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R.I.P Oscar Grant... This is so tragic *updated* 12/14 OFFICER ARRESTED
- Jan 6, 2009 at 4:36 PM
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OAKLAND, Calif. - Law enforcement officials urged patience while they investigated details surrounding the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a 22-year-old man by a transit agency police officer.
Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is "committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation" of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.
"This case is not even four days cold. We're in the early stages of the investigation and we will do a very thorough job," he said.
Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to Oakland's Fruitvale station to investigate reports of a supposed brawl on a train on which Grant was riding around 2 a.m. Thursday.
A friend of Grant's who was with him on the crowded Oakland train station platform at the time of the shooting said Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him.
"Oscar yelled, 'You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter,"' said Fernando Anicete. "Oscar was telling us to calm down and we did. We weren't looking for any trouble."
Anicete was among more than 50 people attending a tearful news conference in Oakland on Sunday where Grant's family announced they planned to file a $25 million claim against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency this week. A claim is the first step in the process of suing the agency.
The family's attorney John Burris said the shooting was intentional, and that he planned to ask Alameda County prosecutors to seek criminal charges against the officer. Burris said Grant, of Hayward, Calif., posed no threat to officers when a bullet entered his back and ricocheted to his lung area, killing him almost instantly.
"The officer leaned [in], was straddling over him and pointed his gun directly into the backside and shot [Grant]," said Burris, adding that Grant was handcuffed - after he was shot. "This was not a deadly force situation."
Gee said BART police are fully cooperating with the district attorney's investigation.
Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, and Sophina Mesa, his daughter's mother, wept uncontrollably as Burris spoke about Grant. They did not speak, but several said Grant, a butcher at a supermarket near the train station where he was killed, was a loving father showing signs of maturation.
Cephus "Bobby" Johnson, Grant's uncle, said he text messaged his nephew just after midnight Thursday saying, "Happy New Year ... I love you."
Johnson never got a reply.
"I wondered why he didn't text me back," a teary-eyed Johnson said. "And then I found out why."
BART spokesman Jim Allison has said the officer's gun went off while police were trying to restrain Grant and that Grant was not cuffed. The unidentified officer is on paid leave as BART investigates the shooting.
Mario Pangelina, Mesa's brother who was riding on the same train, two cars behind Grant on Thursday morning, said Sunday he saw Grant beg police not to Taser him because of his child.
"He kept saying, 'Please, please don't Tase me,"' Pangelina said. "He was not acting hostile."
Other witnesses said Grant was lying on his stomach on the station's platform when he was shot.
Recordings of the shooting by witnesses have surfaced and Burris said BART had confiscated numerous cell phone images from others he believes contain additional footage.
Services for Grant will be held Wednesday
New video shows BART officer shooting Hayward man in the back
Oakland Tribune
- Poll: What do you think the videos prove? Vote on ContraCostaTimes.com and InsideBayArea.com
- KTVU Video: Cell phone video shows shooting
- Did you see it? Post your video and photos here.
OAKLAND - A BART police officer struggling to handcuff a 22-year-old man, stood up over the facedown Hayward resident and fired a single shot into his back while a handful of officers watched, a video taken by a train passenger apparently shows.
The attorney for the family of Oscar Grant III, fatally shot by an unidentified BART officer early New Year's Day, said Sunday he plans to file a $25 million lawsuit against the department and asked prosecutors to consider filing murder charges against the officer.
The shooting occurred shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday after five officers responded to the Fruitvale station to reports of a fight on a train, officials said, though they have not confirmed whether Grant
was involved in the fight.The new video, obtained by television station KTVU, shows two officers restraining a struggling suspect. While the man is lying face down on the ground, one officer appears to be seen pulling out a gun and firing a single shot into his back.
Civil rights attorney John Burris, known for his work in several high-profile cases involving police abuse and corruption, said at a Sunday news conference that the shooting was "the most unconscionable shooting" he has ever seen. He said that the Alameda County district attorney should consider filing charges of second degree murder or manslaughter against the officer.
"I've drafted a notice of claim against BART for $25 million I plan to submit officially,"
The Police Department is in the early stages of a thorough investigation, BART police Chief Gary Gee said Sunday at a news conference. He declined to discuss many details, as doing so "before all the facts are in could compromise individual recollections and do disservice to the truth and the answers we're all seeking."
BART police are cooperating fully with a parallel investigation by the Alameda County district attorney's office, Gee said.
Gee declined to identify the officer but said he is a two-year BART police veteran. The officer was given drug and alcohol tests before being sent home on administrative leave Thursday, Gee said.
The last BART officer-involved shooting occurred in May 2001, Gee said.
Mario Pangelina Jr., whose sister had a 4-year-old daughter with Grant, said he was on the same train as Grant that night, but on a different car. He said he saw Grant's interactions with police immediately before the shooting.
"First, an officer grabbed Oscar by the neck and pushed him against the wall," Pangelina said. "Oscar didn't fight him, but he didn't go down either. He was like, 'What did I do?' Then another officer came up with his Taser and held it right in his face. Oscar said, 'Please don't shoot me, please don't Taser me, I have a daughter,' over and over again, real fast, and he sat down."
Grant was the only man in a small group sitting against the wall who was not handcuffed, Burris said, so officers grabbed him away from the wall and pressed him belly-down onto the ground.
"One officer was kneeling over his neck and head, and another standing over him," Burris said. "He was not kicking, and one officer was pulling on his arm. The standing officer pulled out his weapon and, within moments, fired the gun into Mr. Grant's back."
Burris said the bullet went through Grant's lower back and ricocheted off the ground up into his lungs, killing him.
BART's 206 sworn officers attend the same academies and training programs as city police and sheriff's deputies. According to BART's Web site, its requirements go beyond state guidelines, as every officer applicant must have completed at least a year of college.
Police have one video of the incident in evidence, different from the video that local media have released, and the quality of that video makes it hard to reach a sure conclusion, Gee said.
"It's not clear to me why the officer felt he needed to shoot. I don't know, and from my perspective it doesn't matter," Burris said.
Two authorities on police use of deadly force, both former law enforcement officers, said the newly discovered tape leaves unanswered questions.
"Strictly on the basis of this video, it is impossible to determine whether the shooting was justified because the officer who fired the shot might have seen some imminent threat to his or others' lives that the camera does not detect at that distance, angle and resolution," said Michael Scott, a University of Wisconsin law professor, former police chief in Florida and co-author of "Deadly Force: What We Know."
Scott said he watched the video several times. If there was a threat, he wrote in an e-mail to the Times, it "would most likely have to be a firearm or other weapon in the possession of Mr. Grant. However, if it turns out that Mr. Grant had no such weapon, it is awfully difficult to imagine what might have justified the use of deadly force."
Curtis J. Cope agreed that the tape doesn't show enough to draw clear conclusions.
"There are so many things we don't know," said Cope, a former 30-year law enforcement officer who has conducted police training and provides expert testimony in police procedure cases. "We certainly don't know the reason why they decided to put him prone on the ground. We don't know what reactions were taking place, what orders were being given and whether or not he is then complying or not complying. ... You need to look at every possible angle of it. Those angles all take time."
Grant was a butcher at popular Oakland grocery store Farmer Joe's and a loving father, family members said Sunday.
"He was so happy with his daughter," said Lita Gomez, sister to the mother of Grant's child. "You could see he was just so happy when he looked at her. Now, he's not going to be there for kindergarten. He's not going to be there for her prom. He's not going to be there for her wedding. She was robbed of that."
Family members erected a memorial for Grant outside the Fruitvale BART station Saturday night, where they said they plan to continue honoring his memory for 10 days.
A public funeral service is planned for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Palma Ceia Baptist Church, 28605 Ruus Road in Hayward, family members said.
Gee asked anyone with information on the shooting to call BART investigators at 877-679-7000, ext. 7040, or the Alameda County district attorney's office at 510-272-6222
I am updateing with more links to fallow the story especially for those who do not live in our state I know sometimes they dont give you the full updates.. so here they are
Just copy and paste the links in your browser area
BART gunshots are heard around the world
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_11400988
'Lift up this family,' mourners urged at funeral for BART shooting victim
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_11399705
BART police shooter quits job, skips interview
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_11394377
Hundreds gather on Oakland streets to protest BART shooting
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/ci_11401338
They arrested the officer on murder charges 12/13/09
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/ci_11447812
Comments:
I am so sorry for your loss. This makes me angry angry angry !! There was no need for a firearm to be drawn or used. I hope this officer faces charges and gets what he deserves.
Did you know him Felicia? I know this is right where you live so I thought I'd ask. This is a horrible crime and I hope that the officer pays for what he did. So sad!! My heart goes out to his family and friends...
yes we did know him. I went to school with him and this is my husbands cousins boyfriend. The one Oscar had the little girl with. They were actually on there way to our house. Its really sad.
I am so sorry for your loss! I hope the officer get what he deserves.
Wow so sorry to hear of your loss.Your in our prayers.
Hun..I'm so sorry for your loss. My thoughts and prayers goes out to his family and all his friends. I saw this today on CNN-news and I was so shocked to hear about this horrible crime. I hope the officer who did this will pay for what he did.
OMG! I watched the video, it was horrible! What was that officer thinking!? I am sorry for your loss and shocked at the way that played out.
I am stunned why did the gaurd even have his gun out ??? the poor younge mans family the tape wow maybe they should not let his family see it it would be rough on them the world what is wronge with us
Thank you everyone for your replies. This has been all over the news around here and even on sights like MSN and CNN its really a hard thing. Gotmom4: unfortunately his family did have to see the video they replay it over and over again. The girl that released the first one did the right thing by releasing it to the press not the police... because well unfortunately the ones released to the police have so far been proven "inconclusive" If these videos did not come out they probably would really have no case it would all be hearsay
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so sad :( Voted popular!
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