Posted on 01/06/2009 7:56:06 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
OAKLAND, Calif. Law enforcement officials urged patience while they investigated details surrounding the fatal New Year's Day shooting of a 22-year-old man by a transit agency police officer.
Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Chief Gary Gee said on Sunday that the agency is "committed to completing an unbiased, thorough and detailed investigation" of the shooting death of Oscar Grant.
"This case is not even four days cold. We're in the early stages of the investigation and we will do a very thorough job," he said.
Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to Oakland's Fruitvale station to investigate reports of a supposed brawl on a train on which Grant was riding around 2 a.m. Thursday.
A friend of Grant's who was with him on the crowded Oakland train station platform at the time of the shooting said Grant pleaded with officers not to harm him.
"Oscar yelled, 'You shot me! I got a four-year-old daughter,"' said Fernando Anicete. "Oscar was telling us to calm down and we did. We weren't looking for any trouble."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Just read the report and watched the video. The city will pay big time on this one. No reason for cop to have his gun out, bad training, bad management.
If that were you or I, we’d be in jail already.
I don’t think the officer intended to shoot this guy. Personally, I think he meant to grab his taser and accidentally grabbed his pistol instead.
I don't agree with some that it was cold blooded murder. It could be he grabbed the wrong weapon, then didn't keep his finger off the trigger.
Like I said, bad training. You can actually hear one of the bystanders say something like, "Whoa, what's with the gun".
Management must take responsibility for bad training.
Looks different, but the grips are similar. The news broadcast said this guy has been on the force for two years, a short enough time to still be making mistakes.
The theory strikes me more as a “suggestion” from a defense attorney on what might have happened.
He wasn’t cuffed yet.
Several unanswered questions remained after BART officers went to ...Problem #1 - "BART Officers".
YET, by all existing Federal Firearm Laws these moron (psycho) Barney Fifes can own every exotic "Assault weapon" on the planet that the RATS want to ban or are already banned by State Laws for us peons. Plus they can legally own goodies like Blackjacks (Zaps), Brass Knuckles and Switchblade Knives. And naturally, Tasers under Federal Law. (Oh, and so can 'Jail Guards' who mostly have the IQ of a brick.)
So yeah, lets keep those dangerous guns out of ignorant citizens hands.
Only 'highly trained LEOs' should have them!
(do I really need a sarcasm tag)
Time to fork over the $$$$$$$$$.
The cop deserves a long time in prison over this. And while i’m far from a fan of the trial lawyer mafia I think the city better pay up as well.
I’ll have to remember this excuse just in case I even have an AD.
Guns don’t go “off”.
Someone pulls the trigger.
And this is one case where the amount ($25M) seems low.
There is no way this should have happened. In fact, if you could draw a worst case scenario, this would probably be it.
Everyone makes mistakes at work but mistakes by doctors, pilots, and cops make the news. If he was a really good officer he probably wouldn't have been working for BART. And police departments don't like to hire smart people. They overthink which leads to delayed actions, and they tend to question orders, get bored, and otherwise be a pain. You want a cop that joins in right away when their partners open fire so as to diffuse the blame.
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