Ex-Officer Charged in Oakland Killing of Unarmed Black Passenger

The shooting gained international attention after cellphone videos of the killing were posted on YouTube by train passengers.

The videos show the officer, Johannes Mehserle, pulling out a gun and shooting twenty-two-year-old Oscar Grant in the back while he was lying face down on the ground on the train platform.

On Wednesday, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff announced the charges against Mehserle.

The former police officer, Johannes Mehserle, was arrested on Tuesday in Nevada near Lake Tahoe. Mehserle resigned from the BART force after he refused to speak with criminal investigators.

Several legal experts and law enforcement officials in California say they can not recall any other instance of a police officer in California being charged with murder for an on-duty incident.

The killing of Oscar Grant has sparked a series of protests in Oakland. On the night of Jan. 7 over 105 people were arrested in what has been described by some as the Oakland rebellion when some protesters set cars on fire and damaged over three dozen businesses.

Another 18 protesters were arrested last night on vandalism charges after another large protest in Oakland.

On Wednesday, a National Day of Nonviolent Action to protest the killing of Oscar Grant was held in over a dozen other cities.

We are joined in San Francisco by journalist and hip hop activist Davey D. He runs the popular website Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner at daveyd dot com. He is the co-host of Hard Knock Radio on KPFA in Berkeley.

Davey D, hip hop journalist and activist. He runs the popular website Davey D’s Hip Hop Corner at DaveyD.com. He is co-host of Hard Knock Radio on KPFA in Berkeley.