SAN FRANCISCO, July 26 (UPI) -- San Francisco transportation officials said workers repairing an escalator had to call in a hazardous materials team to remove human excrement.

Bay Area Rapid Transportation officials said a crew pulled apart a broken escalator at the Civic Center Station and discovered such a high volume of human fecal matter that a hazardous materials team had to be called in to remove it, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.


Officials said human excrement is a frequent cause of malfunction for BART escalators. They said homeless people will often use the stairwells for sleeping or relieving themselves once the stations close.

Officer Era Jenkins, a BART police spokeswoman, said police can't issue citations for the issue unless they witness someone taking a bowel movement in the stairwells.

"Nobody wants to be walking in urine and feces, I know that, (but) if we don't see it or the person doesn't admit to it, they can just say it was someone else," Jenkins said. "Certain crimes you don't see, you can't enforce."