BART officer shoots cuffed, unarmed man in the head

[Alkasquawlik]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/07/MNOV154P0R.DTL

[adept]

It wasn't in the head...

[Alkasquawlik]

I could've sworn I read something in there that said they shot him on the back of the head, execution style.

[benetton]

did this really surprise you? With 3 cops and the man face down on his stomach why in the hell would he stun him like he said he was trying to do. give a man authority and a deadly weapon and something is bound to go wrong eventually. the video actually said he was shot in the back no in the head.

[Miatamania]

I saw this earlier, I'd like to know what happened...why did he draw his gun?

[EEE30BRKLVR]

I saw this earlier, I'd like to know what happened...why did he draw his gun?

Probably as a threat. Now the poor kid is dead. His gun should never have been unholstered. Thie kids and the crowd were being knuckle heads but not so unruley as to pull your side arm and accidentaly pop off a fatal shot. With that being said I hate those low budget ghetto fucks in the Bay Area. Every single one of them swears they are a tough guy.

Abe

[Kruzen]

police are saying he thought it was his tazer

[TwoJ's]

police are saying he thought it was his tazer

No shit, we're supposed to believe that? And even if that were the case, the guy is clearly not competent enough to be a police officer.

I hold good cops in high regard; they have a very difficult job - especially in a high stress situation like that one. But if a tazer can be mistaken for a pistol and a man killed 'accidentally' then that guy should be riding a desk.

[jflip2002]

Dont resist.......

[AndrewBird]

"A source familiar with the investigation has said BART is looking at the possibility that Mehserle had intended to fire a Taser at Grant but drew his service weapon instead."

That sounds like what happened. Cop mistook his gun for a Taser.

The video they showed also leaves me wondering why they cut out a section of the middle. What happened between him pulling the gun and actually firing it?

[Jb325is]

So you thought your gun was this..


Even up to the point when you're pulling the trigger?

[PhillyG]

No shit, we're supposed to believe that? And even if that were the case, the guy is clearly not competent enough to be a police officer.

I hold good cops in high regard; they have a very difficult job - especially in a high stress situation like that one. But if a tazer can be mistaken for a pistol and a man killed 'accidentally' then that guy should be riding a desk.

Or a stand at the county fair...

[E30 Cabrio]

"A source familiar with the investigation has said BART is looking at the possibility that Mehserle had intended to fire a Taser at Grant but drew his service weapon instead."

That sounds like what happened. Cop mistook his gun for a Taser.

The video they showed also leaves me wondering why they cut out a section of the middle. What happened between him pulling the gun and actually firing it?

This story has been getting a ton of ink and air time here in the SF Bay Area and there is lots of cell phone video from numerous sources to go along with the story and that is what most likely happened.

It appears the officer, who was trained at the police acadamy in Oakland and is not a typical "rent a cop", first drew his tazer, re-holstered it, then drew his firearm and in the heat of the moment, fired it thinking he still had his tazer in his hand and not his sidearm.

Now, since the victim was black and the cop white, the usual agitators are making it out to be a racial killing, which is ridiculous.

Why would a cop (or anyone for that matter) purposely shoot a detained but resisting suspect in the back with a gun with a bunch of witnesses around? (It was New Years around 2:00 AM)

Plenty of blame to go around, including the people who were drunk, rowdy, fighting, resisting and had to be detained, in addition to the cop who got his weapons mixed up.

The lesson here is, don't get drunk, stupid, fight and do things which will cause the cops to arrest you or worse, draw their weapons because one AD is all it takes to ruin your day.

I've had the cops draw on me a few times in my younger days for far less.

The cop was definitely in the wrong, but anyone who thinks he intentionally shot and killed the victim is living on a different planet.

He will most likely do some time for 2nd degree murder, which will get pled down to Manslaughter and a few years in Prison.

The victims family will sue for a few Million, which taxpayers and BART riders will end up paying for.

If the cop doesn't get sent up for a long time, there might be some rioting as well...

[joshh]

Accident or not the cop is responsible for the guys death.
But because he's a cop he'll go free without much of a hitch. Cops are given far too much power.

[E30 Cabrio]

Accident or not the cop is responsible for the guys death.
But because he's a cop he'll go free without much of a hitch. Cops are given far too much power.

I seriously doubt he'll go free. He will do some hard time, probably more then a drunk driver who kills someone.

He's responsible for the guys death, but how much is he responsible?

Did the guy who was drunk and fighting and resisting arrest have any responsibility in his own demise?

The train station this happened at is in one of the most gang-infested parts of Oakland.
Go work that area and then come back and tell me "cops are given too much power"

We should have the National Guard out there. It's that bad in Oakland.