A 22 year old father did not live to experience 2009. On new year's day, an unarmed Oscar Grant was killed by a BART police officer.The young man from the Bay Area was murdered by a transit cop with a shot to his back while he was lying prostrate face down on the ground. Witnesses allege that before Mr. Grant was murdered in cold blood, he held up his hands and pleaded with police not to taser him; protesting that he had a 4 year old daughter. Instead of an unjustified tasering, Oscar Grant received an unjustified fatal bullet. According to the Grant family's attorney, "The bullet went through Grant's back and then ricocheted off the floor and through his lungs."
While the BART police aren't publicly saying what the catalyst for the incident was, CNN has stated, "[John] Burris [attorney for the Grant family] said Tuesday that the young men [Oscar Grant and his friends] had been celebrating the new year at a popular waterfront tourist spot, The Embarcadero. They were heading home when police pulled them from the train car. Some of the young men [in the group of friends] were handcuffed, but not 22-year-old Oscar Grant." Oscar Grant allegedly atempted to de-escalate the situation, urging his friends to cooperate with the police despite the confusion of being targeted.
Video evidence of the murder has been emerging from various sources, including a train passenger's cellphone.
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