Police Shooting in Calif. Creates 'Potential Rodney-King Debacle' for DA
A cell phone video of the fatal shooting of apparently unresisting black man by a white transit police office in Oakland, Calif., has put the local district attorney on the hot seat.
After reviewing the video frame-by-frame along with other evidence, Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff must decide whether to charge BART officer Johannes Mehserle in the Jan. 1 shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, reports the Associated Press.
At the time he was shot, the unarmed Grant apparently was lying facedown on a train platform, according to the grainy video. His death has stoked the flames of long-standing complaints by members of the local black community who say they have been treated unfairly by police.
Former prosecutors and other legal experts say Orloff is likely to charge Mehserle criminally, but probably will not charge him with murder given the difficulty of proving intent. Mehserle resigned from the police force after the shooting and reportedly is not cooperating with the investigation.
“He has a potential Rodney King debacle developing, and that puts him in a very difficult position,” law professor Peter Keane of Golden Gate University tells the news agency, referring to Orloff. “But he can’t use this cop as a sacrificial lamb to throw to the mob to lower the political heat.”
The high-profile King case made international headlines starting in 1991 when his beating by Los Angeles police, after a traffic chase, was captured on videotape by a nearby resident. Four officers were acquitted on criminal charges, but a jury awarded King $3.8 million in damages in a 1994 civil verdict. Meanwhile, the officers’ acquittal had sparked rioting in which more than 50 people were killed.
Related coverage:
Los Angeles Times: “For Rodney King, it’s AA to VH1”
Time: “The L.A. Riots: 15 Years After Rodney King”
New York Times (1994): “Rodney King Is Awarded $3.8 Million”
