Graphic, police shooting

[DSM4Life]

I normally give cops the benefit of the doubt but this is messed up.

http://www.break.com/usercontent/200...on-644590.html

[xlxBigSexyxlx]

Yeah I saw this on the news the other day

People were rioting and breaking things

[Matt]

Why did he shoot him and what happened to the cop??

[*RAGE*]

You never know what was really going on so till the investigation is out. There could be more to it than what you see on the video....

[DSM4Life]

Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer fatally shooting an unarmed, cooperating 22-year-old man have surfaced, thanks to a vigilant teen and an anonymous cameraman.

According to officials, five officers arrived at a subway station around 2 a.m. in response to reports of fighting on a train. Officers handcuffed a group of suspects, and detained the soon-to-be victim, Oscar Grant III.

In both videos, though detained, Grant had clearly not been cuffed.

Mario Pangelina Jr., aunt to Grant's four-year-old daughter, witnessed the events leading up to the shooting.

"First, an officer grabbed Oscar by the neck and pushed him against the wall," the Oakland Tribune quoted her as saying. "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."

Footage captured by camera-phone-wielding Karina Vargas, 19, shows officers had detained several men. Over the proceeding minutes, officers become defensive as groups of yelling youths stand on the periphery and meander past.

At one point, a male shouts, "Yo, f--k the police!"

Vargas several times makes attempts to get closer. When her camera focuses on Grant, he is sitting with his back against a wall, surrounded by others in handcuffs. He holds up his hands, apparently speaking with the officers, when they force him to the ground.

Two officers struggle to turn him over, even as he appears to be strewn across another man's legs, when suddenly one of the men retrieves his gun from its holster.

At this point in Vargas' video, she turns to her immediate left and focuses on an officer wrestling another man to the ground. Then, the shot rings out.

San Francisco's KTVU aired a second video clip from an anonymous witness. In it, Grant is clearly pinned by two officers and completely immobile. Then, without provocation, the officer at Grant's waist draws his weapon and fires.

After the gunshot, as the audio track dissolves into indiscernible shouting and commotion, an enraged onlooker hurls an object at the police. Vargas retreats to her train and peeks the camera at the officers again.

"They just shot him! They just shot him!" she yells. "... I got you, mothaf--kers!"

The victim was fatally wounded when the bullet passed through his back, hit the ground, and ricocheted into his lungs. He died in a hospital several hours later.

Grant's mother and daughter are being represented by civil rights attorney John Burris, who has a history of work on police abuse issues, including the beating of Rodney King. At a Sunday news conference, Burris called the incident "without a doubt, the most unconscionable shooting I have ever seen."

A person close to the investigation told the San Francisco Chronicle that BART officials are looking into the possibility that the officer thought he was firing a Taser and pulled out his gun by mistake.

Last June, a Maryland district court found that an officer who shot a fleeing suspect in the elbow while believing he was firing his Taser was not guilty of violating the suspect's rights against unreasonable search and seizure.

Burris has announced a civil suit against BART for $25 million. He has also recommended that charges of second-degree murder or manslaughter be filed against the officer.

"It's pretty clear from the tape and from witnesses that he wasn't doing anything of a threatening nature to the officer," Burris said at a Jan. 4 press conference.

He added that he's seen footage from three other cameras that captured Grant's slaying.

The Bay Area police are appealing to the public for "calm."

"We are taking this investigation very seriously," said Chief Gary Gee during a Sunday press conference. "As frustrating as it is, I want to stress that we cannot and will not jeopardize this case by discussing details before the investigation is complete."

This video is raw footage from Vargas' cell phone, captured Jan. 1, 2009:

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Video_...ying_0105.html

[DSM4Life]

this is the second video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caG7h...eature=related

[Matt]

This kind of thing happens over here, much to often and the police are never prosecuted..

[*RAGE*]

I have seen several police officers prosecuted for the things that they do....but it is easy to watch the video and then say the police officer was wrong and I am not saying he is not but I was not there did not see everything that happened.

[Ernst]

This is near where I live. The cop was supposed to show up the next day or something for an investigative hearing. He didn't appear and did not show for work either. Instead, his attorney delivered a letter of resignation. Local news stations have cleaned up and re-aired this footage. Footage of the so-called "riot" was aired and police are clearly seen assaulting protesters too.

An excerpt from the SF Chronicle: "Footage shows Grant, an apprentice butcher, lying on his chest when Officer Johannes Mehserle shot him in the back with his service weapon. Mehserle has yet to talk to investigators about the shooting, and Oakland attorney John Burris has filed a $25 million claim against BART on behalf of Grant's mother and 4-year-old daughter.

On Thursday, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said he expects to make a decision in about two weeks on whether to file criminal charges against Mehserle, 27, who resigned Wednesday rather than talk to BART internal affairs investigators."

[spywizard]

if he was cooperating.. why did it take 3 cops to put their hands on him??

I'm not saying it wasn't bad.. but I've never had to have the police put their hands on me..

Maybe it's because i'm white..??

or wait.. maybe it's because i'm law abiding..

[JiGGaMaN]

Note: This is not the resulting riot, but a weekend in oakland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am-5voyE5OE

[Nicotine]

not ALL police are bad....

i was gonna be a cop...till i did my ride along, and got to know them.

they are all paranoid of every single person they come across...even each other.

i couldn't live like that....

[Matt]

if he was cooperating.. why did it take 3 cops to put their hands on him??

I'm not saying it wasn't bad.. but I've never had to have the police put their hands on me..

Maybe it's because i'm white..??

or wait.. maybe it's because i'm law abiding..

It wouldnt be the first time the police have shot law abiding people..

[BgMc31]

if he was cooperating.. why did it take 3 cops to put their hands on him??

I'm not saying it wasn't bad.. but I've never had to have the police put their hands on me..

Maybe it's because i'm white..??

or wait.. maybe it's because i'm law abiding..

So, since it took 3 cops to put hands on the guy then it was ok to shoot the guy?

[*RAGE*]

I am not going to speak for spywizard but where you there just because you seen it on a phone video do you know everything. I am not saying it was a good shot but until you have all the information you can only speak on what you see. based on the video it looks like the police officer shot the him with out a reason, and the fact that he quite his job does not make it look any better...

[Matt]

I am not going to speak for spywizard but where you there just because you seen it on a phone video do you know everything. I am not saying it was a good shot but until you have all the information you can only speak on what you see. based on the video it looks like the police officer shot the him with out a reason, and the fact that he quite his job does not make it look any better...

I dont see your point, we are talking about what we see. Would you like us not to talk about it?

[BgMc31]

I am not going to speak for spywizard but where you there just because you seen it on a phone video do you know everything. I am not saying it was a good shot but until you have all the information you can only speak on what you see. based on the video it looks like the police officer shot the him with out a reason, and the fact that he quite his job does not make it look any better...

Please tell me what scenario would justify this shooting? I'm really interested in hearing what kind of situation you can come up that would justify the taking of a human life in this circumstance. We all await with baited breath...

[*RAGE*]

We are talking about what we see then you started talking about police officers not getting prosecuted. so yes lets talk about what we see no how cops get off..

[*RAGE*]

BgMc31 I cant say that it was justified shooting because I was not there. what if the guys was going for one of the officers gun that would justified it. all I am saying dont past judgement with having all the information.

[Matt]

We are talking about what we see then you started talking about police officers not getting prosecuted. so yes lets talk about what we see no how cops get off..

Where i live know cop has ever been prosecuted for shooting dead an innocent man, the cases have been hushed up, fact...

[*RAGE*]

Where i live know cop has ever been prosecuted for shooting dead an innocent man, the cases have been hushed up, fact...

If it has been hushed up then how would you know what happened with the case were you there did you see the cop shot an innocent man????

[Matt]

If it has been hushed up then how would you know what happened with the case were you there did you see the cop shot an innocent man????

Jean Charles De Henezes, was shot in the head a close rang by the Metropolitan police, they misidentified him as a suicide bomber. They later found he was just an innocent man going to work.

[*RAGE*]

Jean Charles De Henezes, was shot in the head a close rang by the Metropolitan police, they misidentified him as a suicide bomber. They later found he was just an innocent man going to work.

Ok so what did De Henezes do or didnt do to cause the police to shot him in the head. I am almost sure they just didnt walk up to him and pull out there guns and shot him in the head just because he looked like the suicide bomber. That is not much informaiton to look at.

[Bojangles69]

I would have also shot the people screaming "f the police".

[Matt]

Google his name, the people who witnessed this discribed the police as a group of thugs, he did nothing. The following hearing found that he did nothing to warrant being shot, yet our system will not allow us to prosecute the policemen involved. If it was up to me they would be hung. There are many police officers out there that i would describe as nothing but scum. However i feel its the systems fault for allowing them to become as bad as they are. My country is turning into a police state..

[*RAGE*]

Google his name, the people who witnessed this discribed the police as a group of thugs, he did nothing. The following hearing found that he did nothing to warrant being shot, yet our system will not allow us to prosecute the policemen involved. If it was up to me they would be hung. There are many police officers out there that i would describe as nothing but scum. However i feel its the systems fault for allowing them to become as bad as they are. My country is turning into a police state..

[BgMc31]

BgMc31 I cant say that it was justified shooting because I was not there. what if the guys was going for one of the officers gun that would justified it. all I am saying dont past judgement with having all the information.

Isn't that the advantage of the video tape. At no time did it show the guy going for the officer's gun. I'm not passing judgement on the police officer. All I'm saying is that there is no way to justify this shooting....the video tape is clear. Like my coaches always said, "the eye in the sky doesn't lie"

[Matt]

However its still ok for us to use steroids over here so its not that bad yet. I would also add the vast majority of policemen do a cool and thankless job..

[*RAGE*]

Isn't that the advantage of the video tape. At no time did it show the guy going for the officer's gun. I'm not passing judgement on the police officer. All I'm saying is that there is no way to justify this shooting....the video tape is clear. Like my coaches always said, "the eye in the sky doesn't lie"

based on what I saw no it was not justified. I think he might have been going for a tazer but ended up with is side arm and shot the guy. It is a bad situation.

[BgMc31]

based on what I saw no it was not justified. I think he might have been going for a tazer but ended up with is side arm and shot the guy. It is a bad situation.

When this story 1st hit, it elluded to the possibility that he did reach for the wrong weapon. I'm not villifying the officer, nor am I trying to raise any spector or racism or anything for that matter. I'm just saying that this is a fvcked situation and the police officer and the department should admit guilt and move to reconcile the situation in order to avoid anymore divisiveness between them and the public. The public and the police have had a tenuous relationship for over 40yrs in that area.

[amcon]

I normally give cops the benefit of the doubt but this is messed up.

http://www.break.com/usercontent/200...on-644590.html

unfortunately, cop can get away with things like that... their jobs suck... they are under paid... they are above the law - and they suck!

i wish them all good luck and please stay away from me... please

[FallenWyvern]

When this story 1st hit, it elluded to the possibility that he did reach for the wrong weapon.

That is the only thing that make any sense to me. Either way this cop has to go to jail for a long, long time.

[VR4]

This happened about 30 mins away from my house....and its a really big thing around here.
People are ****ing pissed...as well they should be.
The cop said that he thought he was reaching for his tazer...but accidently grab his gun.

I ****ing hate police so much.

[Skully44420]

no matter what the guy did...the cops obviously have him held down while the other cop pulls his gun out and shoots him...the scum is obviously guilty of murder...basically almost execution style

[Panzerfaust]

You never know what was really going on so till the investigation is out. There could be more to it than what you see on the video....

The video tells anyone with any ****ing common sense the cop was a ****ing doucher.

[Bojangles69]

"accidentally pulled a gun out instead of his taser"

thats like me accidentally pulling a banana out of my pocket. wtf

[spywizard]

again.. why was the victim stopped in the 1st place??

[Ernst]

again.. why was the victim stopped in the 1st place??

Police responded to a call of a fight on a train. Upon arriving, they ordered a group of young men off of the train to question them, in an attempt to figure out what was going on. The victim was one of these young men.

[Ernst]

Here's another video in which it is much clearer.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1588-Phila...-murdering-man

[bd50]

more than likely,, the cop drew the firearm thinking it was a taser in the heat of the moment,,,, OR the guy made a move towards one of the cops' guns on their belt.

the videos only show so much.

bad situation any way you look at it.

and i think the cop will face time in jail if it the DA takes it to court.