Of course we don’t know all the facts in this case, but what the hell kind of excuse is this?
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.”
[From Spokesman: Officer in subway shooting has resigned – CNN.com]
Very implausible if you ask me
Standard-issue pistols for BART police are Sig-Sauer .40-caliber semi-automatic pistols, Gee said, and the department uses the X26 model Taser.
A loaded Sig-Sauer weighs nearly three times as much as the X26 Taser and is taller by about 2 inches, according to specifications on a gun dealer and official Taser Web sites.
and this?
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.
…
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.…
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.
Right, don’t believe your lying eyes when your eyes watch the armed cop shoot an unarmed man in the back. If you can stand it, there is ten minutes of raw footage of the event on Youtube or a two minute version here
The protests turned violent:
The protest started peacefully shortly after 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant of Hayward to death early New Year’s Day. BART shut down the station well into the evening commute, although the demonstration there was peaceful.
However, shortly after nightfall, a group of roughly 200 protesters split off and head toward downtown Oakland, prompting the transit agency to close the Lake Merritt station.
Oakland Police Officer Michael Cardoza parked his car across the intersection of Eighth and Madison streets, to prevent traffic from flowing toward Broadway and into the protest. But he told The Chronicle that a group of 30 to 40 protesters quickly surrounded his car and started smashing it with bottles and rocks.
Cardoza jumped out of the car and said some protesters tried to set the car on fire, while others jumped on top of the hood – incidents repeatedly shown on television. Cardoza said the protesters “were trying to entice us into doing something.”
…
Other protesters marched on BART’s 12th Street Station about 7 p.m., prompting the transit agency to close the downtown hub station even as it was reopening the Lake Merritt and Fruitvale stations.
Protesters blocked the intersection of 14th and Broadway, near the downtown BART station entrance. As police put on helmets and gas masks and stood in a line formation, protesters held signs that read, “Your idea of justice?” and “Jail Killer Cops.”
One man lay in the intersection with his face down and his hands behind his back – seemingly evoking the position that Grant was in when he was shot.
Some protesters wore masks over their faces as they yelled at police. Roughly a dozen stood just a few feet away from police as they screamed at them. Chants included “pigs go home,” “the fascist police, no justice, no peace” and “we are all Oscar Grant.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vK6ns5PFD8
And as Jimi Hendrix sang,
Sisters and brothers daddys mothers standin’ ’round cryin’
When I reached the scene the flames were makin’ a ghostly whine
So I stood on my horse’s back an’ I screamed without a crack
I say oh baby why’d you burn your brother’s house down ?
Update: Thomas Hawk took some photos on the scene, and blogged about his experience here.
There is a possibility that the cop thot he pulled the taser; made the mistake under stress. It seems unlikely he would kill in cold blood in front of other people and cameras. Even if that is found to be the case by the jury, such negligence deserves a stiff sentence. Also, too much is being made of the black/white issue. This would be a serious case even if it were black on black or white on white. Mob vengence has no place in a society that has courts to deal with crime. I have zero respect for people who insist on a verdict and essentially throw a tantrum (riot) when they don’t get their way. Where was the tantrum (riot) when OJ Simpson walked free after leaving his blood everywhere!? Shit happens. Move on.