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50,000 volts a zap
April 3, 2011
“If, at 50,000 volts a zap, five officers shoot their tasers at the same time, the subject gets a 250,000-volt output – equal to the electrical charge inside the death penalty chamber,” Mesha Monge-Irizarry, a leading advocate for police accountability, explained.
Tell SF Police Commission Wednesday: NO Tasers!
February 21, 2011
Your community needs you at the Police Commission hearing on Tasers: this Wednesday, Feb. 23, 5:30 p.m., in Room 400, City Hall. A study found that in the first year of Taser usage, sudden deaths in custody go up 550 percent and officer shootings more than double. The United Nations and Amnesty International consider Tasers to be torture devices, and the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild, and the NAACP oppose their use. It is certain that Taser usage does not lead to fewer shootings.
Oscar Grant update: Bay Area stunned as a lying BART cop is reinstated
December 27, 2010
Last week an officer who blatantly lied under oath was given her job back. Marysol Domenici was one of the first officers on the scene when Oscar Grant was shot by convicted former BART cop Johannes Mehserle. The Bay Area is asking 1) How could Domenici be reinstated in the face of all her wrongdoings? 2) Why has she not been charged with perjury?
When sentencing Mehserle, judge said race is irrelevant to Oscar Grant case
December 6, 2010
Minister of Information JR talks with Jack Bryson, the father of two sons who were with Oscar Grant the night he was murdered on the Fruitvale BART platform on New Year’s 2009. They discuss Jack’s fight for justice for Oscar, Johannes Mehserle’s sentencing and how Oscar’s murder has affected his family and close friends.
Community responds to Mehserle request for retrial in the shooting of Oscar Grant
October 4, 2010
Community groups are denouncing an announcement today by the defense team for former BART officer Johannes Mehserle that they are seeking a retrial in the shooting death of unarmed Oscar Grant III.
Oakland criminalized by its own mayor, after slap-on-the-wrist verdict for a killer cop
July 15, 2010
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums had a chance to shine last Thursday, after the verdict was announced in the murder trial of transit cop Johannes Mehserle for the Jan. 1, 2009, killing of 22-year-old unarmed Black man Oscar Grant. But instead of standing with the people, Dellums stood with his police chief, and together they proceeded to criminalize the entire community.
Tears flow as the defense rests
June 30, 2010
After 13 days of testimony, the defense rested Tuesday in People v. Johannes Mehserle with the calling of Dr. Thomas Rogers to the stand. Dr. Rogers authored the autopsy protocol which stated Grant’s cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso. Rogers stated there was evidence of blunt force trauma to the left side of Grant’s head. At this point Oscar Grant’s mother began to weep uncontrollably.
Pirone expected to take stand after delay in trial
June 17, 2010
Mehserle is not the only former officer whose actions that morning have been described as being out of line. All five of the previous week’s witnesses who video-recorded the events of Jan. 1, 2009, say they did so because of Pirone’s actions, which included cursing and an excessive use of force.
Oscar Grant took photo of Mehserle pointing taser at him before Mehserle drew gun and shot him in the back
June 9, 2010
“Who would have thought that Oscar himself may help convict his very own killer,” wrote a commenter. In the court hearing today regarding a motion to exclude Oscar Grant’s fiancé Sophina Mesa from testifying about Grant’s fear of tasers, it was discussed that Oscar Grant took a photo with his sister’s mobile phone of Johannes Mehserle pointing a taser at him.
Police don’t want to be tried in Oakland for murder of Oscar Grant
October 5, 2009
The videotaped police murder of Oscar Grant is still on the minds of many in the Bay Area who watched it on television New Year’s night. Nine months later, a date of Oct. 6 has been set for Johannes Mehserle, the police trigger-man, to plead his case on why his defense team thinks that they need a change of venue for his murder trial. The hearing is at the Alameda County Courthouse, 1225 Fallon St., in Oakland. The press conference starts at 11:30 a.m. and the hearing begins at 1 p.m. We hope to see as many people as possible there.
Live from the Mehserle courtroom: an interview with Uncle Bobby, Oscar Grant’s uncle
June 2, 2009
The female BART officer that was on that platform even stated in her testimony that she supposedly feared for her life, and she just knew that she was going to have to shoot somebody or kill somebody that night. Those were her words in court. The judge said: “Hold up. Wait a minute, who were you going to shoot first?”
Aftermath of the execution of Oscar Grant: Everything’s under control
March 17, 2009
In October 2007, the Justice Department reported that during the three years from 2003 through 2005 police in the U.S. killed, on average, a person every day.
‘Fired up, can’t take it no more’
February 6, 2009
The place was the historic Black Dot Café in West Oakland; the event, a “Town Bizness” town hall meeting hosted by the Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC) with the presence of Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.
Oscar Grant, young father and peacemaker, executed by BART police
January 6, 2009
An Oakland BART police officer shot an unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant, while he lay face down on the ground and was fully cooperating. Protest Wednesday, Jan. 7, 3-7pm, Fruitvale BART, Oakland.
