Protesters condemn fatal SF transit shooting

SAN FRANCISCO – Three train stations were closed down during San Francisco's evening commute as an estimated 100 people condemned the fatal shooting last week of a man by transit police.

The protesters gathered Monday on the same platform at the Civic Center/UN Plaza station where 45-year-old Charles Hill was slain July 3 by Bay Area Rapid Transit officers.

They chanted and held doors open to keep trains from leaving the station. Three stations were closed down at some point, but they have since reopened.

Hill was shot in the torso by officers who were responding to a report of a "wobbly drunk." Authorities say he came at them with a knife.

The transit agency has been battling an image problem after a white officer fatally shot an unarmed black passenger on New Year's Day 2009 at a station in Oakland, a killing that sparked widespread debate and prompted racial unrest in that city.