Oscar Grant Death: BART Officer Mehserle Arrested (VIDEO)

Scroll down for video

SAN FRANCISCO — A white former transit police officer accused of killing an unarmed black man on an Oakland train platform has been arrested in Nevada on a warrant charging homicide, 12 days after the shooting that sparked violent street protests.

Johannes Mehserle, 27, was being held without bail Wednesday under a fugitive warrant issued from California, law enforcement officials said. Mehserle surrendered Tuesday without incident, according to a statement from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office in Nevada.

Messages left late Tuesday and early Wednesday at the office of Mehserle's attorney, Christopher Miller, were not immediately returned.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff was expected to announce details of the charges later Wednesday.

Witnesses say Mehserle fired into the back of 22-year-old Oscar Grant while the man was lying facedown on a train platform at a station in Oakland. Grant and others had been pulled off a train after reports of fighting, as New Year's Eve revelers were shuttling home after midnight.

The shooting, captured on cell phone cameras and widely viewed on the Internet, has inflamed long-running tensions between law enforcement authorities and many African-American residents and black community leaders, who have berated BART officials at several public meetings since the incident.

Hundreds of protesters also have taken to the streets calling for the prosecution of Mehserle, with one rally last Wednesday spiraling into violence and resulting in more than 100 arrests and dozens of businesses damaged.

Story continues below

John Burris, the attorney for Grant's family, said he talked to Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, on Tuesday night and she was delighted with the news of the arrest.

"However it does not bring her son back," Burris said. "But she is happy and pleased that an arrest has occurred."

Jack Bryson of Hayward, whose sons, Jackie, 21, and Nigel, 19, were with Grant when he was killed, said late Tuesday the family also happy that Mehserle was arrested. He said his sons and others friends with Grant that night remain traumatized from the shooting.

Bryson said he was with his oldest son when they got word about Mehserle's arrest via a text message.

"Jackie said, 'Dad they got (Mehserle)! They got him!'" said Bryson, who then called his youngest son, Nigel.

"He said, 'Are you for real?'" Bryson said. "He called me back and said, 'They did get him.'"

Dereca Blackmon, the co-founder of the Coalition Against Police Execution, which was organizing a protest Wednesday, said she was pleased Mehserle was arrested but still wanted to know more details, including for example, why he was in Nevada. Authorities have not disclosed those details.

"Honestly this situation brings more questions than answers," she said.

Douglas County, where the arrest occurred, is 15 miles south of Carson City in northwestern Nevada and includes Lake Tahoe and Carson Valley.

Mehserle refused to talk to BART investigators before resigning his position last week. The transit authority passed on details of its internal investigation to Orloff's office on Monday. The case also is being investigated by the Oakland Police Department.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown has assigned a prosecutor to monitor the case, and the U.S. Department of Justice has dispatched mediators to help avert violent protests such as one in Oakland last week.

BART board member Carole Ward Allen said she was pleased to hear the news about the arrest.

"I want to know why he did it," she said. "We've heard from everybody else but him. While I can't speak for the entire BART board, we want to make this process as transparent as possible."

(This version CORRECTS the nature of arrest warrant to homicide, instead of murder, per the sheriff's office.)

Graphic video of the shooting available below:

Comments

[woodcutter]

this story is titled "Ex-Cop",,,,,,,,,,,,,Helo ,,,,,he was wereing a badge-,,, He was on the clock,,,,,,,,,so he's Not an Ex-Cop,,,,,,,,,,,and how about his buddys,,( other cops )or crime partners all thos cops wer involved let it happin and let him walk away with his gun in hand and it seems no body wants to talk about that

[appetite88]

It is clear to any rational person that this was an accident. Too many people let their agendas cloud their judgment, especially when racial tension is involved. Isn't the mere shock of the officer after it happened clear evidence that he did something he didn't mean to do?

The fact of the matter is that he is being persecuted. I hope justice prevails and that Mersehle does not simply become a sacrifice to prevent a riot.

The real racism is evident in how this man is not given the presumption of innocence simply because he is white. People ought to be ashamed of themselves for their hypocrisy.

[Darren Jones]

The majority of the people posting here, and the majority of humanity for that matter, are not rational. There is no doubt that there needs to be consequences for killing Oscar Grant. But it is very possible this was an accident. Some types of tazer guns are very similar to hand guns, with the same handle trigger design. It is possible that this officer could have been reaching for a tazer gun and accidentally shot the victim. We have to wait to hear the facts, and an explanation from the officer. Where was his tazer gun on his belt, or did he have one? A very important question. You can clearly see in the video that the officer is stunned after the shot is fired, he looks up and down several times and at the officer in front of him with a "holy sh*t what just happened" look. I'm also sure that the officer ran because he knew he would be crucified because he is white and shot a black man in the back, even if it was an accident. Continued on next post.....

[Darren Jones]

Don't know y this forum is so tight with accepting comments but they didn't post two of my comments relating to my first one, there was no profanity or anything like that so whats up? I feel my comments are true and important. I'll try again...

[mercorey]

continued from previous post...

And not only was it premeditated, you can tell by the reactions from the other offices that this sort of thing has happened before; because none of them went to Mehserle and asked, what the F* was that for? Nor did they go to Mehserle and try to take his weapon to let him know that it was an honest mistake. They all just looked on as if it was Mehserle’s night to kill and not theirs.

[mercorey]

Continued from previous post..

No other office in the scene felt threaten which is why none of them went after Oscar; this is premeditated murder. As Mehserle used force on Oscar, you can see the Third victim (the one with a ball cap on sitting down with his hands up) is making gestures as Mehserle places his knee in Oscars back. The gestures clearly show that he was saying something like, “come on, he’s down already”. The first victim who was hand cuffed first is on his knees with his hands cuffed behind his back saying the same thing. Then, office Mehserle decided that this is the victim that he will kill tonight because he doesn’t like what he is hearing from his mouth. So out comes the gun and without hesitation, he shoot Oscar Grant in the back while he was on the ground not resisting. Another reason why you can clearly see that it was premeditated is because as soon as he shoots Oscar, he immediately holstered his weapon as if he just finished shooting at the target range. If he felt threaten he would have kept his gun out and looked around to make sure the area was clear from threats before holstering.

Continue on the next post......

[mercorey]

If you really look at the video from the beginning to the end, you will see that this is premeditated. Officer Mehserle seemed to have had his mine set on shooting someone. Mehserle is the first one to get aggressive as he went after the first victim that he hand cuffed. As you can see too, the first victim had his hands up at one point and was not resisting which is why the other office talking to Oscar at the time, did not even bother to look at what was going on right next to him because there was no threat there. Then, as soon as the first victim was cuffed, Mehserle immediately attacked Oscar Grant.

Continue on net post.........

[Darren Jones]

Now for all the racism comments... It has become a curse to be white in America, a reversal of fortunes, I'd say. I am white and I also have been harrassed by cops on many occasions, had blacks be extremely mean to me only bacause I am white, and been turned down on jobs that I was easily qualified for because of Affirmative Action. Where is the United White College Fund? Why are the hundreds of "black only" colleges in America? Five in Atlanta, GA alone, where I am now. I thought we ended segregation, oh that was only for whites! Why are less qualified blacks hired ahead of me because of the color of their skin under Affirmative Action? As a young teenager I was jumped and beaten by several black males outside a subway station in Jamaica, Queens, NY only because I was white and had gotten off at the wrong stop. Racism is just an excuse that blacks abuse to no end. There are no blacks alive that saw slavery and only a handful that saw segregation. The fact that it happened disgusts me as much as you. But there is nothing I can do about it, it was not my fault, nore any of my family members. In fact the tribes in Africa are just as guilty as early Americans for slavery by capturing and selling their own people into slavery. Why are they not blamed? Why are they not harrassed for retribution?

[Joyful Woman]

Perhaps if Mehserle had talked to authorities, his statements could have mitigated the charges to manslaughter. The DA says that he has seen no other evidence to mitigate the charges.

[amdezurik]

The fact that this is the first time in California history that a cop has been charged with murder in a case on-the-job only shows how long cops have been commiting murder and getting away with it. that is the ONLY reason cops hate cameras and take pains to grab them and destroy them. perhaps if we had not let the "law enforcement" community act like they had special rights all these years that young man and many many many others would not be dead today.

[Joyful Woman]

SO TRUE.

[Joyful Woman]

New Video. Moments after the shooting. I never saw this before.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d9b_1231396380

[Joyful Woman]

VIDEO of the Nevada court hearing with a story. He will be in court today in California where the judge should decide if enough evidence is available to go to court.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=443_1231982792

[Noirony]

whjatevahs says, "I see, so the Police are responsible for the drug dealers, the rapists, the burglars, the muggers, the home invaders, the murderers, etc.
Let me guess, you must be either an ACLU lawyer or a product of Berkeley."

YES!!! The police are supposed to be FIGHTING CRIME, you idiot!! NOT COMMITTING IT! What's wrong with you?
And by the way, if you had any concept of what this country stands for, and what millions of patriots have died for, you would know that the ACLU does very important work protecting your rights and mine. Do you understand rights? But then you live in some parallel universe where everything is the opposite of reality. You deserve nothing but supreme contempt. Go paint yourself black and walk past the wrong BART cop.

[Noirony]

Sorry, I intended the above as a response to an earlier post by whjatevahs where he attempted to blame the neighborhood victims of rampant crime, rather than the police who are pledged to enforce the law. I thank Huffpost for putting it up though I called the guy an idiot.

[Stephen Lasky]

That was one of the most audacious things I have ever seen! Why didn't all those people standing around the platform storm those cops and hold them for the authorities. Instead, they all just took pictures of a man being murdered and then let the cop get away. Back in the day, like in the late 60s, I was a radical, and I know that we would never have let a cop get away with that. We would have been on them in a second.

I am usually opposed to the death penalty, because it is used disproportionately on people of color, but this white cop needs to be sentenced to death for shooting an unarmed man who is already in custody . I can't believe how much that pisses me off.

srlasky

[Joyful Woman]

What's wrong, you ask? Much of the fire is gone. The public intellectuals are not private intellectuals who have separated themselves from the masses. The masses no longer read Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, or Frantz Fanon. They watch BET. BET uses it's power not to uplift Black people, but to display them as coons and hoochies. Coons and hoochies are completely disconnected from the past of which you speak.

[Joyful Woman]

**CORRECTION**
What's wrong, you ask? Much of the fire is gone. The public intellectuals are now private intellectuals hiding in elite colleges, corporations, and government separated from the masses. The masses no longer read Frederick Douglass, Marcus Garvey, or Frantz Fanon, they watch BET. BET uses its power not to uplift Black people, but to display them as coons and hoochies. Coons and hoochies are completely disconnected from the past of which you speak.

[TheRealNewYorker]

StephenLasky,you ask why nobody "stormed" the cops & held them.After seeing them just kill an unarmed,non-resistant man in front of their own eyes,do you REALLY think a group of mostly minority citizens is going to bum-rush a group of armed & gov.'t-certified killers? Your nostalgia about the late 60s is filtered through the view of a White person who has never truly felt the injustice of being the victim of a racist society. After the National Guard opened fire on the Kent State protesters,how many of you & your "radical" friends kept up your semi-violent protests? Not that many.That turning point was the 1st time "the Man" opened fire on White kids! For those of us who have REPEATEDLY been shot at/tasered/beaten/hosed/tear-gassed/falsely imprisoned simply because of our skin color...WE know why nobody "stormed" the cops! Think before you speak. You're a white male in a majority-white society. You can do things that some of us can't,and still get away with it. But the HEROES who filmed this atrocity have spread the knowledge of this event beyond that subway platform,and allowed the rest of the world to see how wrong this was. For the record,after viewing the original clip,and watching the offending officer's reaction,I think he unintentionally shot Oscar Grant. But he NEVER should have had a gun drawn on him,OR a taser...Mr. Grant was not visibly resistant. Sad for all involved.

[huffnpuff147]

Where is Ann Coulter and the right-wing conservative outcry to take responsibility for one's actions? I've heard every excuse for this guys action, but that's nothing new - Madoff is under house arest, Wall Street is getting bailouts and not one bank exec is going to jail, why would this case be any different.