Former Bay Area Rapid Transit Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, has been arrested and charged with murder in the such publicized shooting of Oscar Grant III at an Oakland, California transit stop. It is another case where YouTube appears to have driven the official response as outrage grew with the playing of videos of the shooting like the clip below. Mehserle who resigned from the force is now facing murder charges.
Mehserle was arrested in Nevada on Tuesday night.
District Attorney Tom Orloff stated “What I feel the evidence indicates is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act. From the evidence we have there’s nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder. The murder charge was the appropriate charge given the state of the evidence.”
Mehserle was one of the officers responding to calls complaining about about fights on a train. Grant was taken off the train and Mehserle is pictured shooting him in the back as another BART officer kneels on him.
For the video, click here and here.
For the full story, click here.
From the video evidence provided at the link, the LEO violated the letter and the spirit of law enforcement. I understand—although I do not condone—the violent protests that resulted from this shooting. Ensuring due process for every accused citizen is critical even though the officer appears to have shot an almost completely restrained and prone man in the back while he posed no physical threat whatsoever. If the full evidence confirms what happened and there are no mitigating circumstances, then the charge of murder seems appropriate.
We must remember that—like the incident with the video of the LEO assaulting the bicyclist—if video evidence was unavailable then both cases would be much different since the courts give deference to the government. Viva la video technology as another means of evidence to help ensure due process of the law for all citizens.
If it is so obvious that a charge less than murder is inappropriate how is it that the prosecutor took so long to decide to bring charges?
Of course only the terminally naive will believe that there is any chance that Mehserle will be convicted.