Police shooting of Oscar Grant
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OJTa9F2O14


Their rioting over this in Oakland, California despite the pleas from the young man's mother and close friends to stop the violence

Graphic, grainy video.

I see no just cause at all

Cop that shot the victim, Johannes Mehserle, has resigned already.

Watch this video, it helps focus in on the Officer's reactions after he shoots the young man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltqpP...eature=related


This was an accident. The Officer meant to Tazer him, lost in the emotion of the moment he pulled the wrong police tool. Seriously

This was no accident. The cop had a rough season betting college football (IC was his tout) - and the dude on the ground was his bookie - and he wanted to just wipe the slate clean with a bullet instead of pay him the couple K he was down.

I can see using a tazer if the dude on the ground was resisting .. or if there wasn't 3 cops on top of a defenseless guy. It looked like a public execution to me...and I swear I could hear the guy on the ground saying "Don't shoot! IC loves OU in the big one.., I got a daughter.., Bradford can bail you out."

Probably wouldn't of taken place at all if they weren't so loud harassing the cops like that. Of course it's a tragedy, but they didn't help the situation at all. Not an excuse of any kind, but there are a lot of reasons mistakes happen. I think all they could hear were idiots acting up, and that didn't help.

I wouldn't want to be a cop in Oakland.

Public Execution? LISTEN TO ALL THOSE PEOPLE,MAN!! Ain't like it was a secluded alley. Eyeballs everywhere. He couldn't hear anything but them idiots. Got scared. He looks fat. So fkn tired and scared that he decided to taze the guy. Who knows what he thought next. People try to back out of closed garages all the time. **** happens. What ever he did originally(to get the cops attention) .....don't do that. Don't act up. Then, this won't happen to you.

Extremely poor reasoning

And, I have to backtrack on my thinking it was an accidental shooting. If he was on the ground, handcuffed, why Tazer him? Because he was dissin' the cop's mama?

I'm not looking at the video for the same reason most are looking at it. Most are looking at this in order to see what should be done to discipline the cop. I'm looking at it to see how this could have been avoided. I doubt the cop wanted to kill someone right in front everybody. So, I am gunna assume it's the biggest mistake of his life. What I do know is the easiest way it could have been avoided is if that crowd wasn't harassing that group of cops. Then, there would have been more help controlling this guy. How many cops are even looking at the suspect when he gets shot? Anybody besides the shooter? I think the cop helping him has his head turned towards the crowd. Many accidents have somebody doing something very wrong, and another person doing something that person wasn't counting on them doing. All I am saying is that crowd acted as a catalyst in this situation. It's his responsibility, but if they really care about this not happening again, then they won't do this mob harassment stuff. There is a way to act, and this wasn't the way. There are cameras. It's not up to them to try to stop cops from doing something. Make a formal complaint. Tape it on your cell. They got the exact opposite result of what they wanted. They made the result much worse for the people they wanted to be left alone. He'd be out amongst them today if they wouldn't have acted that way.

I see what you're saying, Scuds

At first when hearing about this shooting and video, I expected to see that the young man had exacerbated his own bad situation of having the cops remove he and friends from a subway, by being an ass. I imagine he must have been saying something that did get a reaction. However, if you're a government employee with a gun and handcuffs and have all your buddies blocking the crowd away from you, you're not supposed to be so thin skinned that you react like you're either an angry little boy or a maniac

I believe it may have been an accident, but this guy seemed to be under control and even the tazer was not really necessary.

True

Oh, I don't know if we are ever gunna know why the guy went for a weapon. I just think the chances of that happening went way up with the crowd threatening them.

For anyone interested in this story, watch this view of the incident. It's taken from the train, but has a strong audio track(of the crowd watching) and a much clearer video. Afteer watching this, I think the police force is liable, not just the officer that pulled the trigger. It's clearer here that a second cop comes in and escalates the situation, perhaps overstimulating the shooter cop's emotional state. I think the victim's friend that was also handcuffed and against the wall can legitimately sue for his impending post-traumatic stress disorder, as he watched the murder(?) from very close proximity:

This viewing is 1:59 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUp1FA-aXdw

Even mace would have been uncalled for. This situation looks to be under control to me. The "suspect" (victim?) seems to be cooperating.

I hope they send all of them to prison.

He might be a catholic...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...6LHC.DTL&tsp=1

typical.

Sad situation all the way around.

one things for sure, the "I thought it was my tazer" excuse doesn't fly

if the policeman can't differentiate between a gun and a taser, perhaps he is in the wrong line of work.

No perhaps about it.