Passengers travelling on the Fremont-bound BART with Bay Area resident Solomon Duvall became distressed and distraught as it began to appear as though Duvall was actually going to Fremont, the last station on the Richmond-Fremont line.
Fellow passenger Kevin Standish even gently nudged Duvall as the train approached MacArthur station, since he seemed not to be preparing for departure. “I thought, whoa, he really wants to wait till the last minute to get off,” said Standish. “As we all hurried to the opposite platform, where the real [San Francisco-bound] train was waiting, we all kept looking toward him, like, ‘hurry up!’ But he just sat there.”
Only a handful of riders remained at this point, most laden with suitcases. As the last of these passengers disembarked at the Coliseum/Oakland Airport station, he cast Duvall a final desperate, imploring look through the train windows. After the train pulled away with Duvall still contentedly aboard it, he remained on the platform for several minutes, body limp, watching the train disappear until it was no more than a speck. But Duvall remained seated with his hands peacefully folded on his lap, a placid, wistful smile on his face.
This reporter disembarked at Union City — alone. I gave Duvall a searching look as I left, but he remained seated as before. I walked away from the train with head hung low, and ate little that day.
