Videos showing a BART police officer shocking an intoxicated passenger with a Taser inside a train car at the San Bruno station are raising questions as to whether the situation was handled appropriately.

Some witnesses said the man, parolee Robert Asberry, had done nothing wrong and that officers should not have used a Taser on him. Here’s the full video:

Here’s a second video from another angle:

A passenger, Vidya Kaipa, wrote in a post on Medium that the incident was “awful and heartbreaking and outrageous.”

But she noted, “I’m hesitant to jump to the ‘police brutality’ conclusion, because the aggression wasn’t totally unprovoked. Yes, the cop definitely shouldn’t have used the Taser, but at the same time, Robert shouldn’t have resisted the cop for so long. That being said, Robert should have never been stopped in the first place, because he wasn’t posing a threat.”

The incident happened on a Millbrae-bound train at the San Bruno station about 10 p.m. Jan. 29. BART police were called to investigate reports of a man who was “drunk and harassing patrons” on the train, according to a BART police log.

Kaipa wrote that although Asberry had complimented her, telling her she was beautiful and “classy” and had “lightly touched” her hair, she wasn’t bothered by his actions — but that someone may have called the police because of those actions.

An officer boarded and repeatedly asked Asberry to exit the train, but he refused, the video shows.

“Upon detention, the suspect became resistive and a Taser had to be used to take him into custody,” the log entry reads. The video shows Asberry being shocked twice.

A check revealed that Asberry had an outstanding no-bail warrant for an unspecified parole violation, authorities said. Asberry was medically cleared at a hospital before being booked at San Mateo County Jail for the warrant, resisting arrest and public intoxication.

BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said Thursday, “Per policy and protocol, BART police has initiated the proper investigation into this incident. The link to the video on the Internet was also forwarded to BART’s independent police auditor.”

According to BART police policy, “It is essential that officers exercise sound discretion and consider the totality of the circumstances surrounding any incident where the Taser may be activated. Objective facts must indicate the suspect poses an immediate threat to the officer or a member of the public.”

BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey told reporters Thursday that he wasn’t going to “prejudge” his officers’ actions pending the investigation.

But Rainey said, “I can certainly sympathize and empathize with what the public is saying. We are called to contact people at their worst, and a lot of times it is not pretty. Our first resort is to get voluntary compliance and, as you can see. that officer was extremely patient. The idea the officer has to wait to be struck or kicked or something else done to him before the officer has to wait to take defensive action, is just wrong. Once the first Taser came, we want to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, with the least amount of injury or force to the suspect, and we don’t want the officer to get injured.”

BART police have faced scrutiny over Taser use before, most notably with the incident that led to the death of unarmed rider Oscar Grant on Jan. 1, 2009. Then-Officer Johannes Mehserle fatally shot Grant in the back at the Fruitvale station in Oakland. He later testified that he had shot Grant accidentally while intending to subdue him with a Taser. Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.