The BART police officer who shot Oscar Grant in the back while he was laying on the ground on New Year’s Day, which led to riots in the City of Oakland, CA, earlier this month, has been arrested.
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Johannes Mehserle, 27, was taken into custody last night as part of the investigation into the controversial shooting of Oscar Grant earlier this month.
The 22-year-old victim was killed after transport police intervened to stop a fight on a train from San Francisco to Oakland in the early hours of 1 January.
The manner of his death has sparked protests and rioting. Footage filmed by passengers on the train at Fruitvale station appeared to show Grant sitting calmly on the platform shortly before the scuffle that left him dead.
Judge for yourself. Here’s video of the shoooting (Warning: Graphic images of violence. May not be suitable for viewing at work).
I have no idea what defense Mehserle will offer for his actions. He refused to talk to or cooperate with investigators last week and resigned from BART after video of the shooting was broiadcast. Self defense seems out of the question based on what I saw. There has been speculation that Grant may have believed he was reaching for his taser and pulled out his firearm instead in confusion, but that is all it is at this point — speculation. Personally, I find it hard to believe Mehserle couldn’t tell the difference between a his hand gun and his taser. Here’s some images of the two:
A typical handgun that many police officers use:
A taser, such as the one Mehserle was carrying:
The differences between the two are fairly apparent, wouldn’t you say? Aside from the differences in shape, a hand gun is typically three times heavier than a taser weapon.
Mehserle Was arrested in Douglas County, Nevada, by the way, on a fugitive warrant. Obviously, attempting to evade arrest by leaving the jurisdiction where the incident in question took place is not proof of guilt, but it is circumstantial evidence from which one may reasonably infer that Mehsele felt he would be convicted if arrested, absent evidence that he had permission from authorities to leave the Bay area.
It will be interesting to see with which crimes Mehserle is ultimately charged by the prosecuting attorney. Anything less than premeditated murder is likely to draw more protests from the African American community in Oakland. Certainly if any of us had shot a man in the back who was restrained by someone else while he lay on the ground, you can bet we’d be talking to our attorney about the best way to avoid the death penalty. Police officers, however, are often granted a lot more leeway in cases where they shoot people in cold blood. Just ask Sean Bell or Amadou Diallo, to name but two of many unarmed black males whom police have gunned down over the last few years.
I’m sure the community of Oakland and the nation at large will be watching this case closely as it proceeds to a possible indictment and trial of Johannes Mehserle for the murder of Oscar Grant. Sadly, incidents like this serve to point out the differences in which many whites and blacks view the nature of racism in our society. Conduct a poll right now and the number of whites who believe that racism had nothing to do with this shooting will likely be vastly higher than the number of blacks who believe that. And electing Barack Obama as our President has not changed that fact.
It would be nice if Mehserle was charged for a hate crime, but I don’t expect that to happen. It would be tragic if he is not charged with premeditated murder.
