BART agrees to pay $6.75 million to a Chinese American woman shot by officer in Union City Station parking lot

OAKLAND — Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) announced a mediated pre-litigation settlement reached in the amount of $6.75 million for an officer-involved shooting in which Chinese American woman Jasmine Gao was shot in the back and the BART Police provided inaccurate information of the officer being attacked by her.

BART and Gao issued a joint statement on September 12 to announce the settlement reached on June 19, 2025. As part of the settlement, BART acknowledged that no officer was being dragged or had any body part stuck in the window of Gao's vehicle when BART police officer Nicholas Poblete fired shots at her, and no officer was endangered by Gao’s driving of the vehicle.

“Our priority is public trust. We immediately placed Nicholas Poblete on leave pending an independent investigation. We engaged Ms. Gao’s attorneys before a lawsuit was filed to work toward an early resolution that brings closure for Ms. Gao and her family while avoiding years of litigation. BART believes resolving this matter promptly is also in the best interest of our riders, employees, and the community,” BART’s Chief Communications Officer Alicia Trost said in the joint statement.

The officer-involved shooting occurred at about 9:30 pm on November 18, 2024 at the parking lot of BART's Union City Station. 33-year-old Gao of Union City was alone in her vehicle in the parking lot.

On December 13, 2024, BART released the body-camera footage for the incident. Gao was first seen sitting in the driver seat and speaking to two officers who responded to the area for a report of a vehicle doing donuts in the parking lot.

"Ms. Gao was cleared of that possible crime shortly after the officers arrived, when an officer checked her tires and noted they were cold. The officers determined that Ms. Gao’s vehicle’s registration appeared to be expired. When Ms. Gao drove away from the officers, Poblete fired," BART said in the latest statement.

The body-camera footage also showed that Gao gave some explanation about the expired vehicle registration. Poblete demanded Gao turn over her car key. Gao refused and rolled up the driver's side window, beginning to drive away.

Gao was hit in the back and survived in the incident.

On the next day after the police shooting, BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin issued a statement on the incident.

"On Monday, November 18, at 8:57pm BART PD officers responded to a report of reckless driving in the parking lot of Union City Station. As part of the overall investigation, the two responding officers conducted a traffic stop. During the traffic stop, the driver is alleged to have assaulted a police officer which led to one of the officers discharging their firearm."

Almost 10 months later on September 12, 2025, BART admitted the inaccuracy of the statement released on November 19, 2024 that Gao in fact did not assault the officers with a deadly weapon and that she was driving away when Poblete discharged his gun.

After completing an administrative investigation of the incident, BART issued a notice of intent to terminate Poblete. No criminal charges were filed against Gao.

According to her attorneys John Burris and Ben Nisenbaum, the shooting left Gao with significant physical and emotional distress injuries.

“Ms. Gao was shot in the back, and the bullet passed between her heart and a major artery. She nearly died. She was hospitalized and no longer has full mobility in her left arm,” said Nisenbaum.

“Ms. Gao and her family recognize the importance of resolving this case expeditiously without filing a lawsuit. The acceptance of accountability by BART and Chief Franklin are significant factors in the settlement," Nisenbaum added.

“Ms. Gao was badly injured by a police shooting that was an unreasonable overreaction to a vehicle registration that had expired so recently that California law prevents police from taking any law enforcement action against her," Nisenbaum added.

Gao was born in China and came to the United States at the age of five accompanying her parents as they pursued degrees and later founded a biopharma consulting firm.

Gao grew up in the Boston area and became a U.S. citizen in 2006 with her family. She went on to San Francisco to pursue her art passion and earned a bachelor’s degree in Illustration from Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2017. She has since lived in the Bay Area.

Gao's parents released a statement on the settlement. “We want to share the truth about what happened to our daughter, Jasmine Gao. On the night of November 18, 2024, Jasmine was shot and nearly killed by a BART police officer in Union City. In the days that followed, BART’s leadership released a false statement — portraying her as committing an alleged assault, including dragging an officer with her car. That was not true, as shown when the body-camera footage was later released on December 13, 2024."