Former Cal football player held in BART station agent cast attack

R.J. Garrett, seen as a Cal football player in 2008, is charged in a BART attack this week. R.J. Garrett, seen as a Cal football player in 2008, is charged in a BART attack this week. Photo: Courtesy Of Cal Athletics / Courtesy Of Cal Athletics Photo: Courtesy Of Cal Athletics / Courtesy Of Cal Athletics Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Former Cal football player held in BART station agent cast attack 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A former Cal football player with a history of run-ins with the law was back in jail Friday for allegedly beating an agent at the Hayward BART Station while the suspect’s arm was in a cast, police said.

R.J. Garrett, 27, allegedly opened the door to the agent booth at the station about 8 p.m. Aug. 20 and hit employee William Hunter in the head with a hand that was covered in a cast, authorities said.

Garrett attacked Hunter “without provocation,” BART attorney Byron Toma wrote in a request for a restraining order that was filed Friday in Alameda County Superior Court.

“Mr. Hunter’s head needed stitches, he suffered severe headaches, and (he) has had impaired vision for weeks after the incident,” Toma wrote.

In his own declaration, Hunter wrote that after the attack, he drove from the station in his truck and that several Hayward police cars passed by him. He then saw that officers had their Taser weapons out and had “cornered” Garrett, Hunter wrote.

Alameda County prosecutors have charged Garrett with assault and battery. He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.

In 2008, Garrett, then a member of the Cal football team, and a second suspect, who was a former team member, became upset at reported racial slurs made by a member of the university’s crew team, authorities said. They sought revenge by robbing two residents of a dormitory but ended up targeting the wrong people, police said.

Garrett was dismissed from the Cal football team because of the incident and was convicted of grand theft.

In 2010, Garrett was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl in Gilroy. He pleaded no contest to sodomy of a minor and oral copulation of a minor, the Gilroy Dispatch reported.

Garrett was a junior sixth-string fullback who, in three seasons, had never participated in an offensive play. He came to Cal from Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, where his father, Robert, has been a longtime and well-respected coach.

Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @henryklee