Troubling trend of suspected overdose deaths on the BART system

PLEASANT HILL, Calif. - It's another sign of the Bay Area's ongoing drug overdose problem.    

BART officials say since Monday, one person died at a BART station and two others have died on trains. 

The most recent case was a man found dead on a train held at the Pleasant Hill BART station.

A BART employee tells KTVU a passenger reported the death.

BART officials say on Tuesday night at 10:49, officers responded to a man found unresponsive with no pulse on a train headed for SFO.

They say officers administered two doses of Narcan, but paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene.

The cause of death is suspected to be from a drug overdose.

"Pretty shocked to hear about it. I know it's something you hear about in other places, but it's something I hadn't heard about so close to home 'cause I live right down the street from here," said passenger Tiffany Honsberger.

Cab driver Mahmood Mojddidi said he was waiting to pick up a fare just outside the BART station when he saw first responders arrive.

He's now nervous to learn the deceased was found on a train.

"I see the body come out. Police guy, ambulance is here...take it to the ambulance," said Mojddidi."

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This case is the third suspected overdose death at BART this week.

Officials say there were two incidents on Monday.

One man was found just outside the Daly City station and another on a train at the Fremont station.

"I do see people out of it. They’ll be asleep on the last row of the BART car. Asleep or you know, I'm not sure if they're high or whatever," said passenger Alexandria Payne.

There were two more people who overdosed at BART this week. Both were saved with Narcan.

"We are called on a regular basis either for BART or public buses," Dr. Chris Colwell, chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital said on a daily, he sees 10 to 15 cases from overdose or complications from drug addiction.

He said more resources are needed to help those who are addicted, "We face everyday situations where somebody wants to seek help and rehabilitation and we sometimes don't have room for them."

Passengers say overdose cases at Bart trains raise safety concerns.

"There are people dying on our trains so easily running around with drugs that are killing them so it's definitely really concerning," said Honsberger.

Dr. Colwell said it's important to remember that while Narcan saves lives, it is not prevention or treatment.