California copper shoots man in the back – kills him on camera
A New Year’s Day shooting in which a subway police officer fired a deadly shot into the back of an unarmed man has the San Francisco Bay Area demanding answers as authorities appeal for patience.
Oscar Grant, 22, was killed January 1 in a shooting at a subway station in California’s Bay Area.
Bay Area Rapid Transit spokesman Linton Johnson told CNN affiliate KTVU-TV in Oakland, California, that the officer is presumed innocent and described him as devastated. I would describe Oscar Grant as murdered.
The young men had been celebrating the new year at a popular waterfront tourist spot, The Embarcadero. They were heading home when police pulled them from the train car. Some of the young men were handcuffed, but not 22-year-old Oscar Grant. The video from the anonymous passenger shows Grant seated on the floor with his back against the wall.
Grant holds up his hands, appearing to plead with police. Burris said Tuesday that Grant was asking police not to use a Taser.
Seconds later, police put Grant face-down on the ground. Grant appears to struggle. One of the officers kneels on Grant as another officer stands up, tugs at his gun, unholsters it and fires a shot into Grant’s back.
The bullet went through Grant’s back and then ricocheted off the floor and through his lungs. Grant…died seven hours later, KTVU reported.
Unconscionable, unforgivable.
As much as thugs – who happen to be employed as police officers – should have learned their lesson with Rodney King’s beating, you’d think they would know by now that everyone has a cell phone and a ton of them have cameras.
UPDATE: That police officer, Johannes Mehserle, has been arrested for suspicion of murder.
UPDATE 1/28/10: BART has agreed to pay $1.5 million in damages to Oscar Grant’s daughter, Tatiana.
This incident wasn’t right, but as with Rodney King, they were doing something wrong that made police come in the first place! And as you can see in the video that one person posted there was groops of people walking towards the incident yelling at the cops as they were trying to get the situation under control. Imagine that was you trying to get a hightened situation under control as people are coming at you yelling. The cops were out numbered. That would get anyone nervous. I do agree the cop over reacted and because of that a young man is dead. That isn’t right and action should be taken but imagine if that cop was you. Believe it or not cops arent just out there to harm young black people. Bottom line don’t fight, don’t drive under the influence, as was Rodney King, and you won’t need to even talk to the cops. By the way Rodney King was resisting arrest and was on drugs which made it harder to restrain him. Again, I’m not justifying what happened but he could have avoided the whole thing by cooperating.
amy
January 8, 2009 at 12:03 am
As I watch this fuzzy video, which is definitely evidence and should never have been released to the public, prior to the criminal trial of the cop, two things occur to me:
1. It was an accidental discharge of a firearm. No cop is going to murder anyone in front of a bunch of other cops because the other cops are going to arrest him, no questions asked, no doubt in anyone’s mind. There’s also the small matter of all those civilian witnesses milling around.
2. It was a BART cop. That means it was a rent-a-cop, not a real cop. Why the U.S. allows a bunch of untrained rent-a-cops to carry firearms is way beyond my understanding. I suppose it has something to do with the ‘right to bear arms’. Whoever hired this panicky moron (no doubt at minimum wage), gave him a gun and a badge and unleashed him upon the traveling public, should be a co-defendant in this case.
Cinaedh
January 8, 2009 at 8:54 am
Time and time and time again, cops shoot people, many who have no weapon, or at worst have a stick or some such thing in their hand. Then they claim that they “feared for their lives.” Give me a break!
These guys need to get a real job if they are that trigger happy. There have been many cases where the person was even shot in the back. Cops are supposed to apprehend people, not be judge, jury and executioner. This dirt bag needs to go down, and I hope the victim’s family gets 50 million instead of 25 million dollars, so that not only the lawyers make money.
Ron
January 8, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Regardless of being a “rent-a-cop” any armed security guard is given training on proper action during these exact situations. This is america–if it were a group of white males after a football game, they would have neither been handcuffed nor SHOT.
What’s more ridiculous would be the excuses and defense of the officer who executed this young man. His safety was off, obviously, meaning he meant to discharge his weapon. He stood up, and aimed. You can see he drew a breath–intent, then he discharged his weapon.
It’s murder. and it should be tried as such. Anything less would be a slap in the face to the ideas of American Justice and Democracy.
Paul
January 13, 2009 at 7:39 am
AMAZING PAUL HOW STUPID PEOPLE ARE TO BELIEVE THAT THIS IS NOT AN UNUSUAL PRACTICE. TECHNOLOGY IS JUST LETTING THE PUBLIC KNOW THAT SOMETHINGS WILL NEVER CHANGE!!!
Lilith Hutchinson
July 25, 2009 at 11:23 am