This is the video showing the shooting by a rookie police officer with about 24 months of experience. 5 years is considered the minimum time for officers to be fully competent in their duties. You can hear the noise of people yelling in the background, adding to tension and confusion of the moment of the shooting. Officers reacted stunned that a shot was fired because there was no reason for it. Clearly something went very wrong,
the officer that fired the fatal shot said he grabbed the wrong weapon, he meant to use his taser, not his firearm. His reaction at the time the shot went off was stunned suprise as his fellow officers looked at him in amazement, also stunned by what had happened.
Many believe he should be put to death for his mistake, others will be satisfied if he gets life for second degree murder. Nobody in the black community, nor most of the East Bay will be satisfied if he gets off.
In an emotional courtroom session marked by a spectator’s outburst, Johannes Mehserle broke down in tears as he told jurors in his murder trial that he heard a pop and thought the Taser had malfunctioned.
“I remember the pop that wasn’t very loud. It wasn’t like a gunshot. I remember wondering what went wrong with the Taser. I thought it malfunctioned,” he said.
Mehserle, who previously testified that earlier in the incident he had pulled out his Taser twice, said he only thought of using the stun weapon.
“It was the only option that crossed my mind,” he said. “Given the situation, the backdrop, the thought of using my gun never entered my head.”
Mehserle, who is white, has pleaded not guilty to murdering 22-year-old Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009. The trial was moved to Los Angeles from Alameda County because of intense media coverage and racial tensions.
Mehserle’s face grew red, his voice dropped and he tried to hold back tears as he testified. Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, left the courtroom as the defendant cried.
Moments later, a black spectator walking out of the courtroom shouted, “Maybe you should save those fu—– tears, dude!”