The naked BART gymnast has been identified as Yeiner Garaizabalo, 24. He goes by the name of Yeiner Perez, a former circus acrobat who is believed to have suffered a nervous breakdown.
According to Slim Chance, a friend of Perez’s who leads the Berkeley circus troupe ClownSnotBombs, he had been going through tough times and stopped showing up to practice in May.
“He’s been through a lot of stress — he seems to have been having a breakdown,” said Slim Chance. “That seems to be the tip of it right there. I just can’t tell you anything more because I don’t really know what his state is. It’s not at all like his normal character.”
Chance described Perez as a “workaholic acrobat,” who was not known to do drugs.
“We’re thinking he may have even had a stroke sometime last year,” he said. “We’ve been trying to piece it together ourselves.”
According to SFGate.com, Perez was placed on an “emergency psychiatric hold following a psychiatric evaluation at California Pacific Medical Center, but was ultimately released.”
Perez was subsequently booked on suspicion of misdemeanor battery but was released within 48 hours because the district attorney was deciding whether or not to press charges, according to office spokeswoman Stephanie Ong Stillman said.
Watch the full video here of Perez doing gymnastics naked and attacking people.
