BART makes first arrest in teen takeover robbery as police declare ‘emergency’

A train approaches the Coliseum BART station on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. A train approaches the Coliseum BART station on Tuesday, April 25, 2017, in Oakland, Calif. Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Noah Berger, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 23 Caption Close BART makes first arrest in teen takeover robbery as police declare ‘emergency’ 1 / 23 Back to Gallery

BART investigators have made their first arrest in connection with last Saturday evening’s takeover robbery by dozens of juveniles who mobbed a train at Coliseum Station in Oakland, officials said Friday.

The arrest of a male juvenile took place around 12:30 p.m. Friday, said Jeffrey Jennings, BART’s acting police chief. No details were released about where the arrest took place or where the suspect lives.

“More warrants for multiple identified suspects on the way,” BART said in a tweet announcing the initial arrest.

The arrest came a day after Jennings declared an rare state of emergency for his department in response to a rise in robberies and other crimes on BART. Such declarations have typically happened in the past during protests, not amid crime concerns.

Under the declaration, BART officers must work mandatory overtime and cannot take discretionary time off.

In the mob robbery, BART said, at least 40 juveniles jumped the fare gates and rushed aboard at least two cars of a Dublin-bound train at Coliseum Station shortly before 9:30 p.m. Some members of the group held doors open, stalling the train, while others ran through cars and some robbed and assaulted passengers.

By the time BART police arrived, five minutes after the initial call for help from the station, the youths had already scattered.

Overall, crime was up on BART by roughly 22 percent in the first three months of 2017 compared to the same period last year, Jennings told the BART board of directors on Thursday at an unusual evening meeting. Much of the spike involved the theft of cell phones and other electronic devices.

The rise comes despite a drop so far in 2017 in car break-ins, as well as automobile and bicycle thefts, Jennings said. It also reverses three years of declining crime rates.

John King is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron