BART Shooting

I've been following the story of the fatal shooting early New Year's Day of 22-year-old Oscar Grant. BART Officers pulled Grant and other young men off of a Dublin-Pleasanton BART train and onto the Fruitvale Station platform after a fight at about 2 a.m.

Grant was unarmed and lying on his chest when Officer Johannes Mehserle shot him in the back with his service weapon. The shooting, which was captured by at least two people with cell phone cameras, remains unexplained.

On Thursday, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said he expects to make a decision in about two weeks on whether to file criminal charges against Mehserle, 27, who resigned Wednesday rather than talk to BART internal affairs investigators.

The investigation is being conducted by Oakland and BART police and the district attorney's office.

Oakland attorney John Burris has filed a $25 million claim against BART on behalf of Grant's mother and 4-year-old daughter.

I saw one of the videos of the shooting. My first thought after watching the video was that it looked as if the Officer got confused and mistook his firearm for his taser. If this is what happened here, I believe the family should definitely receive their $25 million claim. Mehserle (who at 27 I would guess is probably a rookie)is not fit to serve.

My heart goes out to everyone affected by this incident. Let's hope the BART PD makes the changes needed to prevent this from ever happening again.