A Los Angeles jury convicted a former San Francisco Bay area transit police officer of involuntary manslaughter for shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant on an Oakland subway platform.
Johannes Mehserle was responding to a fight at the Fruitvale station on January 1, 2009, when he pulled his handgun on the unarmed Grant, who appeared to be lying face down at the time, fatally shooting him. Mehserle’s attorney claimed that his client was attempting to use his taser, but hadn’t received proper weapons training.
Prosecutors, however, claimed that Mehserle, who is white, lost control and intentionally reached for his handgun, his anger impeding his judgment and resulting in the shooting.
The murder and trial have caused racial tension in the Bay Area, as Grant’s burial caused riots that resulted in over 100 arrests for assault, unlawful assembly and vandalism. Mehserle’s trial featured a large group of protestors traveling from Oakland to Los Angeles each day to protest against the former transit officer.