This video captures the reaction before and after the shooting incident. It shows the officer firing on Grant, and the reaction from fellow BART Police officers who appear to react with surprise that the unidentified officer shot the suspect in the back.
Many have commented that the police seemed surprised after the shooting. Some say maybe the BART officer Johannes Mehserle mistook his Taser for a gun, but a criminology professor says otherwise.
George Kirkham, a professor of criminology at the Florida State University who also viewed the footage, said he finds that hard to believe because most Taser stun guns do not look or feel like pistols, and the officer fired in a manner consistent with a handgun, not a Taser.
Another angle of the shooting. Not protesting. Shot in the back.
Family of BART victim pleads for peace.
I lived in LA when the Rodney King beating trial verdict found the LAPD officers not guilty and the city burned in response. Don’t need to live through something like that again. Let’s hope Sue and I and the rest of the S.F. Bay Area never see streets we’ve driven down many times filled with burning buildings.
My advice to the authorities: No coverups. No stonewalling. Play it fair and open. Be honest. If people think you’re playing straight with them, then they will respond in kind. And accept that people are furious, with good reason.
Well, I guess if the guy just sat on his stomach like the cops told him to do, he would never have been shot in the first place. Nobody will even dare to say that, but it is the simple truth.
When a police officer stops you, regardless what the reason, put away your ego and listen to what him or her says. Thats all you have to do. You’ll come out of the situation through the path of least resistance, whether you’ve committed a crime or not. For some reason its been brainwashed into the brains of many people that police are there to disrupt our lives and police bring us down.
Yes, I’m sure it was all about the victim being a black man. Thats why the white cop shot him. Sure….Sure…
Think about this – Its murder from the minority point of view. Its probably murder from ultra-liberal point of view. Its justice from the point of view of the people that feel crime goes lightly punished. Its relief from the point of view of violent crime victims.
Of course the man didn’t do something that warrants being shot in the back by the officer. Thats a no-brainer. He still should not have resisted, which I could see in the video. He was motioning at the officers with his body and they were clearly motioning for him to stop. Then they turned him over and were struggling to keep him there. Once the minor struggle relaxed, the cop drew his gun and shot him. Yes, that was totally unprovoked and the cop royally screwed up. One thing is for sure, the cop was pretty pissed off at the guy, so he drew the gun and shot him.
What it boils down to is the cops shot the guy because he was pissed because the guy was being belligerent moments earlier. The cop was wrong for shooting him, the victim was wrong for resisting.
Now suddenly its a black man that was shot by a white cop. Riot Riot Riot Protest Protest Protest. Blacks have done marvels in these last few weeks to promote equality by rioting over this shooting. Good job! Here’s a big gold star to stick to your forehead!
Its funny, when Nicole Simpson was murdered by OJ (which he was found guilty in the civil case) did you see mass riots of white people? In 40 years white people will be the minority in the US, do think the roles should then reverse and whites should protest and riot when a black man kills a white man?
There’s 6 million jewish people in the US, do they riot when acts of anti-semitism are acted upon a jewish person. Attacks happen all the time, whether its vandalism or physical violence, jews are always being targeted. Do they riot? No, and its not because they have white skin color, its because they know that equality is not gained through protest, its gained through education. The more you know, the more you understand and the more you realize that people are fundamentally the same.
Skin color, culture, religion, wealth, its not about any of those factors, its about understanding the people around you. I’m not jewish and I’m not black, but I am really sick of hearing how oppressed black people are. You have a president, you have Oprah, what more do you want… to be white? Then go talk to Michael Jackson.
60 years ago, blacks weren’t welcomed into white culture so they created their own culture. Whether black people think so or not, they are absolutely welcomed into white culture in this day and age. So do you think white people become prejudice against blacks because we pass that prejudice from one white person to another? I don’t think so. I think its because black people make a point of rubbing their differences in the face of white people and therefor are greeted with resentment from those whites.
Why any black person should consider themselves an ancestor of slavery is so ridiculous, brainless and stupid. Thats like an American person of distant German decent considering themselves a member of the Nazi party. I’m just waiting for a giant space rock to come and blow up the planet, thats the only way to fix this ignorance.
Signed.
Your Stupid
Mr. Stupid’s comment reminds me a little of this -> http://tinyurl.com/9cnsyv
I gotta go with D-fens. “I’m an American. You’re a sick asshole.”