Oakland BART police shoot man on ground in handcuffs (WARNING - GRAPHIC)

[FourScore]

Run time: 01:59 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxBg5Jxp7c   Posted on YouTube: January 06, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 07, 2009 By DU Member: FourScore Views on DU: 1789

 
I have to be honest, I don't usually post this sort of thing because I don't like to see people getting killed. I am sorry if anyone is upset by it and if the mods decide to delete it, then I am okay with that.

There is no visible blood and gore, but this man did die after the shooting moments later.

Oscar Grant was a father of a four-year old girl. His friend's were with him and watched this happen on New Year's Eve. It was filmed by several witnesses on the BART train with cell phones.

You decide whether this excessive force was necessary. Personally, I think this officer should be tried for murder.

***UPDATE***
Here is more on the story with a video link to a 4-minute local news broadcast about the incident (also with a cell phone video broadcast on the news channel).
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/1/7/14758/61855/148/681244

[PDJane]

1. I agree. n/t

[Wizard777]

18. Implied malice aforethough. I'd call it Murder.

Out of all the officers there. He's the only one that felt the need to draw his weapon. He's gonna have problem with a reasonable person test too.

[NV Whino]

2. I question why BART cops have guns in the first place.

These are not trained police officers. They are security officers who work for Bay Area Rapic Transit.

[HPD]

4. not true

I saw a news report and they stated Bart officers have the same training as the San Fransisco officers. They even use the same facilities. Furthermore, unlike the San Fran Police, BART officers need to have completed at least one year in college.

Either way, you can see the reaction of the shooter and other officers immediately after the shooting. THey were all stunned, including the shooter. SO i even thought perhaps the gun misfired. But then you must question why would he even pull out a gun when the suspect was already on the ground and couldn't see it. Usually an officer would pull out a gun to force cooperation from a suspect. But this guy was clearly detained already.

One news report claimed Oscar was yelling at the cops not to tase him, so maybe the officer was planning to pull out a taser and instead pulled out the gun by accident...absentmindedly. Fair enough. In that case, at the very least the officer should be charged with manslaughter. And go up from there. He needs to be put in prison.

Here we have a murder suspect and his name has not been released to the public. Are there protests going on? This is not right.

[HPD]

5. follow up

follow up. ok...i see the name of the officer has been released. Dailykos points this out:

they were in the process of subduing the crowd when Officer Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant fatally in the back. Mesherle may have been in an altered state of mind, as his girlfriend was entering labor that evening.

tragic. a child is born, his father a murderer on that day, a man is dead.

[Poll_Blind]

8. Thank you for the information in both your replies, HPD.

PB

[NV Whino]

9. If you read some of the comments

you would see that the gun and taser are on very different parts of the belt and that it takes a bit of effort (and thinking) to remove the taser.

After viewing two of the videos, I can see no reason for him to have removed gun or taser. There were three officers on one guy who was face down on the ground. No one in the group of guys was giving any officer any problems.

[mt13]

13. they are trained policeman...

just like the NY Transit Authority Police Department.

http://www.bart.gov/about/police/ excerpt:

The BART Police Department is comprised of 296 personnel, of which 206 are sworn peace officers anywhere in California. Chief of Police Gary Gee commands the department that is BART's sole law-enforcement entity and provides the full range of police services. To prepare for major emergencies, critical incidents, and tactical responses, the department is a signatory to the Bay Area's mutual-aid pacts and has teams of highly trained officers for tactical response and/or crisis negotiations.

but that does not justify this horrific act. this "peace officer" should get life w/o parole. this was cold-blooded murder. and i wouldn't buy the claim that he thought he was grabbing his taser. i think the handle & weight of a gun and a taser feel quite different in the hand, perhaps they are even stored in a different location on the officer's utility belt!

on edit: i changed death penalty to life.

[proud progressive]

3. now, let's see. victim is black and shot in the back; cop is white and in fear for his life

seems cut-and-dry for me. bury that victim, bring on the next one.

[gristy]

6. Lots of interesting discussion on this over the past couple days - go here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=255640&mesg_id=255640

[Poll_Blind]

7. Thank you for posting this- I shy away from material like this too but A) It's not graphic and B)...

...it (like the other videos which have surfaced) show pretty clearly what happened.

It is never a pleasant experience to watch something like this but I think it is necessary sometimes for adults to view material like this because it is incumbent on us as citizens what's really happening.

PB

[FourScore]

10. Thanks for your response, PB

When I first posted the video I did not post the graphic warning. But, later, I changed my mind because I was afraid someone would not read my text and watch it without fully realizing that they were about to witness a murder.

I feel sad for everone. The officer, the victim, the newborn, the mother, the 4-year old little girl, the friends who witnessed it...the whole thing is just senseless and wierd and sad.

I know that I don't buy it for a second that the police officer confused his gun for his taser. There are numerous arguments against that. Maybe he didn't mean to fire the gun and ir was accidental...but then, why did he even feel a need to pull it out? The officers had the situation under control and none of those in custody were armed.

I just don't get it.

[smiley]

11. This man has already been detained

There was absolutely no reason for a gun or a taser.

Put the pig in jail!

[my2sense]

12. He basically executed Oscar Grant

and I hope he's convicted of murder. It's a terrible thing when the people we PAY to PROTECT US become the ones we are afraid of.

[Poll_Blind]

14. The United Nations has a word for this sort of thing: Extra-Judicial Assassination.

The execution of an individual by a military or police force without the review or order of a judicial system.

Extra-Judicial Assassinations are one of the main hallmarks of a fascist/dictatorial regime, btw.

PB

[bagrman]

15. Lying on his belly and shot in the back. How's that Police state starting to taste.

[Seldona]

16. I can't believe he is claiming the fact he was about to become a dad

as the reason for committing this heinous act. That is some made up lawyers bullshit if I've ever heard it.

If that is the case I want all to-be parents of both sexes removed from active duty police work while 'they' are with child. They are a danger to the public at large if the above is true.

If you were in that much distress don't put on the uniform. I don't know about you, but I don't want fucked up individuals who execute people by shooting them in the back as they lay on the ground walking the streets, period.

Nor do I want a legal precedent set that allows cops an out for murder.

[Butch350]

17. Did he accidently remove the safety before he shot too?

It looked like an automatic weapon - I myself wouldn't holster a pistol without the safety being on.

[Wizard777]

19. I'm hearing the officer has resigned. I'm awaiting a link.

[Wizard777]

20. Officer resigns link here

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_11401111?nclick_check=1">Officer in BART shooting that killed a man resigns

In a dramatic story that has been stoked by amateur YouTube videos, the aftermath of the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a young man by a BART officer unfolded Wednesday on several fronts - with a funeral, a protest, and an announcement that the officer had resigned.

More than 1,000 people turned out at a Hayward church to remember Oscar Grant III , who one worshipper called "the apple of God's eyes.'' Cell phone videos apparently show Grant face down being shot by an officer standing over him.

[Tim4319]

21. Once again, the life of an unarmed black man is expendable!

Imagine the outrage if tables were reversed? Imagine if the kid was white, sitting in handcuffs and the officer was black? Imagine if it all were caught on tape? Imagine the outrage? Once again, the life of an unarmed black man is expendable!!!!

[proud patriot]

22. Protesters take to the streets

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4786982&mesg_id=4786982