More Graphic BART Shooting Video Surfaces

The Chronicle identifies the officer as 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle, who had served two years on the BART force and had become a father within a day or two of the shooting.
  KCBS’ Tim Ryan Reports

"The officer may or may not give an interview during the criminal investigation, and that's discretionary with the officer," said Attorney Mike Raines of Pleasant Hill, who often defends police officers. "Officers like any other citizen have a right not to give an interview under the Fifth Amendment."

But Raines says BART can compel a statement about the shooting during an administrative investigation, under the threat of firing him, although that information cannot be used in any criminal case.

Meantime more graphic videotapes of the shooting are surfacing.

New Cell Phone Footage of BART Shooting on CBS5 (Graphic)

A small group of people protested outside BART headquarters in Oakland Monday to demand answers into the police shooting of a young Hayward man on New Year's Day.

Oscar Grant, 22, a father of a four-year-old daughter, was reportedly shot in the back after police responded to reports of a fight at the Fruitvale station.

Shouting passionately through a bullhorn, protest organizer Evan Shamar of Oakland said, "A 22-year-old unarmed father was executed and assassinated and BART expects us to swallow that the shooting may have been an accident."

Alleging that Grant "was murdered in cold blood," Shamar said the BART police officer who shot Grant should be prosecuted for first-degree murder.

Oakland attorney John Burris has been hired by Grant's family. He said Sunday that he plans to file a $25 million lawsuit against BART because witnesses say that Grant wasn't posing a threat to anyone and was lying on his stomach on the station's platform with his back to officers when he was shot.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson asked the public Monday not to rush to judgment.

"We urge the public to be patient with us," Johnson said. "It's frustrating to us because people are getting upset about what happened, but we owe it the public, the family (of Grant) and the police officer to get all the facts."

He said that in addition to videos that witnesses have given to local television stations, BART has received from a citizen at least one additional video that he said has "a different perspective" on the incident.

Johnson called for people who have additional videos to give them to BART instead of the news media, saying that videos shown on television have the potential to "taint" witnesses to the incident.

(mgo/clo)