In my opinion this is a perfect example of an over zealous cop letting the fear go to his head and not thinking clearly. He could have very easily opted for the taser gun instead of shooting the kid. Though I admit I think this officer should be punished to the full extent of the law. Not all police officers are like this. I do understand that it is difficult being a police man but, if you can’t handle that type of stress without immediately opting for deadly force than you should not be a cop. Here is the rest of the story by SFGate.com:
Johannes Mehserle says he feared Oscar Grant was going for gun
Jaxon Van Derbeken
Updated 9:34 am, Saturday, June 14, 2014
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FontJohannes Mehserle testified Friday that he mistakenly shot Oscar Grant after concluding that the Hayward man was making a “digging motion in his right front pocket” for what he feared was a gun.
On the witness stand in San Francisco for a second day in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Grant’s father, the former BART police officer went through the events that ended in the death of Grant, who was unarmed, and eventually to Mehserle being convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Mehserle, 32, said he could not remember many details of what happened early Jan. 1, 2009, on the platform of the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, where he had responded to reports of a fight involving riders who had been taken off a train.
He said he had deployed his Taser twice on the platform to help make an arrest before shooting Grant, in what Mehserle has always maintained was the result of mistaking his service revolver for his electronic stun gun.
When he tried to deal with the 22-year-old Grant, who had earlier stood up on the platform in protest at being arrested, Mehserle said, he ran into problems.
First, he said, he pushed Grant back into a sitting position. Grant was mad about how he was being treated by another BART officer, Tony Pirone.
“I don’t know what is going on – just calm down, and we’ll figure it out later,” Mehserle recalled telling Grant.
Waukeen McCoy, attorney for the dead man’s father, Oscar Grant Jr., showed Mehserle a photo of a Taser’s red laser being pointed at the younger’s Grant’s upper thigh, near his groin area. Mehserle denied doing so intentionally, saying, “That’s not where you want to target.”
Mehserle handcuffed another man and returned to Grant. While Grant was on his knees with his hands behind his back, Mehserle said, he appeared compliant.
“It appears he is going along with everything,” the former officer said. “His hands were ready to be handcuffed.”
As he moved to cuff him, Mehserle testified, Grant violently pulled his right hand away. McCoy suggested that Grant may have reacted to abusive words from Pirone.
Pirone then pushed Grant to the ground. McCoy asked whether Mehserle had known that his fellow officer had his knee to Grant’s neck.
Mehserle replied that he was “100 percent” focused on Grant’s hands.
“Give me your hands, give me your hands,” he recalled telling Grant. “He wasn’t listening to me.”
“I was thinking, ‘Why won’t he give me his hands?’ That was a big concern,” he said. “I did not want to find out it was a gun. I didn’t want to get shot.”
“Etched in his brain,” Mehserle said, is an impression that Grant was reaching in his pocket for something. He recalled saying, “I’m going to Tase him, I’m going to Tase him,” but acknowledged that no such declaration is audible on cell phone videos taken at the scene.
That’s when he pulled his gun and fired once. “I didn’t intend to shoot him,” Mehserle said.
“I thought he was going for a gun,” he said. “I made a mistake.”
Mehserle did his best to console the dying Grant, he said, but added that as he handcuffed him, he didn’t tell him he had fired by mistake or that he was sorry.
He said he was mystified as to how he had shot Grant. “I felt terrible for Mr. Grant. I felt sick.”
Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail:jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com
Kid Gets Tased and Than Shot by Police Man
