On January 1st, 2009 at around 2 am, BART officers responded to reports of a fight that broke out on an Oakland subway car. They detained approximately 20 passengers, one of which was a 22 year old man names Oscar Grant. Witnesses say Grant was not actually involved in the fight – they recall that he approached police in what appeared to be a nonviolent manner and was backed up against the wall. Grant can be seen kneeling and pleading with police for unclear reasons in a widely disseminated cell phone video of the scene. Many eyewitnesses say he was already begging the police not to shoot him at this time. Officers restrained Grant and pinned him face down on the pavement. As shown in the video, Grant was restrained by two officers while a third, police officer Johannes Mehserle, then pulled out his revolver and shot Grant in the back, killing him. Officer Mehserle quietly resigned from BART and has issued no statements regarding his side of the story. An internal investigation is pending – Grant's family attorney has filed a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city. Thirteen days after the shooting, on January 14th, 2009, Mehserle was arrested and charged with suspicion of murder.
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