Cop Shoots Apparently Helpless Man In The Back (Update: Officer quits to avoid IA questions)

reply to post by Ionized


"Under natural law, that mob should act together to restrain and remove abusers of 'power'. Unfortunately, that mob has been trained to subordinate at all expense.... "

Johannes Mehserle (The BART Cop) still having not given a statement (becaue his lawyer wont make him available) is now under Police protection because he is getting death threats.

I truely hope this guy is losing lots of sleep (and not just because hes taking care of a new baby)!!

Originally posted by ATruGod
Johannes Mehserle (The BART Cop) still having not given a statement (becaue his lawyer wont make him available) is now under Police protection because he is getting death threats.

I truely hope this guy is losing lots of sleep (and not just because hes taking care of a new baby)!!

To be honest, if I was in the crowd I would have incited a riot.

"He shot the man in the back! He shot the man in the back!"

I firmly believe that cops should be held immediately accountable for their actions. If they act as if they are above the law, then so be it, due process should not apply.

I'm just so sick of cops making mistakes and then defending each other over it. Unity goes out the window when one of you shoots a man in the back.

it reminds me of a song...


"You were put here to protect us
But who protects us from YOU?

Every time you say "That's illegal"
Doesn't mean that it's true

Your authority is never questioned...
No one questions you

Cause you were put here to protect us
But who protects us from YOU!"

[edit on 7-1-2009 by HunkaHunka]

Dont even mention that adrenaline bogus.. U know for sure if i were to shoot you with a gun and blame adrenaline it would be over. The officers are all issued a baton which could have been used instead.. ALL of the officers had them on. WHY didnt they use them? Why resort to deadly means?

reply to post by DJMessiah


I carry a Glock as does every officer on our department and they are issued to us Louisville metro Police department is also issued Glocks the Glock firearm is not equipped with a safety and there is to be a live round in the chamber at all times honestly if you were carrying a gun not in this situation but in another and someone pulls a gun on you are you going to think fast enough to turn the "safety" off or would you rather draw aim and shoot a safety is just something that gets in the way in a life or death situation. back to the topic now our department policy is layed out like this as is most policies you start at just being there "police presence" usually deescalates the situation then it is verbal commands after verbal commands you step it up to physical, baton, pressure points, tazer, given our policies were wrote before introduction of tazer. then if still none compliant usually get drawn down on and depending on situation not showing hands etc.... as this guy wasnt you can clearly see in the video he has his hands underneath of him and is being non compliant. once again im not taking sides the shooting is unjustified . but also the matrix for for policy says you always stay one step higher than the perp. so if he is swinging at you policy says basically you can shoot or if he is not giving in to verbal commands you can taze baton etc.... hope this helps this post a little but back to the safety on the gun issue there is no way in hell i would carry a gun with a safety at least it would not be engaged ever because when shtf i want to get the first shot off not be shot at.

reply to post by ryant7


You've still not given any justification for the cop pulling a gun out and aiming it and firing it at a man who is not just subdued, but seems to be cooperating...

God Bless the friends and family of this victim. I hope this officer looses his job and gets put into prison for the egoistic pride that over came him.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by ryant7


The law, or if more correct, the Police it seems have become very trigger happy. Not just in the US but everywhere.

On top of that when the police do beat and kill they often ecscape justice as they understand the ins and the outs of the law...as well as being connected on the "inside" so they are able to ecscape justice via "inside" pressure.

Now, with so many being beaten,framed and killed by the police it would seem prudent to me to purge law enforcement with a heavy hand.

I no longer trust the police and as a child and young adult I did. I also understand that most police are honest but its Russian Roultette decideing who it is.

That being said, and to balance out my point of view I have been personaly involved in a police action in which they went out of the way to be sure the innocent were protected in a life threatening scenario.

I must also say that I have always been treated fairly by the police.

So my concern is simply toward having a just and fair Police force.

Having a just and fair police force goes a long way in any community. The police are needed but they must fall under the thumb of a citizen rather then under the thumb of special interests.






[edit on 7-1-2009 by whiteraven]

reply to post by ALLis0NE


Oh man, that video was rich! I'm surprised Mr. D.E.A. (almost Mr. D.O.A.) didn't try to spin the gun on his index finger like Johnny Ringo. He wasn't even qualified to handle a burp gun. What a dope! I love how manly he was trying to be afterwards. Gotta be smooth as ice 'cause of all the fine ladies in the house.


On topic: I do fear, as others have already mentioned, that this could be just what the doctor ordered to manufacture more social chaos. I have to admit, the taser excuse is pretty damn brilliant. Afterall, the officer that shot him did seem to show a hint of immediate remorse. That will definitely work in his favor. Still very sad.

Peace


[edit on 7-1-2009 by Dr Love]

After I read this post & viewed the linked videos. Tears came to my eyes... The video evidence shows that young man being murdered in a cold blooded capital execution. You can tell by the body language of the other officers that they couldn't believe what happened for a moment either.

There was absolutely no reason for that officer to pull his gun from its holster. The victim was subdued, detained & not once showed any sign of non compliance.

I can agree that the onlookers yelling in the background does create a tense atmosphere for the officers. But as the news reporter said in one of the clips, the BART officer "Was a two year veteran". They are trained to deal with these type of situations.
This crap about mistaking his 10mm Pistol for a taser gun is hogwash. No juror in their right mind is going to buy into that. I know I don't.

His judgement & actions are inexcusable. hopefully true justice will prevail & he will be charged with 2nd degree murder or at the very least manslaughter, followed by a conviction.

Originally posted by stikkinikki
The cop messed up. I think the cop that did the shooting can be seen holstering his gun and then bring both hands to his head. What a tragic mistake.


link to second video

I see the same thing... hard to comment on it though with that bad visual. But yeah, I get the feeling that he messed up big time, but didn't mean to. Poor guys both of them...

reply to post by flice


The more I watch it, the more I get that feeling too. In my opinion, he didn't deliberately mean to squeeze the trigger, based on his immediate reaction (hand's going up to his head like "OMG, what the hell did I just do").

BUT-As other's have said, why did he draw his weapon out and aim it at the guy at all, when he is clearly restrained, face down, and now that an additional video has emerged, likely HANDCUFFED?

He screwed up big time, any way you look at it, and a young man's life was extinguished because of it.

This is absolutely terrible.

Hey everyone. A call to action.

Let's e-mail, call BART police to report the murder we have all witnessed.

[SNIP]

Here is a little something I typed up and sent them through their form. Feel free to copy & paste the message:

"Hello. I thought you should be aware that I have encountered numerous pieces of video evidence of a murder committed at the Fruitvale Station on January 1st. The murder was committed by a BART police officer named Johannes Mehserle and the victim is Oscar Grant of Hayward.

In the video, Grant is lying face down and being held down by Mehserle and another unidentified officer who is restraining Grant by putting his knee on his neck. Mehserle can be seen fumbling with his pistol. He then handcuffs Grant, stands up, and fires one shot directly into the back of Oscar Grant resulting in his death. This crime was also witnessed in person by numerous individuals, including many BART police. Perhaps the other officers in the vicinity did not see Mehserle was the one who pulled the trigger, because they did not apprehend Mehserle following this crime.

I am willing to fully cooperate with the authorities regarding the video evidence I have seen."

Mod Note:Why doesn't ATS allow "Activist" Recruiting?

[edit on 8-1-2009 by Gemwolf]

reply to post by DimensionalDetective

Almost all of the posts on here is very stupid and I would go far enough to say racist, I sure will be glad to see that planet x come and kill all of us, because with the type of feelings we have for one another, the human race doesn't deserve to exist no more. Cause clearly if you read the Book of Enoch, God is fed up with our #, he wants us to respect all of his creation, because that shows him respect, but it seems like the devil has won, because to kill another human being like that, and for it not to be an outrage, especially for this group of characters as we are, it says alot about the desensitization that has happened in this world, especially for us black men. Damn Obama, it seems like having you has created the exact opposite effect that we were looking for in this #ty ass country!

reply to post by mr-lizard


Exactly right. Where was he going anyway with these heavyweights sitting on him? I would seriously be struggling for air with these fat boys sitting on my neck or back.

I've wondered about this... In nearly every police video I've seen where the perp is listed as being uncooperative when held down I wonder if they can breathe with sometimes enormous big boys sitting on them. Maybe the officer above can explain if there is a certain section of the body that is held down or a way it is done? I'm not attacking or anything just curious.

It is now being reported that Johannes Mehserle has resigned.

Oscar Grants services were also today.

Would love to hear what response you get from BART after mailing in a report - bear in mind that the police have an obligation to respond to you and investigate (I think that is the law) - if they don't get back to you consider hiring a lawyer as YOUR civil rights will have been violated by the police ignoring your report.

Johannes Mehserle has resigned

HA! wow that's big of him - surely he would have been fired when he was arrested for 2nd degree murder - oh wait he wasn't?

I took the liberty to try to stabilize the video to see if any more details can be seen.

I used Virtualdub and ran a deshaker filter at full scale. Since I screen captured the video from the source, there was a loss of data. Also motion blur can not be removed. There was a slight loss of frames, because I don't have the true source video.

Does anyone know where I can get the source of this video?

Anyway here it is:


IMO, the victim was kicking his legs just before the shot. Maybe the officer was thinking about using a taser just to get the kid to stop squirming and kicking, and resisting. That's usually what officers use tasers for now, just to get the suspect to stop trying to resist, or squirming, or moving uncontrollably.

Unfortunately, it looks like the officer pulled a gun that just happened to already have a bullet in the chamber, and set it off on accident.

Also, people keep saying there was 3 cops on him, there was only 2.

[edit on 7-1-2009 by ALLis0NE]

reply to post by zerbot565


I live here, "zerbot". I do not pardon your "French". Armed people are always responsible for the devastation they create, whether or not they wear a uniform.

Old Oakland