Violent protests after Calif train killing verdict

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Violent protests erupted in Oakland with stores damaged and dozens arrested after a Los Angeles jury convicted a white former transit officer of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.

Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday’s lesser verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year’s Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.

The verdict also prompted an announcement by Justice Department officials that they would look into whether the case warrants federal prosecution.

Police in riot gear Thursday had maintained a watchful eye over a crowd of protesters as emotions ran high with about 500 people marching in the street. Members of a crowd near City Hall moaned and cursed when they heard the verdict.

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Violent protests after Calif train killing verdict

Some folks say the *Race War* mentioned in the post just below this will never come. They may be right. These people aren’t warriors, they are ANIMALS, they would be more at home in the jungle than they are living among civilized people.

Most of these *rioters* were not rioting over a verdict. They are, as Bloviating Zeppelin is so fond of saying, rioting over the *FREE CHEESE*.

At least a dozen businesses were damaged, including a looted Foot Locker store and a ransacked jewelry store, police said. Protesters also smashed the windows of a bank, set fires in several trash bins, and detonated a small incendiary device near a police station that caused no damage.

These people are, plain and simple, HOOD RATS! They looted a Foot Locker store to STEAL the latest footwear. They looted a jewelry store to steal the BLING that they couldn’t afford to buy on their welfare check or food stamp payments. But, look at the bright side, now they are some well dressed and blinged out HOOD RATS.

There is NO WAY that these people were expressing outrage! They are ghetto trash, and that is all they are. This wasn’t about a verdict, it was about them, and an opportunity to express some FAUX outrage so they could steal from hard working business people.

During the trial, prosecutors said the 28-year-old Mehserle became angry at the 22-year-old Grant for resisting arrest. He was shot in the back while he lay face-down. Mehserle claims he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his Taser.

I have angered a couple of folks on PoliceLink, a Police news site I frequent, by expressing my opinion of former Officer Johannes Mehserle excuse that he meant to grab his Taser but grabbed his service pistol by mistake, and didn’t notice that it was a PISTOL, and NOT a Taser, and then fired the fatal round into the back of Oscar Grant. I just don’t buy that.

Grant was, as I understand it, handcuffed and face down on the rail platform when Mehserle fired his weapon.

Mehserle testified that he struggled with Grant and saw him digging in his pocket as officers responded to reports of a fight at a train station. Fearing Grant may have a weapon, Mehserle said he decided to shock Grant with his Taser but pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead.

I can’t understand how, even in the *heat of the moment*, an officer, even a rookie officer, could make such a horrific mistake. That was where I was taken to task by a retired officer that also posts on PoliceLink. He insisted that it’s an error that would be easy to make. I believe he is wrong.

I have talked to officers that are Taser certified and have been told that Taser training specifically states that you carry the Taser on your *OFF* side, meaning on the opposite side of your handgun, and also, a recommendation of carrying it in a *cross draw* position was mentioned as well.

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