This is an extraordinarily outdated post, but I wanted to talk a little bit about the incident in Oakland back in January.
For anyone unfamiliar with the issue, the BBC sums it up best when they say: “Johannes Mehserle, a transport officer at the time, is accused of shooting Oscar Grant, 22, in the back as he lay face down on a train platform.”
That is it, in a nutshell. The details do paint a bleaker picture.
The story unfolds that the police responded to a fight on the BART Train and pulled several men off the train, including Grant. Eventually, Grant, several of his friends, and others were seated along the side of the station and Grant appears to be handcuffed. Finally, Grant was pulled up and thrown on the ground, at which point it appears there was some resistance. However, while one officer pinned him down another pulled his gun and shot him once in the back.
Mehserle has argued that Grant was actively resisting arrested and has alluded to pursuing several other events. He was arrested on charges of murder in January. This is extremely rare for a police officer, especially regarding an event that occurred in the line of duty.
It will be interesting to follow this case to examine a fairly unprecedented trial process.
[Source regarding Arrest: BBC News]
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