Murder Trial of Former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle
The murder trial of former BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle appears to be close to wrapping up. Early in the morning on January 1, 2009, Mehserle shot and killed passenger Oscar Grant on a BART platform in Oakland. The event was caught on many different cell phone videos.
From the moment that I first heard of the shooting, it seemed clear to me that it was an accident on the part of Mehserle. I completely believe that Mehserle intended to be going for his Taser and mistakenly drew and fired his firearms. That was my belief on the morning of the shooting, and it is still my belief.
I am a law and order kind of guy. My natural tendency in a situation like this is to believe the officer’s account of the situation. However, I in no way whatsoever believe that officers are in the right 100% of the time. Officers are human, and humans make mistakes. Some humans are even bad people who deliberately do bad things. But there is absolutely nothing that I have seen in the videos or heard from anyone involved in the this shooting that would convince me that Mehserle decided to deliberately execute Grant on that BART platform.
I understand that Oscar Grant’s family is upset with what happened. Their sadness with the death of a loved one and anger with what transpired is fully justified. Oscar Grant did not deserve to die. And considering that the former officer in question is white and the victim was black, there is also a racial aspect to this case. There are many people in the community who see this as yet another example of police brutality against a person of color. I fully understand that there is a history of police brutality in certain communities against certain people. But that is not the situation in this case. Any beliefs or assertions that Mehserle wanted to kill Grant are completely unfounded.
I am not saying that Mehserle should not face any consequences for his actions. Quite the contrary. Mehserle messed up big time, and his mistake cost Grant his life. I am no legal expert, but it seems that, in such a situation, Mehserle cannot get off without paying some sort of penalty. I don’t know what that penalty is, but we have a system in place that, given the facts, can dole out the appropriate form of justice. If an officer makes an honest mistake, but that mistake costs a person his life, I don’t know if that amounts to a manslaughter charge or something else. But what happened was definitely not first degree murder. Whatever the legal definition is for what Mehserle did, mistaking his gun for his Taser and accidentally killing Grant, is what Mehserle should pay the price for.
Calls for peace in Oakland once the verdict is announced have already gone out to the public. It is my hope that justice is reached in the courtroom and that civil behavior is maintained on the streets.