Another murderer behind a badge.

[olentzero]

We've all heard allegations of people in police custody being shot and killed while cuffed and unarmed, but I don't think it's ever been captured on video. This is from Oakland, CA on New Year's Day, when transit police were responding to a report of a fight on a subway train. As I understand it, the victim - Oscar Grant III - had not been

Comments

[patrickdean]

Christ, that made my stomach turn.

[anonymous]

One can only hope that the investigation confirms unlawful action(s) on the part of the BART officer, and that he is properly tried and sentenced for his behavior.

[olentzero]

The major problem with that is that most investigations are internal and more often than not closed to the public. So it's hardly surprising that most cases like this end up with a slap on the wrist, if that.

Police need to be put on trial like the rest of us. Out in the open, with a jury of his or her peers (meaning folks from the rest of society, not other police officers).

[jamtorkberg]

Living in the Bay Area just south of Oakland (a mere two stops from Fruitvale station, where the incident happened), I have had a great interest in the case (though I must also admit that my interest is also drawn though my passion for finding injustice, which I abhor.) and I feel I should point a few things out.

Number one, though Grant was unarmed and subdued, he was not cuffed. Oddly enough, the BART officers cuffed him after he was shot

[olentzero]

It's grainy quality video but I thought for sure Grant was cuffed before the shot was fired. I'll look again. I certainly could be wrong

[jamtorkberg]

Trained or not, they are human. Doctors, teachers, and other professionals make mistakes.

Can you cite an example of a society which has functioned effectively without some form of law enforcement?

[olentzero]

Mistakes in other professions (doctors included) don't result in unnecessary and preventable deaths. None of those other professions train anyone in the use of lethal forms of force, either. The nature of their job explicitly allows for the possibility of killing people, and the fact that they are largely unaccountable to the public for their actions means that they enjoy greater latitude than they ought to. This is the result.

The phrases "police force" and "law enforcement" are not perfectly synonymous. A police force is one form of law enforcement; a society without police, however, does not mean a society without law enforcement. It just means a society with a different (and, preferably, much more publicly accountable) form of law enforcement.

[bougieman]

A few things:

I could have sworn he was cuffed.

It says he died, but he seems to be ok after the shot in the video. He's moving around. I guess he died later?

And why hasn't this been on any news that I've seen? I watched the news every night since new years... and I haven't heard shit. Just luck of the draw, or is this only getting press online and in the local area? Seems like a major story to me.

[bougieman]

Oh, now that I watch it again, I see he was not cuffed.

[jamtorkberg]

Yeah, they took him to a hospital where he died from the shot later that day.