OAKLAND, Calif. — A former transit police officer has been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of an unarmed and allegedly restrained black man in a racially charged case that has outraged residents and community leaders and set off violent protests.
Newly released court documents allege that Johannes Mehserle, who was charged Tuesday, shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant while Grant had his hands behind his back and another officer was kneeling on his neck.
Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff made the rare decision to file a murder charge against a police officer for an on-duty incident.
“At this point, what I feel the evidence indicates, is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act and from the evidence we have there’s nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder,” Orloff said at a news conference. He said he would not speculate on whether the charge would end up being first-degree murder or second-degree murder.
Witnesses said Grant was lying face down on a train platform at a station in Oakland when the 27-year-old white officer shot him in the back. Grant and others had been pulled off a train after reports of fighting, as New Year’s Eve revelers were shuttling home after midnight.
Allegations that Grant’s hands were behind his back and another officer was kneeling on him were contained in an Oakland police officer’s request to issue an arrest warrant. It said it appeared from cellphone video that “Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant while Grant was restrained and unarmed.”
The shooting, captured on cellphone cameras and widely viewed on the Internet, has inflamed long-running tensions in Oakland between law enforcement authorities and many African-American residents.
Hundreds of people have taken to the streets calling for the prosecution of Mehserle, with one rally last week spiraling into violence that resulted in more than 100 arrests and damage to dozens of businesses. Another demonstration was planned Wednesday afternoon.
Mehserle surrendered without incident Tuesday at a family friend’s house on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, officials said.
During a brief court appearance in Minden, Nev., on Wednesday, he waived extradition and was returned to California to face charges. His lawyer, Christopher Miller, said his client had been in Nevada for a few days to get away from the pressures of what was happening in the Bay Area, and there was no effort to avoid arrest.
“As you are all aware there were some death threats, significant death threats, made against him and his family,” he said.
Mehserle could be arraigned as early as today, Miller said.
Michael Rains, a former police officer who has represented cops as a lawyer since 1979, said convicting an officer of murder for firing a weapon while on duty is difficult. He said there are many laws and Supreme Court cases to “discourage second-guessing and hindsighting of their actions.”
