'Excessive force' claimed in BART shooting

[geronimotwo]

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/37188674.html

By Tamara Barak Aparton


 SAN FRANCISCO – A $25 million claim filed Tuesday by the family of a man fatally shot in the back by a BART police officer details the young father’s last, terrifying moments of life.
Attorney John Burris said the wrongful-death claim against BART and Officer Johannes Mehserle is based on excessive force used by Mehserle and the violation of shooting victim Oscar Grant III’s civil rights. The claim was filed on behalf of Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, and Sophina Mesa, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter.

Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward resident, was killed about 2 a.m. New Year’s Day at the Fruitvale station in Oakland following a fight on a train. Amateur videos appear to show the unarmed man restrained on his stomach by BART police before an officer pulls his weapon and shoots Grant once in the back.

Burris said he was frustrated that Mehserle had yet to give a statement to investigators, saying he fears the officer may revise his story based on evidence that has been publicized.

According to Tuesday’s claim, Grant was riding BART back to the East Bay after spending the evening in San Francisco. When a fight erupted, BART police met the train at the Fruitvale station and ordered passengers, including Grant, to get off the cars.

The claim said the brutality began when an unidentified officer grabbed Grant, threw him into a nearby wall and kneed him in the face.

“In an effort to demonstrate that he was submitting to the ... officer’s thuggish display of authority, Mr. Grant dropped to his knees and put his hands up,” the claim said.

The officer then pushed Grant face-first to the pavement and dug his knee into Grant’s back, “causing him to yell out in agony,” according to the claim. Then, Grant’s family and attorney allege, Mehserle, who was standing nearby, restrained Grant’s hands before standing up, drawing his gun and shooting Grant in the back. Officers then placed the mortally wounded Grant in handcuffs, according to the family’s claim.

“The police officer shot this man in the back at a time when the officer’s life was not in danger nor was anyone else’s,” Burris said. “There was no need to use deadly force.”

The filing is the first step toward a possible lawsuit. BART’s attorney’s have 45 days to respond to the claim before a lawsuit is filed. BART officials and Mehserle’s attorney did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

BART officials have pleaded for patience from the public while the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office conducts its investigation into the incident. Meanwhile, protesters have rallied at the Fruitvale station and are planning another protest at 3 p.m. today. Grant’s funeral is today in Hayward.

tbarak@sfexaminer.com


Train tragedy

Details of claim filed in response to fatal BART shooting Jan. 1:

What the claim is asking for: $25 million
Who filed the claim: Wanda Johnson, Oscar Grant III’s mother, and Sophina Mesa, mother of Grant’s 4-year-old daughter
Defendants: BART, BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle
Basis of claim: Excessive force, wrongful death, violation of civil rights
What’s next: BART officials have 45 days to accept or deny claim. If denied, the family’s attorney will likely file a multimillion-dollar lawsuit.

evidently there were numerous recordings from various cell phones at the station. does anyone have a link to a good video? i would like to see this for myself before passing judgement.

[dogmush]

Video 1

Video 2

*Disclamer*  I haven't seen these yet, as streaming video is blocked at work, but they are purported to be two angles of the shooting.

[Ryan in Maine]

Going by Dog Mush's link?

Bad shoot. Bad, bad shoot. Maybe even an accidental negligent discharge.

The videos aren't great, so we can't see/hear the interaction between the officer/suspect, but the suspect was very pinned. Maybe he made a um, high level verbal threat?

A lot of people recorded this from all reports, so something more ought to come out other than the two or three currently available videos.

Yeesh.  :|

Edited to change "accidental" to "negligent" after watching the video a couple more times. No accident there. Pure negligence. 

[dogmush]

Going by what I've read, the LEO thought it was his TASER.  Let me see if I can dig up those links.


*Edit*

Can't find that quote anymore, so treat it as rumor.  Although Fox News has this quote:

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.

Because, you know, guns just go off all the time.  If only there was some kind of switch, or lever, one had to use before it would go off,

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,476644,00.html

[AZRedhawk44]

I saw the video.

Two officers had the suspect pinned on the ground while a 3rd was standing above him.  I've heard 2 "excuses" now:

1. Officer thought he was pulling out his handcuffs.
2. Officer thought he was pulling out his tazer.

Neither is appropriate, as the standing officer is the farthest from the suspect's hands (meaning one of his partners would do the cuffing; and who believes that handcuffs feel anything like a pistol in the hand?), and the suspect was physically restrained by two officers and cooperating, negating the need for a tazer.

From what I've seen so far:  Tall tree and a short rope.  Lynch the bugger.

[Nitrogen]

This absolutely looks like second degree murder to me.

[MicroBalrog]

Because tazing a restrained guy is completely a-OK, right?

Even assuming everything the officer says is true, what kind of incompetent tazes a restrained suspect? What kind of incompetent mixes up his tazer and his gun?

[dogmush]

Finally got a chance to watch the vids.  There's a bunch on YouTube too (search Oscar Grant Shooting).

From here, I don't think I can even buy the accident theroy.  He rached for his gun, played with the retention holster a bit, stood up, drew aimed and fired. It wasn't a particularly fast draw either. The other LEO's seemed really surprised.

Whatever was going through his head, right now it looks like he murdered the guy.  

I'm interested to hear the official version when it comes out, but the very fact that BART has waited a week (so far) with no statement at all will hurt the credibility of their stoory when it does come out.

[Uncle Bubba]

Appalling.

I haven't the faintest inkling of a reason for him to draw his sidearm, but judging from his body language and the "Oh Sh*t!" look on his face immediately after the shot I think it was an AD.

That said, I have to agree with Redhawk: Hang him. His stupidity cost a man his life.

[Balog]

Looks like murder to me. Let's hope he goes to prison for a long time, instead of the slap on the wrist cops often get for killing people.

[roo_ster]

Shooter had the "Oh S__t!" look on his face afterwards. 

I vote negligent discharge.  Whatever that translates in legalese, I don't know.

Seems he wasn't professional enough to carry his foh-tay.

Dude ought to face the same music as any armed citizen who has a ND that kills a person.

I will note that they were in the midst of a hostile crowd.  I can see this jacking up the stress level, but I would consider the crowd and not necessarily the cuffed (& presumably searched) suspect as the greater threat to possibly draw my weapon on.

Oh, and the news reports post-mortem hagiography is a little much.  For example:
"Leaves behind a 4YO daughter" = knocked up a girl and is letting the taxpayer foot the bill

Meh, I have little sympathy for anything about this mess: taxpayer-subsidized light rail, twitchy train cops, unsympathetic victim. 

[geronimotwo]

Finally got a chance to watch the vids.  There's a bunch on YouTube too (search Oscar Grant Shooting).

From here, I don't think I can even buy the accident theroy.  He rached for his gun, played with the retention holster a bit, stood up, drew aimed and fired. It wasn't a particularly fast draw either. The other LEO's seemed really surprised.

Whatever was going through his head, right now it looks like he murdered the guy.  

I'm interested to hear the official version when it comes out, but the very fact that BART has waited a week (so far) with no statement at all will hurt the credibility of their stoory when it does come out.

that is one thing that always bothers me...... whether it has to do with the police, millionaires, or politicians, there always seems to be a long pause before their side of the story comes out to the public.

what happened to the seperate 'em and get all the individual statements routine?

here is a video with sound, although it has 15 seconds of propaganda at the beginning and end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJAr6NUy3E

when an officer comes in from the left it seems to escalate the situation. i wonder if there was some history between him and grant?

here is a really poor quality video, but it does show it from another angle, with another person being restrained on the floor, and nightsticks out. definetly a tense situation for the police. still, i don't see the need to draw gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muVaEt3NhEs&feature=related

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

that is one thing that always bothers me...... whether it has to do with the police, millionaires, or politicians, there always seems to be a long pause before their side of the story comes out to the public.

in pg county md the union contract give e 5 days before they have to talk

in theory the 5th amendment says you can keep quiet   a cop will lose his job for no statement at all

[French G.]

If you were using a Taser as designed, a less lethal alternative to a firearm, then you could theoretically still pull the wrong one, shoot the suspect, and still be not guilty. For example, crazy man threatening police officers with a knife. Without a Taser the guy is subject to being justifiably shot. If a Taser or something like a beanbag shotgun or pepperball gun is on scene and there is time; an officer can make a go at less lethal in order to try to avoid killing crazy person.

Now, back in reality land, Tasers seem to be universally employed in the US as pain compliance weapons to induce cooperation in situations where lethal force would not be authorized. While it may be generally less damaging than the old maglite to the base of the skull trick the end result as we see here can also be fatal. Every time a taser is used as a pain compliance tool and someone is seriously hurt I hope the user goes to jail. In short, this guy should have never been reaching for a gun or a gun shaped taser.

I think the proper place for a Taser in a continuum of force is above OC or other irritants, just below baton strikes to the head, neck, or joints, and handgun. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I think the proper place for a Taser in a continuum of force is above OC or other irritants,

but isn't that pain compliance?

[El Tejon]

How is this not Murder?

Abosultely no reason for officer to be pointing weapon at victim.

[Viking]

That was a most disgusting video!

[French G.]

I think the proper place for a Taser in a continuum of force is above OC or other irritants,

but isn't that pain compliance?

Uh yeah, that's the point. OC was never designed to be a fight stopping alternative where lethal force could otherwise be justified. The Navy at least ranks OC with soft control, as in something you do before you get out a baton, strike with hands, or lock joints. Taser should be much further up the scale.

[AZRedhawk44]

On a side note... I wonder how long the journalist here has been using her full name with middle name in story credits?

By Tamara Barak Aparton

[French G.]

It's San Fran, she probably had it legally changed.

[Brad Johnson]

Judging by the vid I predict the taxpayers of San Fran will get to pay (a lot and for a long, long time) for the officer's actions.

He may not be convicted in criminal court, but they will hang him in a civil action.

Brad

[MechAg94]

I think the proper place for a Taser in a continuum of force is above OC or other irritants,

but isn't that pain compliance?

I remember hearing LEO comments on THR a while back that some departments consider it something that should be used before physical force/contact is used. 

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I remember hearing LEO comments on THR a while back that some departments consider it something that should be used before physical force/contact is used. 

yup

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

if they were smart they would do like fairfax did   he/we screwed up right outa the gate

[Balog]

I'd say a proper use for the Taser is unarmed people forcibly resisting. A lot of the bad uses we see are people just sitting/laying down who get shocked for non-compliance.