BART Cop Involved in Grant murder fired

OAKLAND, Calif. -- One of the BART police officers involved in the New Year's Day shooting last year that ended in the death of Oscar Grant has been fired, according to a BART spokesman.

The officer, Marysol Domenici, was one of the first two BART police officers to respond to the call of a fight on board a BART train. Her partner was Tony Pirone, the officer Grant's family and their attorney blamed for escalating the situation that led to the shooting by fellow officer Johannes Mehserle, now charged with murder.

As KTVU first reported last year, an internal investigation of the shooting conducted by Meyers Nave have recommended that BART fire both Domenici and Pirone. But it has taken this long for that to happen. KTVU also learned that the administrative hearings for both Domenici and Pirone have been held separately; Domenici's first. She was a black belt in karate and a training instructor for the police department. Sources say that if she's fired, it is highly likely that Pirone's firing will soon follow.

Both officers have been on administrative leave since the day of the killing, drawing their salary but not working.

KTVU contacted Marysol Domenici's attorney Thursday afternoon and she said she had no comment on her client's firing. KTVU also learned that the acting BART police chief notified officers in an email last night about this latest action.

On New Year's Day 2009, 22-year-old Grant was shot in the back by Bart police officer Johanes Mehserle at the Fruitvale BART station. Grant was unarmed. Mehserle's attorney said his client intended to draw a taser and not a gun.

No one appeared to be in charge and "communication failures were prominent" when BART police responded to a disturbance at the Fruitvale station on New Year's Day that ended in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a BART police officer, according to the report released last year by Meyers Nave.

The law firm Meyers Nave was hired to review BART policies, practices and procedures as they relate to the New Year's Day incident, in which BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant III on the station's platform. Mehserle later resigned from the force and now faces trial for murder.

"The report clearly says we could have done a better job," BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger told reporters during a media availability Tuesday night in which she discussed changes already implemented by BART in response to the shooting.

Officers were called to the Fruitvale station in Oakland shortly after 2 a.m. New Year's Day in response to reports of a fight on a train.

The report stated that the first officer to arrive should have acted as the incident commander. "The incident commander could then have calmed things by asserting command and control," the report reads.

Additionally, BART police officers failed to work as a team and did not follow an operational directive that outlines tactics that should be used when dealing with a hazardous situation on a train, according to the report.

"For example, officers separated from each other and multiple officers attempted to search or control suspects," the report stated. "The more chaotic the situation, the more finely controlled police tactics have to be practiced."