BART police probe porn video shot on train

(07-12) 14:43 PDT San Francisco -- BART police are investigating an amateur pornographic video shot on a moving BART train that came to their attention Thursday, authorities said.

The cell phone video shows a "partially disrobed" couple having intercourse on a seat at the end of a train car, said deputy police chief Ben Fairow.

The video was apparently recorded by a third party, and the man and woman in the video appear to know that someone is recording them because they turn and laugh in the direction of the camera. The video does not show whether other riders are in the car, Fairow said.

Fairow had his investigators begin look into the one-minute video Thursday. The windows are dark with lights flashing by, which suggests the train was in one of the system's tunnels at the time it was recorded, he said. The train car has older fabric seats as opposed to the new vinyl seats recently installed on some BART cars.

Lewd conduct on BART is a misdemeanor, Fairow said.

"Lewd activity is not only highly inappropriate on BART, it's highly illegal," said spokeswoman Luna Salaver. "It can and will get you banned from the entire system. We will prosecute people if we can positively identify people for such behavior on a train."

The video is "a little grainy and shot in low light," but good enough quality that police hope to identify the couple from still images, Fairow said. The images are being circulated among BART police officers. Anyone who has seen the video and recognizes the couple can call BART investigators at (510) 464-7040.

"People just want to ride the train and get where they're going," Fairow said. "We have families that ride the train, so we're concerned when this type of stuff happens. We want people to let us know when these types of things happen. We'll have an officer on the very next stop."