Oakland Turns Violent Over Shooting

[dagon]

:sad::shocked:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/us/09oakland.html?_r=1&hp:yikes::woot_jump::woot_jump::bash::mf_boff::mf_ boff::mf_boff::mf_boff::hammer:
on the news this morning there was a lady saying she was tired of living in fear. made me want to take to the streets with other issues of fear. oakland california,

:protest::protest::protest::protest::protest::prot est:

After an afternoon protest of a shooting by transit police, a group of protesters broke windows on police cruisers.

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By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: January 8, 2009
Protesters angry over a deadly New Year’s Day shooting of a young black man by a transit police officer erupted into violence in downtown Oakland on Wednesday night while investigators struggled to determine what prompted the officer to fire his gun into the unarmed man’s back.

After an afternoon of peaceful demonstrations and a memorial service, protests turned chaotic after dark as a small clutch of protesters set trash cans and cars afire and busted windows on police cruisers and storefronts. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas and billy clubs and at least 14 arrests were made, according to local television reports. Several major downtown streets were closed, and helicopter footage showed small groups of protesters roaming through the city’s deserted center. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but sirens continued to echo into the late evening.

Mayor Ron Dellums pleaded for calm as anger continued to build in the city’s black community over the shooting of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old butcher’s apprentice who was shot in the back while lying on the platform at the Fruitvale station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.

“We’ve got to have a real investigation that people can have confidence in,” said Mr. Dellums on Wednesday night. “And my sense of it is that part of this reaction is that people have lost confidence.”

Mr. Grant, who had been involved in a scuffle aboard a train after leaving a New Year’s Eve celebration in San Francisco, died at a local hospital several hours after being shot. The bullet, which had passed through his lower back, ricocheted into his lung. The officer, Johannes Mehserle, resigned on Wednesday, but investigators said efforts to interview him about the circumstances of the shooting had been rebuffed by his lawyers and police union leaders, according to Linton Johnson, spokesperson for the transit district

The incident was captured by at least four cellphone cameras held by passengers on a train idling next to the platform. The videos, which have been widely broadcast and streamed online, show Mr. Grant lying face down when Mr. Mehserle, 27, pulls his gun and fires a single shot. Mr. Mehserle looks stunned for a moment, and then handcuffs Mr. Grant with the assistance of another officer.

John Burris, a lawyer for Mr. Grant’s mother and his live-in girlfriend, said he had asked Tom Orloff, the Alameda County District Attorney, to consider filing criminal charges against Mr. Mehserle.

“If you can’t file charges in a case like this,” said Mr. Burris, “I don’t know what kind of case you can file in.”

Mr. Orloff said he was still investigating the case, as was the BART police department. Federal law enforcement were also reported to be looking into whether Mr. Grant’s civil rights were violated in his killing.

[dagon]

I also just noticed that the photos were just swapped on the link. the cop car was on the top. getting vandalized. and the guy getting arrested was on the btm. after a 2nd visit. the photos were swapped.. :thumb_yello:

[NorthernSanctuary]

Update: Cop who shot man on subway in Oakland resigns
Quote

(CNN) -- The officer involved in a New Year's Day shooting that left a passenger dead in a crowded Oakland, California, subway station resigned Wednesday, a Bay Area Rapid Transit spokesman said.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said in a statement that the officer's attorney and his union representative submitted the resignation at a meeting Wednesday morning with BART police investigators. The officer was going to be at the meeting but did not show up, Johnson said.

The resignation was effective immediately.

Shortly before the funeral for the passenger, 22-year-old Oscar Grant, Johnson said the officer had received death threats.

The BART officer fatally shot Grant in the back after he and some friends were pulled from a train car following a report of an altercation, according to a BART statement.

On Tuesday, attorney John Burris filed a $25 million claim with BART in which he identified the officer as Johannes Mehserle. Several local media outlets had already identified the officer.

Burris alleges in the claim, "Without so much as flinching the Officer Mehserle stood over Grant and mercilessly fired his weapon, mortally wounding Mr. Grant with a single gunshot wound to the back."

Johnson said Mehserle's attorney -- reportedly David E. Mastagni of Sacramento -- has advised him not to speak to investigators. Nor has Mehserle made any public statements. Calls and e-mails to Mastagni's office Tuesday and Wednesday were not returned.

Johnson also said the officer had been moved at least twice because of death threats to him and his family.

CNN affiliate KTVU-TV in Oakland obtained videos of the incident and its prelude. One video, which KTVU reported came from a train passenger who wished not to be identified, shows three young men against a wall in the Fruitvale station.

Burris told CNN on Tuesday that 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 about 2 a.m.

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.

"He said to them, 'Don't Tase me; I have a 4-year-old daughter,' " Burris said.

The interaction on the video is not audible.

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, tugs at his gun, unholsters it and fires a shot into Grant's back.

Burris said the bullet went through Grant's back and then ricocheted off the floor and through his lungs.

Grant died seven hours later at a hospital, KTVU reported.

In Wednesday's statement about Mehserle's resignation, BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger said that the "shooting is a tragic event in every respect for all involved."

"We recognize that the family and friends of Oscar Grant are in mourning, and we extend our condolences," she said.

Johnson has said Mehserle is devastated and is presumed innocent. He also says that the videos making the media rounds are inconclusive and that there is more to the story than what can be seen on the grainy images.

There are two surveillance cameras at the Fruitvale station, but a BART official told CNN on Tuesday that no video is being released at this time.

Burris called the shooting "unconscionable" and said the $25 million claim alleges wrongful death and violation of civil rights by use of excessive force. Read the claim (PDF)

BART has 45 days to respond, he said. If the authority rejects the claim, he will file a civil lawsuit, said Burris, who served as Rodney King's co-counsel in King's civil case against the Los Angeles Police Department in the 1990s.

Burris has spoken to witnesses who claim that Grant was trying to resolve the situation.

"He had been telling people to calm down. 'Be cool. Just do what they tell you to do,' " the attorney said.

Johnson told KTVU that authorities are trying to determine whether the officer who shot Grant accidentally drew his gun instead of his Taser.

Burris said he is pushing Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff to press second-degree murder charges, or involuntary manslaughter charges if evidence suggests that Mehserle mistook his gun for a Taser, he said.

"No one wants to believe a cop would just kill somebody like that," he said. "My view is, this is criminal conduct, period."

Orloff said Wednesday that his investigation will focus primarily on what led to the shooting.

Some homicides are lawful, he noted. In this case, Orloff said, "the part that needs dissecting is what, if anything, can be determined about the mental state of the actor," meaning the officer.

There are many possibilities, he said: His office could find no basis for criminal charges; the office could file involuntary manslaughter charges if Mehserle exercised gross negligence, voluntary manslaughter if Mehserle reasonably believed that he was acting in self-defense or murder if Mehserle acted with malice and forethought.

"Our function is to determine whether or not criminal charges should be filed against the officer," he said. "These things are usually an issue of weeks rather than days."

BART Police Chief Gary Gee released a statement this week expressing condolences for Grant's family and saying the authority is cooperating with Orloff's office.

Gee added that BART will complete an "unbiased and thorough investigation" and asked the public to be patient.

In the statement, Johnson said the officer's attorney had postponed a meeting with investigators Monday and on Tuesday asked for a delay until next week. That request was denied, and the Wednesday meeting was scheduled.

Johnson told CNN on Wednesday that it could take weeks for BART to complete its investigation.
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"As frustrating as it is, I want to stress that we cannot and will not jeopardize this case by discussing details before the investigation is complete," Gee said.

BART said in a statement Sunday that the officer had been on the force two years. He had on administrative leave, which is standard procedure, according to BART.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/07/BART.shooting/index.html