Tag: Oscar Grant
Posted on Fri Nov 05, 2010 at 04:36:31 PM EST
Tags: Bart Cop Shooting, Oscar Grant (all tags)
When a police officer breaks the law, shouldn't they be treated the same as anyone else? Or even more harshly if they abused their power as guardians of community safety? Not in Oakland, where former Bart cop Johannes Mehserle was sentenced today to the minimum two years in prison for killing unarmed 22 year old Oscar Grant. The shooting was captured on videocamera and went viral on You Tube. (Raw footage here, news version here.)
Mehserle was convicted by a jury of involuntary manslaughter. He testified he mistook his firearm for his Taser and accidentally shot Grant. The jury found he acted negligently and that he unlawfully took Grant's life but didn't intend to kill Grant.
The jury also found Mehserle had used a gun during the crime, a sentencing enhancer, but the Judge threw that out today, "saying it was not supported by the evidence." With credit for time already served, Mehserle will be eligible for parole in 7 months. [More...]
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Posted on Thu Jan 15, 2009 at 10:55:35 AM EST
Tags: Oscar Grant (all tags)
Former Oakland Transit Officer Johannes Mehserle was charged with the murder of Oscar Grant yesterday. (Background here.)
If you missed the video of the killing, you can watch it here:
A news version is here. More at Alternet and here's an Action Alert at the Nation.
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Posted on Mon Jan 12, 2009 at 02:21:00 PM EST
Tags: Oscar Grant (all tags)
At The Daily Beast, Stanley Crouch writes that "the left" isn't outraged by black on black crime but police brutality instead. Over at The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates is outraged at the outrage from those who think that blacks aren't sufficiently outraged by black on black crime. Writes Coates:
"I spent most of last year following Bill Cosby around to standing room only rallies in Detroit, Birmingham and Baltimore, talking to people who were pissed off by a variety of social maladies. Number one amongst them all -- the murder rate among black men."[More...]
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