Johannes Mehserle unintentionally shot and killed Oscar Grant. He was on duty as a train officer for BART transportation and was on alert for those who had celebrated New Year’s Eve. The shooting occurred at the Fruitvale train station on January 1st, 2009. At the station, a fight broke out in one of the trains and when the train stopped the fight started again outside of the train at one of the stops. While they were fighting on the train the BART officers were called. The officers came and arrested everyone that was in the fight. A guy named Oscar Grant was in the fight and was also arrested (Meyer). While Grant was being arrested by Officer Mehserle, he resisted the officer’s attempts. Since Grant was resisting he was pushed onto the ground on his stomach to be handcuffed. Johannes Mehserle was having trouble handcuffing Grant so the other BART officers helped him. When Grant was on the ground Mehserle was going to tase him since he would not stop resisting. When Mehserle thought he pulled out his TASER, he instead pulled out his gun. Mehserle accidentally shot Grant with his gun since he thought he pulled out his TASER (Bulwa). Mehserle used his gun instead of his TASER on accident. There could be many reasons as to why he thought he pulled out his TASER instead of his gun. One reason is because there are days when officers change their holsters and the items that are in their holsters. One day the TASER could be on one side and the next day it could be on the other
In this case, we start of with the story of Amadou Diallo, a 22 year old immigrant from West Africa, living in a neighborhood in the Bronx New York, who was shot and killed by the four members of the local police. The police at the time was merely patrolling the area, when they came across Amadou Diallo, unfortunately Diallo resembled a suspect that the police was tracking at the time. The police ordered Diallo to remain still, but he instead reached his hand into it pant pockets, the police instinctive reacted to that movement, possibly being highly aware that Diallo could be armed and is ready to open fire. The police responded and fire in total 44 rounds, 19 of this shots hit Diallo causing him to die at the scene. It was after they found out that he was not armed, any charges to the four offices were dismissed and they were free from any wrongdoing in this case.
On the night of February 4th 1999, Amadou Diallo, an unarmed and innocent African immigrant, was gunned down in a hail of 41 bullets while standing in the vestibule of his own apartment building in the Bronx. The officers responsible for Diallo's death were part of New York Police Department's "elite" Street Crime Unit. The plain-clothes officers approached Diallo and pulled their weapons. When Diallo, probably believing they were thieves, pulled out his wallet, the "elite" officers opened a barrage of 41 bullets on the unarmed black man.
According to news outlets, the murder of nine African Americans at the Emanuel A.M.E. church in Charleston, South Carolina was intended to start a race war. This attack was orchestrated by a twenty-one year old named Dylann Storm Roof. It is known that he had strong white supremacy ideals. A victim of the church shooting stated that the attacker let her live because his story needed to be spread throughout the country. Furthermore, Dylann had left a manifesto with his white supremacist motivations to give more clarity to justify his brazen attack.
This horrid event resulted in years of investigation to figure out what could have possibly caused a person to commit such a terrible murder. Our country dissected this event and found a lot of disturbing information. For instance, the two shooters had been plotting their attack strictly towards their classmates and teachers for about a year before everything went down. More investigation showed that the intended date for the massacre was April 19th, the fourth anniversary of the Oklahoma bombings. They were intrigued with this terroristic act and that's why their massacre was supposed to be a bombing instead of a shooting. However, their plans to gather ammunition fell through resulting in the massacre to happen a day later. Also, they found
An Active Shooter situation is not the same as mass killings, mass fatalities, or even serial murder. Nor is it the same as gang killings or a disgruntled family member killing other family members. It is defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as:
A Man in his mid-30s was found dead at the bottom of a mineshaft with a gunshot wound. The man was found at 2:45 pm on October 20th 1990 after a women reported about witnessing the murder. The mine shack was located near Parry Sound Street. The man was depicted as blue eyes, blonde hair and a birth mark near his right ear. He wore a white t-shirt and black jeans with branded running shoes. He was found dead on his stomach with a small gun wound on his back chest.
Three teenagers arrested in Arizona for using a slingshot and rocks to attack civilians and cars. Officials described as copycat to shooting along a nearby freeway. The teenagers shot several cars and people on Arizona route 24 Saturday afternoon and evening .the victims were a couple whose car window shattered by the rock. Couple noticed license plate of suspects’ car leading to arrest. The couple did not identify the teens only saying there were 18.
the last few weeks, there have been some terrible shootings. It seems like lately, there is another violent occurrence that takes place almost weekly. The most recent shootings have created a lot of commotion between African Americans and law enforcement. It had created quite an uproar in some of the public. A 32-year-old man in Minnesota named Philando Castile had been pulled over in a suburb and was shot by an officer while reaching for his wallet to show his license. His girlfriend and her young daughter were in the vehicle with him when it happened. Many individuals formed groups and began protesting within days over the matter because they believed that it had a lot to do with racism and law enforcement treats some individuals different
In the early hours of the morning on New Year’s Day, the BART officers were responding to a call about a fight on the Bay Area Rapid Transit train coming from San Francisco. BART officers detained Oscar Grant and a few other passengers at the Fruitvale BART Station. Officer Johannes Mehserle and a fellow officer were restraining Oscar Grant who was lying on the ground with handcuffs on. Mehserle drew his pistol and shot Grant one time in the back. Grant was unarmed, he was pronounced dead the next day a Highland Hospital in Oakland.
Last month, a man named Alton Sterling was gunned down by police in front of a convenience store. The police were originally called to the scene because they were told Alton had a gun and was threatening someone. When the police arrive, a struggle ensues with Alton. They approach Alton and they wrestle him to the ground. One officer yells, “Gun!” and then you hear the gunshots rang out. Alton laid on the ground, lifeless. A gun was found on Alton, but Alton never pulled the gun on the officer.
The article summarizes the questionable police department training by teaching the police officers to shoot first before ask questions under questionable circumstances. This article also raises the issue of the validity of the research done by Dr. Lewinski supporting police shooting. Dr. Lewinski is a psychologist and an expert in police shooting research and has testified in numerous police shooting cases. For Dr. Lewinski, the officer’s motive for shooting an unarmed person was to self-defense and the act was very appropriate and reasonable. However, the question raises is whether the act was necessary for the police officers to shoot the individual in the back, and the video footage, witness testimony and forensic evidence challenges the police officer’s testimony. Yet, Dr. Lewinski was able to apply his theory and help to acquit the officers in all the cases.
A black police officer has been accidentally shot by a white co-worker who “feared for his safety” in the while chasing a car.
Police officers are constantly being faced with the unknown dangers all around them. Police face the danger of getting shot in almost any situation. Policemen could get shot during a building search, or even at a simple traffic stop. For example in San Antonio, Texas, a dash cam video was released showing that an officer was making a routine traffic stop because a man in a truck ran a stop sign. When the truck pulled over, the driver hopped out of his truck and began shooting at the officer. The officer began to return fire and in doing so he shot and killed the driver. Reports state that the Officer stopped Michael Bradley because he didn 't come to a complete stop at a stop sign. As the Officer conducted the stop, Michael Bradley fired four shots from his vehicle. The President of the San Antonio Municipal Officers
The main issue this episode addresses is the truth behind police officers. It could also be based on a white police officer shooting a black young man but it’s mainly about the job the police officer has. Most citizens believe that police officers often use their gun for force or to get the job done. In class we’ve talked about some police officers not even using their gun throughout their career. This episode is based on that. However, the truth doesn’t come out until the end. The young man’s family is quite upset because the charges against the officer were dropped. They want the officer to pay for what they did to their young son. In trying to show the police officer what he had done and what should be done to him created chaos. A bunch of
Police officers have been involved in numerous cases involving force being handled lawfully. There are elements of force such as does an individual have the ability to carry out an action, was there opportunity, and is the officer’s life in peril? Each law enforcement officer is different and so are their decisions about handling various situations. Back in March of 2015 a young woman reported her husband was threatening to kill her and her landlady. Later that evening four patrolmen went to the residence of the suspect Theodore Johnson’s to investigate the claim. Upon arrival while climbing the stairs Officer David Muniz walked around the corner and was hit by a bullet from Mr. Johnson’s weapon. The officer exclaimed that he had been hit and the others now preceded with caution. At this point