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

Sad but there seems to be a prevalent "bully mentality" that runs thru many in the police force. They have psychological issues that deal with Control and Violence and an obsession with guns and tactical equipment. There is an "Us against them" attitude that supercedes "to protect and serve" and I dont know what can be done about it. This is not to paint all in LE with the same brush and I know that there is psychological testing to become a police officer but it also speaks to the culture. We need more ongoing psych tests on officers and former soldiers who served in a combat zone need to be especially screened for post traumatic stress before having them police the streets of Fargo (not Fallujah). Sadly as well the big reason for resistance against discovering the truth in the matter by the bay area authorities is the conflict of interest around the issue of money and legal liability...but that is a topic for another thread.

Looks like this is going to be heating up!

12 days since the killing of Oscar Grant, and STILL no charges filed against the trigger-puller!

More BART Protests Planned For Major Cities

Outraged citizens seeking justice in the New Year's Day shooting death of 22-year old Oscar Grant of Haywood, California have scheduled more protests in Oakland, CA, as well as Pittsburgh, PA., Columbus, OH, Little Rock, AK., and Erie, PA., according to a report in the Bay Area news. The protesters are reportedly upset that earlier responses to the shooting turned violent, and plan new gatherings demonstrating their commitment to nonviolent action.

Continued:

rawstory.com...

An update on this -

A news conf. was evidently held yesterday. In it they said the officer was questioned around 3 hours after the incident.

He took the 5th and asked for an attorney.

KTVU - BART Officer Takes the 5th

Former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle did meet with investigators probing the New Year’s Day fatal shooting of a Hayward man but chose to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination, officials said Monday.

BART general manager Dorothy Dugger and transit police chief Gary Gee told an afternoon news conference that Mehserle was questioned within three hours of the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant III, but quickly asked for an attorney, refusing to cooperate.

Otherwise he apparently hasn't talked to investigators.

This stinks to high heaven.

He won't talk, he's resigned an no charges filed yet or even a grand jury to try and make him talk.

It appears he has now been arrested:

Several well-placed sources are telling KTVU news that a murder warrant was issued for former BART officer Johannes Mehserle and that Mehserle is now in custody.

Bart Police Officer Arrested

Its about time. Hopefully this will keep the demonstrations tomorrow peaceful.

reply to post by ATruGod


That's good and only 2 weeks after the shooting, about time HUH? If any of those other cops weren't corrupt they would have arrested him on the spot. had anyone besides a cop shot someone in the back even if by accident they would have been arrested, charged, then investigated, only because there were multiple videos the cops didn't confiscate is this going down like this. Don't believe every media article it's skewed and biased to the Gov't side, or even a complete fabricated lie. Hopefully justice will be served in this case.

reply to post by racegunz


Just saw the video...you clearly see the man lying face down on the ground...and the cop simply shooting him. No matter what the guy might have said to the cop or tried to resist arrest.....pulling your gun and shooting? WTF man.

Just now i posted here, but it was anonymous, i forgot to log in, lol. I however don't see that post.


Anyway....that video simply showed there was NO reason to shoot...the man was held down, face to the ground....come on now.

I just saw this video, i don't know if you guys seen it. Better quality and other angle....it does NOT show the shooting though...but it does show the things that went on before the shooting.

www.youtube.com...


Let's also not forget Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell.

[edit on 14-1-2009 by Moonwalker1982]

reply to post by ATruGod

Its about time. Hopefully this will keep the demonstrations tomorrow peaceful.

Nope. Far from peaceful. Absolutely 100% violent and out of control.
They are in fact RIOTS not peaceful protests. I didnt expect anything different.

The cop is getting what he deserves (charged with 1 count of murder). Yet all the thugs feel the need to be violent against those who have nothing to do with this incident. STUPID idiots.

The issue is with the DA - who is the one who files charges (after investigation and figuring out which agency takes the lead). They should be protesting - peacefull - at the DA's office - not in the streets wreaking havoc and being violent!

[edit on 1/14/2009 by greeneyedleo]

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
reply to post by ATruGod

 

Its about time. Hopefully this will keep the demonstrations tomorrow peaceful.

Nope. Far from peaceful. Absolutely 100% violent and out of control.
They are in fact RIOTS not peaceful protests. I didnt expect anything different.

The cop is getting what he deserves (charged with 1 count of murder). Yet all the thugs feel the need to be violent against those who have nothing to do with this incident. STUPID idiots.

The issue is with the DA - who is the one who files charges (after investigation and figuring out which agency takes the lead). They should be protesting - peacefull - at the DA's office - not in the streets wreaking havoc and being violent!

[edit on 1/14/2009 by greeneyedleo]

Damn.....so it's like Rodney King all over again in terms of riots?

reply to post by Moonwalker1982

Damn.....so it's like Rodney King all over again in terms of riots?

Yes. It is. Fires being set. Property and police vehicles (Oakland police who have nothing to do with the case) being destroyed, etc etc.

Ridiculous.

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
reply to post by Moonwalker1982

 

Damn.....so it's like Rodney King all over again in terms of riots?

Yes. It is. Fires being set. Property and police vehicles (Oakland police who have nothing to do with the case) being destroyed, etc etc.

Ridiculous.

Tonights protest will end at the DA's office and the group is going to be bigger. But ultimately this will show the protesters true colors, I mean the guy has been arrested now which was what they were protesting about (last time). What will be thier excuse this time?

reply to post by ATruGod


"What will be thier excuse this time?"

How about all the other cases of police brutality that go unpunished?

That's a good start.

I hope the burn down the DA's office. I hope it spirals out of control and goes nation-wide. But that's just wishful thinking.

Originally posted by ATruGod
Tonights protest will end at the DA's office and the group is going to be bigger. But ultimately this will show the protesters true colors, I mean the guy has been arrested now which was what they were protesting about (last time). What will be thier excuse this time?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

According to the US Constitution the PEOPLE can and are expected to assemble and protest whenever they decide that they need to. Here you have decided that the PEOPLE need an excuse and are the ones up to no good. Do you realize that you are essentially a traitor?

reply to post by Alpha_Magnum


Do you realize I was talking about the reason they were going to use in thier violence. As in last time they were violent because they wanted the guy arrested, now what will thier excuse be for being violent.

And for the record can you show me a video of where they were peaceably assembling (and not rioting)?

Come on calling me a Traitor? Pfft

[edit on 14-1-2009 by ATruGod]

Originally posted by Alpha_Magnum

Originally posted by ATruGod
Tonights protest will end at the DA's office and the group is going to be bigger. But ultimately this will show the protesters true colors, I mean the guy has been arrested now which was what they were protesting about (last time). What will be thier excuse this time?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

According to the US Constitution the PEOPLE can and are expected to assemble and protest whenever they decide that they need to. Here you have decided that the PEOPLE need an excuse and are the ones up to no good. Do you realize that you are essentially a traitor?

Uh, these thugs are NOT protesting peacefully! They are rioting and destroying property and attacking people who have NOTHING to do with the incident!! You should turn on the news and see the footage of these thugs behaving horribly!! And yet you make excuses for them

[edit on 1/14/2009 by greeneyedleo]

Now I agree this officer should be punished...I have no problem with that. But I don't understand something. Some PEOPLE in general live like animals. They rape, rob, murder, molest, etc...and people don't overtly care what happens, as long as their not, or someone they know isn't the victim. When was the last time you saw a protest for a father who raped his daughter, to make sure he paid for his crime. Or a protest to stop the gang violence when a kid is shot in a drive by to make sure these gangs PAY for their crimes. I don't see Americans gathering in the streets to protest illegal aliens who drive drunk and kill a car load of kids, but they AREN'T deported.

If PEOPLE would put this kind of emotion and energy into curbing ALL crime this country might actually turn back around and not be such a zoo. But just like many on ATS people only wanna focus on one thing and overlook the rest because their personal agenda is more important...

The police officer that did the shooting has been arrested on a murder charge according to the news reports that I read.

Of course this won't be enough for the protesters. You have to remember this is the San Francisco bay area. The protesters show up anytime there is the possibility of a riot.

Most likely there will be a riot. Cars will get smashed, fires will be set, businesses will have their windows smashed and looters will try to make off with what they can. The riots will have nothing to do with the shooting. It's just an excuse for a riot .

The wheels of justice are grinding slowly on. I'm willing to bet the shooter gets jail time.

Originally posted by rcwj75
When was the last time you saw a protest for a father who raped his daughter, to make sure he paid for his crime.

I'm not sure if you've noticed but there's demonstrations outside of the houses of sex-offenders all the time. They seemed to get harassed where ever they go now do to the public record of them. So I'm not sure if that's an apt example.

Originally posted by rcwj75
Or a protest to stop the gang violence when a kid is shot in a drive by to make sure these gangs PAY for their crimes. I don't see Americans gathering in the streets to protest illegal aliens who drive drunk and kill a car load of kids, but they AREN'T deported.

Once again dude, I'm not sure if you've been paying attention but I've seen demonstration for BOTH of these things too... The media just doesn't care enough to report on it, and the rest of us agree with the principle....what else can we do?

Originally posted by rcwj75
If PEOPLE would put this kind of emotion and energy into curbing ALL crime this country might actually turn back around and not be such a zoo. But just like many on ATS people only wanna focus on one thing and overlook the rest because their personal agenda is more important...

Look at what this site is about dude, this isn't a policy discussing forum on a general law website. Something tells me you're not going to attract a bunch of people chatting about wording of ethics to present to a committee for approval here. So what's your solution then? More laws? Most protests for the cops to abuse their power on(would make their actions more obvious though wouldn't it?)? Look at what happened in LA plenty of people spoke out on that, what happened? That's right, more apologizing for the police, people saying "who cares most of them where probably illegal anyways" which apparently means it's okay to beat & shoot them ...so no man, I think this is more about the trigger happy police (taser or pistol) and the public tired of being held hostage by the people who are supposed to be helping us.

Especially those A-holes who shoot a man in the back unnecessarily when he has more then enough help, then man-handle him when he can obviously see the guy is shot & needs serious medical attention...yeah sounds like he was really "Protecting & Serving" huh?

I know you're a cop, I know you're trying to keep things even here. But the more that comes out on this situation and more importantly the actions of the officer, the more obvious it becomes that this guy embodies all that is wrong with this police-state we've made for ourselves.

Originally posted by ATruGod
reply to post by Alpha_Magnum

 

Do you realize I was talking about the reason they were going to use in thier violence. As in last time they were violent because they wanted the guy arrested, now what will thier excuse be for being violent.

And for the record can you show me a video of where they were peaceably assembling (and not rioting)?

Come on calling me a Traitor? Pfft

[edit on 14-1-2009 by ATruGod]

Clearly you're a traitor! The 1st Amendment is clear. If the government does not hear the grievances then the people will fall back to the 2nd Amendment. In this case the contents of a garbage dumpster was burned since the police were clearly depriving the protesters from conducting their 1st Amendment inalienable right.

What is it that you think happens? Protests become violent as a matter of fact and generally there are two sides. If the government ceases to be responsive to the needs and rights of the people then the government will be taken down. The founding fathers were clear and I would heed George Washington's words and only consider your voice as that of a Benedict Arnold.

[edit on 14-1-2009 by Alpha_Magnum]

reply to post by greeneyedleo


In the midst of yet another traitor! You people will never learn. The idea that this man was MURDERED by a law enforcement officer does not even register in your narrow minds. This sort of thing has been going on for years and this is an opportunity to address it.

May 4th 1970 at Kent State University students were slain by the National Guard at a completely peaceful protest and here is one of the outcomes...



The government once again trivializes our God Given Constitutional Rights and now is creating a Gestapo like police force that has no intentions of "keeping the peace!" Shame on you all for allowing our government to mutate into fascism and blatant MURDER.