By Faith Karimi and Dave Alsup
(CNN) — The video is bizarre by any standards.
In it, a glistening man with a wild head of hair turns fare gates into balance beams at the San Francisco subway station, stretching and doing back flips buck-naked.
Commuters flee for dear life as he dashes across the station, attacking people at random. Whimpering, they run for cover in a station agent’s booth.
The incident took place at a BART station in May — but the cellphone-shot footage was posted online Tuesday.
And as such videos go, it went viral — quick.
“It happened over a month ago,” said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Rapid Transit, which operates the route . “This is the first time anyone has seen video.”
It took seven minutes for police to arrive after a station agent called for help, she said.
“Police, hurry up and get here, please,” a woman is heard muttering in the video as the man runs amok.
Authorities arrested the man for attacking a passenger and a transit employee, and took him to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
After that he was released.
Police now plan to book him on misdemeanor battery charges, Trost said Tuesday.
Also, she added, “We’re requesting an order from the district attorney to keep him off BART property.”
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