Body found on Muni bus hours after shift ended
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
October 19, 2009
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| ID released: The body found on a 5-Fulton bus was identified as San Francisco resident Christopher Feasel. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — A Muni cleaning crew made a grim discovery last weekend: A man’s body was aboard a 5-Fulton bus that had been parked for hours in a Muni yard at the end of a rush-hour shift.
The deceased was identified by the Medical Examiner’s Office as 37-year-old Christopher Feasel of San Francisco. Investigators have not determined the cause of death and police said the body showed no obvious signs of trauma.
Workers discovered Feasel around midnight Friday at the bus yard at Presidio Avenue and Bush Street. The bus had been in the lot since 6:30 p.m., police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said.
The 5-Fulton coach had been assigned to the Friday rush-hour shift, Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman Judson True said.
Police are trying to determine whether the body went unnoticed on the bus during the evening commute or if the man broke in to the secured Muni yard and died aboard the parked vehicle, Tomioka said.
“We’ll be looking at surveillance video in the area and from the bus to determine when he entered the bus,” she said. “The investigation will entail doing interviews with the driver and the cleaning crew.”
It’s unclear whether cameras inside the bus were working.
“We’re looking into that right now,” Tomioka said.
Drivers are expected to walk through and check a vehicle at the end of their shift, according to True. Whether that happened in this case will be determined by the ongoing police investigation, he said.
Muni is assisting the Police Department in its investigation and will provide any available videos, True said.
tbarak@sfexaminer.com
