Police Murder in Oakland...This one TRULY is inexcusable!

The murder of Oscar Grant in Oakland this past New Year's Day has struck a cord unlike any case of police misconduct that I have seen in quite some time. Essentially Mr. Grant and a group of people were stopped and removed from a train based on the belief that they were involved in a fight. This on the surface seems fine and in compliance with departmental guidelines. What occurred next is the inexcusable part. Mr. Grant sat along a wall and as the police attempted to handcuff the young man, he appears to put up somewhat of a struggle. As one cop is trying to hold him down, the other cop tried to handcuff him. What shocked me next was what that officer did. As he is trying to subdue Mr. Grant, he reaches into his right side and pulls out his service revolver and fires his gun into the back of Mr. Grant. Ultimately that was the shot that killed him. What separated this case from many recent police misconduct cases was the fact that everything was caught on tape.

The aftermath of the shooting is that the officer who shot Mr. Grant resigned effective immediately and there is a criminal investigation into the matter. The Grant family has also filed a $25m lawsuit against the city of Oakland.

I have been wondering a few things since this shooting. If the shooting wasn't recorded what the outcome be? I believe that police officers have for years been able to put their version of events out there without any real video evidence to back up their claims. I don't doubt for a second that the story of this murder would have been described very differently had it not been on tape. I also am wondering if the police officer who many have said may have been reaching for his Taser (which is a fair belief in my opinion) could be so reckless as to have his Taser and his gun on the same side, then what does that say for all of the other police departments that use Tasers to subdue people. Is there a protocol that needs to be addressed? Where do we go from here?

I wish the Grant family all the best. I sincerely hope that all the criminal charges that need to be filed in this case are filed. I for one am not always quick to blame cops in situations where they have to use deadly force. Often times there are some very strong mitigating circumstances that warrants such force. This simply isn't one of those cases. Mr. Grant, a man younger than myself, was not a deadly threat to this officer. I don't even believe he was a threat to use a Taser either. This case clearly can not be called anything else but a homicide. And here is hoping that the officer who did it ends up in jail.

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