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 ...
The family’s lawyer is saying he was handcuffed, the rep for the BART was saying that he wasn’t.
“BART spokesman Jim Allison has said the officer’s gun went off while police were trying to restrain Grant and that Grant was not cuffed. The unidentified officer is on paid leave as BART investigates the shooting.”
The word is after, not before, although it's not that material to what happened. In all the excitement the shooting was probably a mistake.
They need to sue the gun manufacturer....apparently, THIS gun went off all on its own...probably on safe too. /sarc
No doubt before this is all over the perp will have shot himself. /sarcoff
If someone can’t tell the difference between a taser and a pistol they shouldn’t be allowed to carry either one.
Part of their training should be: Taser goes zap! Gun goes Bang!
After all the transit cops don’t have to be brilliant, just not being stupid is enough.
I am surprised you didn't get the memo. If YOU accidently shot someone, you pulled the trigger.
If a LEO accidently (be it an accident-accident, or otherwise) shoots someone and the act gets caught on tape, then the gun 'went off.'
If a LEO accidently (be it an accident-accident, or otherwise) shoots someone and the act is NOT caught on tape, then the suspect attempted to attack the cop and had to be shot.
Seriously though, most LEOs are nice people, however I also know that they are human. Having a nice badge and a car with sirens (or in the case for BART transit cops, no car with sirens) does not make someone instantly immaculate. They are humans, meaning that there will be some who are good apples, some that are bad apples, and some that are something that looks Apple-lish but are in fact from the deepest dankest pit of hell.
Sadly it seems like the San Francisco tax payer will get the bill for this one.
I'll have to read my email more carefully. Thanks for explaining.
I stand corrected.
From another account (DC Examiner):
Many witnesses began to crowd around the scene and soon a shot was fired by a BART police officer and victim Oscar Grant, 22 years old, was shot in the back while he was face down on the floor. Many cell phones and cameras were confiscated that night from witnesses by the BART police and they say the cameras at the station were not operating that night....This would stink in a skunk-rendering plant.
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