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Video of the shooting followed by a rather long interview of the girl who recorded it with her camera
Edit: Thanks to hideo for finding a second, better video
$25 Million Lawsuit Announced In BART Shooting
An Oakland attorney representing the family of a man slain by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer early New Year's Day said Sunday that they will file a $25 million lawsuit against BART.
Lawyer John Burris said at a news conference that he planned to file the claim against the transit agency in the shooting death of 22-year Oscar Grant of Hayward within a week.
Burris on Sunday called the shooting intentional and said he would ask prosecutors to seek criminal charges against the officer. He reiterated that Grant, who witnesses said was lying on the ground waiting to be handcuffed, posed no threat when he was fatally shot around 2:15 a.m. Thursday.
"He was not doing anything of a threatening nature to the officer," Burris said.
Home video, provided to CBS 5 on Saturday by 19-year-old witness Kristin Vargas, would seem to support the contention that Grant was laying on his stomach with his hands behind him on a train platform when a single shot was fired by a BART officer.
BART spokesman Jim Allison said the officer's gun went off while police were trying to restrain Grant at BART's Fruitvale station in Oakland, and that Grant was not cuffed.
At least four BART officers had responded to the station to reports of a fight on a train that Grant was on. That train was stopped to let the officers break up the supposed brawl.
Burris said he had interviewed witnesses and viewed the home video of the incident and vehemently disagreed with any notion that the officer's gun accidently discharged.
"This was an intentional pulling of the trigger," he told reporters. "It was an intentional act."
Burris said the bullet entered Grant's back and ricocheted to his lung area, killing him almost immediately.
The unidentified officer is on administrative leave, while the Alameda County District Attorney's Office conducts an investigation.
Meantime, Grant's family has scheduled a memorial service at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Palma Ceia Baptist Church at 28605 Ruus Road in Hayward.
Family members on Sunday remembered Grant as being a loving father of a 4-year-old daughter, a hard worker and a sports enthusiast.
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Damn right. Crooked cops deserve to die.
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accidental discharge? that makes no kind of sense! why would a cop have a gun trained on a guy who is on his belly with his hands cuffed behind his back? either the lawyer is lying or the cops are, probably cops, because even if the guy wasn't cuffed, that doesn't warrant pulling a gun on a person for such a petty crime.
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Sounds like an accident to me.
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I kind of wish I hadn't watched that video
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On January 05 2009 12:19 relaxxl wrote: Sounds like an accident to me.
you serious...?
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"loving father", "hard worker" and "sports enthusiast" all sound like cover for the fact that this Grant character was clearly a violent sociopath. I'm sure he had it coming.
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On January 05 2009 12:24 Lycaeus wrote:you serious...?
Why would the Police officer just shoot him? There are a lot of different things that could have happened, it's ignorant to jump to conclusions.
EDIT:
On January 05 2009 12:10 ShaperofDreams wrote: accidental discharge? that makes no kind of sense! why would a cop have a gun trained on a guy who is on his belly with his hands cuffed behind his back?
I'm pretty sure it's procedure.
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On January 05 2009 12:26 Salv wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2009 12:24 Lycaeus wrote:On January 05 2009 12:19 relaxxl wrote: Sounds like an accident to me. you serious...? Why would the Police officer just shoot him? There are a lot of different things that could have happened, it's ignorant to jump to conclusions.
I may have overstepped my bounds a bit. I watched the video and it did look like an accident. However... The cop should still be given criminal charges for being a fucken idiot and discharging the gun.
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I don't think it really matters if it was an accident or not. The guy's still dead
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The cop should at least be charged with Involuntary manslaughter..
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On January 05 2009 12:26 Salv wrote:Show nested quote +On January 05 2009 12:10 ShaperofDreams wrote: accidental discharge? that makes no kind of sense! why would a cop have a gun trained on a guy who is on his belly with his hands cuffed behind his back? I'm pretty sure it's procedure. It's standard procedure for an execution.
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On January 05 2009 12:25 GeneralStan wrote: "loving father", "hard worker" and "sports enthusiast" all sound like cover for the fact that this Grant character was clearly a violent sociopath. I'm sure he had it coming.
wow, you sound impressively cold and heartless.
maybe you deserve to be shot as well.
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On January 05 2009 12:38 onepost wrote:
It's standard procedure for an execution.
That's just stupid. I may be wrong, but we aren't even sure if the man was handcuffed or restrained. Secondly, I am quite sure that if they had a reason to make this man lie on the ground, it's standard procedure to cover the man their gun until he is no longer a threat. We know nothing about what happened or if they had reason to believe he was dangerous.
On January 05 2009 12:32 Powerpill wrote: The cop should at least be charged with Involuntary manslaughter..
I think manslaughter is when a person causes the death of an individual by their actions; but the persons actions need to require no regard for human life. I don't think you could charge this officer with voluntary manslaughter, but I think a case can be made for involuntary as a result of his recklessness. Even there though, no one has any idea what happened yet.
On January 05 2009 12:31 Divinek wrote: I don't think it really matters if it was an accident or not. The guy's still dead
Actually, it does matter. It's the difference between murder or potential manslaughter.
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The title of this thread is so biased lol. Should be changed to "Metro Policeman MERCILESSLY BUTCHERS innocent rider." That way people know what your opinion on this is before they ever open it. Ofc you could also change it to "Bisu vs Jaedong vs Savior Holiday FFA," that usually never fails to increase readership.
Kind of fucked up that the guy had to die for no reason though, I haven't seen the video so I'm not going to judge anything. I saw this on the news, but their opinion was neutral as to who was at fault.
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On January 05 2009 12:52 Salv wrote: I may be wrong, but we aren't even sure if the man was handcuffed or restrained. Secondly, I am quite sure that if they had a reason to make this man lie on the ground, it's standard procedure to cover the man their gun until he is no longer a threat. We know nothing about what happened or if they had reason to believe he was dangerous.
I disagree. Let me tell you why.
1.) the original post clearly states whether he was handcuffed or restrained.
2.) I am pretty sure it isn't standard procedure to cover someone lying on the ground waiting to be handcuffed with your gun, with the safety off. Maybe in particularily dangerous situations, but otherwise that is just ridiculous overkill that I never want to see.
3.) We know plenty about what happened. There is a video, no? (I didn't watch it because I don't want to see a guy get shot, but shouldn't a video show us what happened..?)
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United States3824 Posts
I don't think I'm really up to watching someone be shot in the head on a bus. Pretty fucked up.
Oh and I would read a holiday ffa thread any day
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On January 05 2009 12:24 Lycaeus wrote:you serious...?
I think it was an accident as well, did you really think the guy shot the person on purpose in front of several other police officers in broad daylight?
The title of this thread is rediculous by the way, way to assume what happened, you can't see shit on that video.
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On January 05 2009 12:52 Salv wrote: That's just stupid. I may be wrong, but we aren't even sure if the man was handcuffed or restrained. Secondly, I am quite sure that if they had a reason to make this man lie on the ground, it's standard procedure to cover the man their gun until he is no longer a threat. We know nothing about what happened or if they had reason to believe he was dangerous. Actually we know a fair amount. I watched the video, and I can tell you right now that he was handcuffed. No question about that. Before saying that you know nothing, watch the video.
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