Cop Charged With On-Duty Murder in Transit Shooting Captured on Cell Video

A former transit police officer in Oakland, Calif., has been charged with an on-duty murder in an unusual incident that was captured on a cell phone video and has sparked public protests and death threats.

Johannes Mehserle, 27, surrendered in Nevada yesterday after his lawyer was informed by authorities that they had an arrest warrant, and his lawyer called Mehserle with the news, reports the Oakland Tribune.

As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, a criminal charge was predicted, based on witness accounts—and a cell phone video—of the shooting, but experts said they doubted it would be murder, given the difficulty of proving intent. Reportedly, the unarmed victim, supermarket worker Oscar Grant III, 22, was lying facedown on a BART transit station floor when witnesses say Mehserle shot Grant as Mehserle appeared to be about to handcuff Grant.

At a press conference today, however, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff said "From the evidence we have, there's nothing that would mitigate that, something lower than murder," reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Mehserle waived extradition at a Nevada court hearing today, and is expected to be returned to Alameda County, Calif., shortly.

His lawyer, Christopher Miller of Sacramento, apparently hasn't commented publicly on the case. However, attorney and former police officer Michael Rains, who does not represent Mehserle, said earlier that Mehserle is likely to contend that the shooting was in self-defense, as he responded to reports of brawling concerning people at the train station who had not yet been searched for weapons, according to the Associated Press.

Grant's family reportedly has filed a $25 million wrongful death action over the shooting.