Tag: BART shooting

Mehserle sentenced to 2 years

Seems about right to me. Not everyone agrees. Mehserle is the BART cop who (apparently) accidentally shot Oscar Grant in the back and killed him. Mehserle has already served most of his time.

Letter From Mehserle

Mehserle hand wrote this letter. I’ll retype it in its entirety: July 4, 2010 Mike– Please try to get this message to the public: —————————- I don’t know what the jury in the case is going to decide, but I hope those who hate me and those who understand that I never intended to shoot…
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Looting in Oakland

Reports of “Massive Looting.” And pics of looting a Foot Locker! Kind of surprises me a bit (I know… nothing should surprise me) because the cop was led off in handcuffs. It wasn’t like he walked off a free man. But then what does looting have to do with justice? Whatever your “cause” is, looting…
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More on Mehserle

Motorcop has a great post on the conviction of Mehserle. Reading the definitions of the charges he faced, there’s no legal way Mehserle should have been convicted of a greater charge. And you know, I don’t hold Mehserle’s strange conduct in the days after the shooting against him (mind you, I also don’t hold his…
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Mehserle Convicted of involuntary Manslaughter

This is the officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant on the BART train platform. He could be been convicted of the more serious charges of Voluntary Manslaughter or Murder. He also could have been acquitted. I didn’t follow the trial, but this seems about right to me. I certainly believe it’s much more likely…
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BART Shooting (III)–Justice?

I’m very interested in the concept of justice. Especially in situations where there really can’t be any. So let’s just say that the police officer is put on trial and says, “I plead no contest. I didn’t mean to do it. But I did. All I remember was that there was a large crowd yelling…
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BART Shooting (II)

Here’s a link to a The Raw Story and clearer video of the police-involved shooting of Oscar Grant on a Bay Area BART station. Thanks to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s blog for the link. In court, the officer’s actions will be judged by the standard of a “reasonable police officer.” It does not matter what the people…
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BART Shooting

The big police news of the week is probably the police-involved shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (a black man) at a Bart Station in Oakland. Riotshave followed. I hate riots and those who justify them. Like there’s any justification to bust up a hair salon called “African Braids”. And here’s to Oscar Grant’s mother, Wanda…
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