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Over 150 protesters arrested in Oakland after the verdict in the Oscar Grant case.
If you saw the original video where he was shot a 2 Year verdict for the Transit Cop that killed him was way too lenient even IF it was an accident.
Hopefully the Oakland PD can contain this. I would hate to be a motorist or store owner caught up in this,let alone a grieving family member.AP News : The Orange County Register (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRAIN_STATION_SHOOTING?SITE=CAANR&SECTION=HOME& TEMPLATE=DEFAULT - broken link)
Being that it was a White Officer shooting an unarmed African American this case also has strong Racial overtones,now his GF and Daughter will no longer have the family they once had.
I was at the Fruitvale BART yesterday... they had SWAT, the Newark PD and the Hayward PD all camping out in the actual bus area. I was thinking wtf was going on until I remembered that yesterday was the verdict. smh 2 years? I personally think he probably just ****ed up royally and it wasn't exactly on purpose (shooting a contained arrestee with 3 other officers next to you and the entire BART watching is beyond crazy... its suicidal) but... you can get a higher minimum sentence for drug possession with no prior record than this clown who not-so accidentally killed a person and Mehserle actually has a rap sheet himself. The only people I feel bad for in this incident is Oscar Grant, his family and Mehserle's family. People make mistakes; you're supposed to learn from them. Letting Mehserle walk free is not going to teach him anything or the rest of the BART PD/OPD for that matter; all it teaches them is that they have immunity from the law.
If anybody reads the article itself, notice this particular line spoken by Mehserle (the officer):
"In tearful testimony, Mehserle said he intended to use his Taser because he believed Grant might be reaching for a gun in his pants pocket."
Really. With 4 officers on his ***... who actually believes this ****? It's the same excuse they pull out any time the cops shoot unarmed black people and its getting really tired. If there weren't 60+ witnesses they would've probably planted Mehserle's gun on Grant and said that Mehserle had wrenched the gun out of Oscar's cop-killing hands and heroically saved the day by shooting him in... the back? They'd probably say the same thing if they shot me...
I was at the Fruitvale BART yesterday... they had SWAT, the Newark PD and the Hayward PD all camping out in the actual bus area. I was thinking wtf was going on until I remembered that yesterday was the verdict. smh 2 years? I personally think he probably just ****ed up royally and it wasn't exactly on purpose (shooting a contained arrestee with 3 other officers next to you and the entire BART watching is beyond crazy... its suicidal) but... you can get a higher minimum sentence for drug possession with no prior record than this clown who not-so accidentally killed a person and Mehserle actually has a rap sheet himself. The only people I feel bad for in this incident is Oscar Grant, his family and Mehserle's family. People make mistakes; you're supposed to learn from them. Letting Mehserle walk free is not going to teach him anything or the rest of the BART PD/OPD for that matter; all it teaches them is that they have immunity from the law.
a well thought out post, and i agree with you. probation would do nothing, and the maximum he could have gotten, 14 years, would be excessive in my opinion. however i feel 2 years is a bit lenient. 5 years would have been a proper sentence for this shooting. unfortunately this situation will have repercussions for years to come.
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