We noted this travesty at the time it occurred, hope Oakland doesn’t explode into riots as result of the light punishment.
A white Bay Area transit officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday by a Los Angeles jury in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on Jan. 1, 2009, ending a closely watched trial that percolated with racial tension and cries for peace in the city of Oakland, Calif., where the killing occurred.
The officer, Johannes Mehserle, 28, had been accused of a more serious charge, second-degree murder, in the death of Oscar Grant III, 22, butcher’s apprentice who was shot while lying face down on a platform after being removed from a Bay Area Rapid Transit train during a fight.
City officials were worried about a reprise of the 2009 riots that erupted in downtown Oakland, with crowds burning cars and smashing storefronts after Mr. Grant’s shooting, which was captured on cellphone video and widely disseminated on the Internet.
(click to continue reading Officer Guilty in Killing That Inflamed Oakland – NYTimes.com.)