2009 Begins with BART Execution

Trained professionals, eh? According to information on the BART website its officers undergo the same training as Oakland police and sheriff's officers. Judging from the New Year's day execution style killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, at Oakland's Fruitvale BART Station, that training should be re-evaluated.

Claims that the stressful, chaotic conditions that the officers were experiencing early New year's Day fulled Officer Johannes Mehserle's response to Grant and the shooting. Strangely, no such gunfire erupted during the much more volatile protest that followed Grant's funeral a week later. While police fired tear gas into the crowd of protesters on January 7 in Downtown Oakland, not a single shot was fired.

The video of Grant's arrest shows a man on his stomach, face down, with his hands behind his back and BART officers surrounding him. From the camera's vantage point he doesn't appear to be struggeling or resisting the officers. The crowd of nearby passengers, from where the video was shot, seem to confirm that the force being used was excessive. For whatever reason, while Grant lay in a prone position awaiting handcuffing Officer Mehserle fired a single shot into Grant's back.

According to autopsy reports, the bullet tore through Grant's lower back and ricocheted from the concrete, back through Grant's lung, killing him.

The blatant and uncalled for nature of this shooting is cause for concern. If BART officers can't handle their weapons appropriately, and they received the same training as other Oakland law enforcement officers, we shouldn't be surprised by the continued excessive use of force in the East Bay.