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The incident[edit]

Background[edit]

Oscar Grant had been celebrating New Year's Eve with his friends in San Francisco on the Embarcadero and was returning to the East Bay in the lead car of a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train bound for Fruitvale.[1][2] BART offered extended service and a special "Flash Pass" for the New Year's Eve holiday.[3][4] At approximately 2:00 AM PST, BART Police responded to reports that about twenty people were involved in the equivalent of a "barroom fight" on an incoming train from the West Oakland BART Station and the participants were "hammered and stoned."[1][5][6]

Officers removed Grant and several other men suspected of fighting from the train and detained them on the platform. Grant and another man ran back onto the train after being detained, but Grant voluntarily returned to the platform when officer Tony Pirone grabbed the other man and dragged him from the train.[1] Pirone handcuffed Grant's friend, angering other riders.[1] Pirone then lined up Grant and two other men against the wall.[1][7] According to Mehserle's motion for bail, Pirone confirmed with the train operator that the men detained were involved in the fight.[8] When five other officers, including Johannes Mehserle, arrived at the Fruitvale station, they found the situation chaotic.[1][9] BART police had been on edge before the shooting because two guns had been recovered in separate incidents along the rail line over the previous hour.[10] Immediately before he arrived at Fruitvale, Mehserle was involved in an incident at the West Oakland station where a teenage boy with a semiautomatic pistol had fled from police and jumped off the station platform, breaking several bones.[1]

A cell-phone video broadcast on KTVU on January 23 showed Pirone rushing towards Grant and punching him in the face two minutes before he was shot.[1][7][11] Pirone's attorney stated that Grant provoked Pirone by trying to knee the officer in the groin and by hitting a female officer's hand;[12][13] Burris disputes Pirone's account and claims that Grant and his friends were "peaceful" when the train stopped.[13] Grant then raised his hands while seated against the platform wall.[14]

Fatally shot[edit]

While dozens of people shouted and cursed at officers from the stopped train, Mehserle and Pirone positioned Grant face-down. According to Pirone, Grant was disobeying instructions and cursing at officers.[5] Witnesses stated Grant pleaded with BART police not to shock him with a Taser.[15] Pirone then kneeled on Grant's neck and told him that he was under arrest for resisting an officer.[5][7]

Mehserle's motion for bail, citing the police investigation, stated:

Pirone said he told Grant "Stop resisting, you're under arrest, put your hands behind your back." At that time Pirone said he heard Mehserle say, "Put your hands behind your back, stop resisting, stop resisting, put your hands behind your back." Then Mehserle said, "I'm going to taze him, I'm going to taze him. I can't get his arms. He won't give me his arms. His hands are going for his waistband." Then Mehserle popped up and said, "Tony, Tony, get away, back up, back up."
Pirone did not know if Grant was armed. Mehserle had fear in his voice. Pirone had never heard Mehserle's voice with that tone. Mehserle sounded afraid.[8]

The motion also states that the man sitting next to Grant also told police he heard Mehserle say "I'm going to taze him."[8]

Mehserle then stood up, unholstered his gun and fired a shot into Grant's back.[14] Immediately after the shooting, Mehserle appeared surprised and raised his hands to his face; according to Michael Rains, Mehserle's criminal defense attorney, several eyewitnesses described Mehserle as looking stunned.[5][16]

The .40 caliber bullet from Mehserle's semi-automatic handgun entered Grant's back, exited through his front side and ricocheted off the concrete platform, puncturing Grant's lung.[16][17] According to one witness, Grant yelled, "You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter!"[18] Grant died seven hours later at Highland Hospital.[9]

Defining restrained[edit]

There is disagreement of when, or if, Grant was handcuffed, although it is clear his hands were behind his back when Mehserle thought Grant was reaching for a gun. The attorney for Grant's family's claims that Grant's hands were restrained by Mehserle immediately prior to the shooting.[19] The day after the shooting, BART spokesman Jim Allison said that Grant was not restrained when he was shot.[3] Court filings by the district attorney's office say that Grant's hands were behind his back and that he was "restrained and unarmed" but do not say he was handcuffed.[20][5] The family's claim against BART alleges that Grant was handcuffed after he was shot.[21]

Oscar Grant III[edit]

thumb|upright|Oscar Grant III Oscar Juliuss Grant III, 22 at his death, was the father of a 4-year-old daughter and lived in Hayward.[9] Grant had worked as a butcher at Farmer Joe's Marketplace in Oakland's Dimond District after previous jobs at several Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets.[15] He attended both San Lorenzo and Mount Eden High Schools in Hayward until the 10th grade and eventually earned his GED.[15]

Grant had a prior police record but the attorney for Grant's family, John Burris, argued it was "irrelevant to the BART shooting because Mehserle wasn't aware of it when he opened fire".[15][22] Previously Grant had been convicted of drug dealing and, in 2007, was sentenced to sixteen months in state prison for fleeing "from a traffic stop while armed with a loaded pistol".[15] At that incident, near his Hayward home, San Leandro police shot him with a Taser to subdue him after he threw the pistol into the air and ran.[15] Grant was released from prison September 23, and according to Burris, had been doing well in recent months.[15]

In the motion for bail, Mehserle's attorney, Michael Rains, stated that toxicology testing of Grant's blood revealed the presence of alcohol (0.02 grams%) and Fentanyl, a strong narcotic pain reliever.[8] The coroner's bureau said the pathologist's autopsy protocol won't be finalized until March 2008.[23]

Grant's funeral was held at the Palma Ceia Baptist Church in Hayward on January 7, 2009.[24] He is survived by his mother, sister, daughter, and a girlfriend, who are the claimants in a wrongful death claim against Bay Area Rapid Transit.

references[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Cite error: The named reference missteps was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Family Files Claim In BART Shooting; Officer ID'd". KPIX-TV. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  3. ^ a b Jill Tucker (2009). "Deadly BART brawl — officer shoots rider, 22". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-01-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "New Year's Eve flash pass, service adjustments, for holiday travelers". BART. 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  5. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference bulwa130 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Maher, Sean (2009-02-04). "Witnesses to shooting file claim against BART". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 2009-02-12. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ a b c Lagos, Marisa (2009-01-25). "Video shows another BART cop hitting passenger". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-01-25. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ a b c d "People v. Mehserle, Motion to Set Bail, Case No. 547353-7 (Alameda Cty., Cal.)" (PDF). 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference cuffs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Damian Bulwa (2009-01-05). "BART appeals for calm as footage shows shooting". San Francisco Chronicle.
  11. ^ "Video Shows Second Officer Punching Grant". KTVU. 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2009-01-24.
  12. ^ Egelko, Bob (2009-01-28). "Lawyer: Cop who hit BART victim was provoked". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-02-01. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference upton205 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference cnn-video-shooting was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ a b c d e f g "BART shooting victim's family files claim". San Francisco Chronicle. 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  16. ^ a b Petti Fong (2009). "Was shooting a fatal error?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  17. ^ Eliott C. McLaughlin (2009). "Spokesman: Officer in subway shooting has resigned". CNN. Retrieved 2009-01-05. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "Man's Fatal Shooting by San Francisco Subway Police Prompts Probe, Plans for $25M Lawsuit". FoxNews.com. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  19. ^ "Family Claims BART Victim's Civil Rights Violated". KTVU. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
  20. ^ Demian Bulwa, Wyatt Buchanan,Matthew Yi (2009-01-15). "Behind murder charge against ex-BART officer". San Francisco Chronicle.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference merc106 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "Oakland: Rally held at BART headquarters to protest fatal shooting". KPIX-TV. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-09.
  23. ^ KTVU.com (2009-01-09). "BART GM: 'Finish Investigation By Next Week'". Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  24. ^ "Services set for man fatally shot by BART police officer". Associated Press. 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
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