Family members described her as an energetic and independent woman who grew up in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. alone in the 1980s. 

Belmont remained on the platform and did not attempt to flee, prosecutors said, citing eyewitness accounts and video surveillance footage captured from multiple angles. Prosecutors said he confessed to the crime both in “spontaneous statements” during his arrest and, later, in an interview with investigators. 

His attorney did not respond to questions about the alleged confessions. 

Belmont, who was born in Cambodia and also goes by the name Hoak Taing, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday. 

David Hernandez contributed to this report. 

Reach Nora Mishanec: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com