BART Police Shooting

Again from Boing Boing is a story about a shooting involving a BART police office and an unarmed man. Boing Boing writes that:

In the early hours of New Year’s Day, 27-year-old BART police officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed 22-year old Oscar Grant. A number of people who were riding the BART train that night witnessed the shooting, and shot video or photos on handheld cameras or phones. The victim’s family today filed a lawsuit for $25 million. Five days after the shooting, the accused officer still has not given a statement. He is said to be have received death threats and authorities are apparently moving him from place to place to protect him from harm. Some people are speculating the shooting may have been an accident — the officer may have grabbed his gun by mistake because he thought he was instead grabbing a Taser device.

Regardless of whether this was an accident or whether it was intentional on the officer’s part the fact of the matter is that it is a horrendous tragedy. I just wonder why a BART officer even needs to be armed with a firearm? Granted, I have only rode the BART a handful of times, but I just can’t imagine a situation there that would necessitate the use of deadly force. To me a Taser device would be more than enough.

Link via “Citizen videos” spread online showing BART police officer shooting unarmed man to death – Boing Boing .