Local News

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― In grainy amateur videos played over and over on TV and the Internet, Bay Area Rapid Transit police officers force an unarmed black man to the ground and hold him face-down on a crowded train platform.

Suddenly one of the officers draws his gun and fatally shoots the man in the back -- then looks up.

The New Year's Day death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III has led to violent street protests amid allegations from the family's attorney that some of the officers used racial slurs. 

California Attorney General Jerry Brown was scheduled to meet Saturday morning with the president of the California branch of the NAACP about her request that he investigate the shooting death of Grant.

Spokespeople for both Brown and Alice Huffman, the NAACP leader, confirmed the planned meeting and said the pair spoke briefly by phone on Friday.

"The tension is increasing in the community and the citizens have little faith that local law enforcement will seek justice," Huffman said in a statement released to the media.

"We have informed Attorney General Brown that California law enforcement agencies at all levels cannot continue to look on passively when young African American lives are being violated by the very people who are sworn to protect them," she said.

Grant, of Hayward, was shot and killed at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland early on Jan. 1 after police responded to reports that two groups of men were fighting on a train. 

Huffman said the NAACP was concerned about reports that Grant had not committed a crime or resisted, wasn't armed, was lying on his stomach and was shot in the back.

"It is important for the NAACP and other concerned groups and individuals to advocate for criminal charges to be brought against this officer and we need the attorney general to expedite this case," her statement said.

BART officials said Friday that their agency's investigators would turn over results of their internal inquiry into the shooting to Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff within a week.

Orloff on Friday maintained his timeline, saying it would take his office two more weeks to finish its investigation and make a decision on whether to file criminal charges against the officer, 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle.

But Huffman maintained, "In cases of possible police misconduct it is most appropriate for the attorney general to intervene on behalf of the public to ensure that justice is carried out in a fair and expeditious manner."

Mehserle remains free and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. And some experts have questioned whether he fired his gun deliberately or mistakenly believed he was using his stun gun instead.

Mehserle was initially placed on paid leave following the shooting. He resigned from the BART police force on Wednesday, but officials said he has refused to speak with the transit agency's investigators. He has not spoken publicly about the incident.

BART officials said a team of nine detectives working on the case had interviewed all of the other police officers who were on the train platform at
the Fruitvale station during the shooting.

Mehserle's attorney, Christopher Miller, declined to comment on the investigations when contacted by CBS 5 on Thursday at his Sacramento law office.

A long-time Mehserle family friend said the former officer and his family had been terrorized by death threats since the shooting, forcing them to move from their Napa home. 

Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd, whose known Mehserle and his family for about 20 years, said the death threats were not only aimed at Mehserle, but also his parents, wife and 1-week-old baby. 

Extra police continued to be posted Friday at BART stations after a group of angry demonstrators smashed storefronts Wednesday night, set fire to cars and clashed with officers equipped with riot gear and tear gas in downtown Oakland.

More than 120 people were arrested and police revised downward their damage estimate Friday — saying about 40 businesses were damaged in the rioting.

A second protest sprang up Thursday night. Oakland police officers had to disperse about 40 people after some began disrupting traffic, throwing trash cans and attempting to vandalize stores. Two were arrested.
 
Dozens of those arrested in the two nights of violent protests appeared in court for arraignment Friday afternoon. The suspects arraigned face charges including felony vandalism and arson.
 
Grant's family said during a news conference Thursday that he would not want to see such violence.

The family has filed a $25 million wrongful-death claim against BART and relatives want Mehserle to be criminally charged.

Grant's shooting death unfolded in front of dozens of train passengers who were returning home after New Year's Eve celebrations.

Police officers arrived shortly after 2 a.m. on Jan. 1 at the Fruitvale station following reports of young men fighting on a train. Grant was one of several who were ordered off the train, questioned and then restrained by Mehserle and other officers.

Videos shot by onlookers show Grant being pushed onto his stomach shortly before Mehserle fired his gun at Grant's back. The bullet apparently ricocheted off pavement and pierced his lung, killing him.

The preliminary autopsy report of Grant's death, released Friday by the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau, said simply that "the cause of death was due to a gunshot wound to the torso."

The video footage has led to debate over whether the officer knowingly shot Grant, as the victim's family alleges.

Bruce Siddle, a use-of-force expert who viewed the video clips, theorized that Mehserle was working under stress in a hostile situation and did not realize he was firing his pistol.

Some other experts and the attorney for Grant's family have disputed Siddle's theory.

In response to Grant's slaying, BART officials announced Friday that they would create a special police subcommittee to review major incidents in the future.

"We want to make sure that such a terrible tragedy never occurs again," said BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger, whose agency has come under fire for its handling of the Grant case.

"We saw an extraordinary outpouring in which community members
made their voices heard" about their unhappiness about how the transit agency has responded to the incident, Dugger said. "We heard their voices, their anger and their frustration."

Dugger said BART directors would meet on Monday to officially create the new board committee to examine BART police procedures.

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