Name: DA to reopen Oscar Grant case in response to family’s demands
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DA to reopen Oscar Grant case in response to family’s demands

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GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupOAKLAND — Eleven years after Oscar Grant was shot to death by a BART police officer, the Alameda County district attorney has agreed to reopen the case after demands from his family.Grant’s family and supporters held a press conference Monday at the Fruitvale BART station where he was killed, calling on District Attorney Nancy O’Malley to reopen the case, pointing out the similarities to George Floyd’s death.“We’re not holding our breath,” said Grant’s uncle, Cephus X Johnson, known as Uncle Bobby, of O’Malley’s announcement to reopen the case. “But we definitely will be praying that she sees the truth in this issue.”On New Years Day 2009, Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward man, was fatally shot in the back by then-BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, as Grant lay belly-down on the Fruitvale Station platform. Mehserle was charged with murder, but found guilty by a Los Angeles County jury of a lesser crime, involuntary manslaughter, and served 11 months before being released in June 2011.Mehserle and other officers were called after a fight on a train was reported, and Mehserle claimed he had mistakenly grabbed his gun instead of his Taser when he shot Grant.Grant’s family is demanding felony murder charges be filed against another officer, Anthony Pirone. Pirone was the first officer to arrive on the platform that night, followed by&nbsp;his partner Officer Marysol Domenici. Grant’s family claims it was Pirone who created “the climate of violence,” pinning Grant down with a knee to his neck — similar to Floyd’s death while in Minneapolis police custody earlier this year.Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, said she is hopeful for justice.“Absolutely we are hopeful that Nancy O’Malley and her team will do the right thing, and the right thing is to convict Pirone for his actions in causing my son to lose his life and be killed,” Johnson said.Uncle Bobby said that the family was told by the DA’s office at the time that they would first charge Mehserle, then go after Pirone. But Uncle Bobby said he was told the district attorney’s office “ran out of money” to prosecute Pirone.&nbsp;He also said the district attorney’s office took Pirone as a hostile witness, hoping he would testify against Mehserle. It was now-retired District Attorney Tom Orloff who was in charge at the time when Mehserle was first charged. DA spokesperson Teresa Drenick said she could not comment as to why Pirone was not charged, since the case has now been reopened.Pirone told civil rights attorney John Burris, who represented Grant’s family in a civil case, in a deposition that he had used force because Grant took a swing at him, refusing orders allegedly to stay seated and was swearing at him. But according to videos at the time, it was Pirone’s use of force — pushing and striking Grant — that contributed to the chaos at the station that night.O’Malley sent the statement announcing the reopening of the case, as Grant’s family and supporters were holding their press conference Monday afternoon.“We have listened closely to the requests of the family of Oscar Grant,” O’Malley said in the statement.&nbsp;“The murder of Oscar Grant greatly impacted the county and the state.”Both Grant’s and Floyd’s deaths sparked a nationwide movement and outcry for police accountability for the deaths of Black people at the hands of white officers, police reform and defunding of law enforcement.“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Wanda Johnson said on Monday.“We should not have to wait another 11 years. … We were told then that it should happen, and it should happen now,” she said.According to a 2009 BART police internal investigation report, Pirone contributed significantly to Grant’s shooting. Although he never faced criminal charges at the time, he was fired for his role in the shooting and statements he made, which contradicted video surveillance and other officers’ and witnesses’ accounts of that night. Although Pirone never got his job back, .When Pirone and Domenici first responded to the Fruitvale station, Pirone entered the train car without his partner, disregarded his training, and rushed through the initial investigation, the report found. Witnesses described Pirone as a “drill sergeant” and “crazy,” “agitated” and “harsh.”“The actions of Officer Pirone started a cascade of events that ultimately led to the shooting of Grant,” the report said.The report said Pirone used profanity when speaking to Grant and his friends, at one point calling Grant a racial expletive, which the report found was inexcusable. Pirone is said to have punched Grant in the face, then kneed him in the head, applying pressure to Grant’s back to prevent his hands from becoming free. When Pirone released his weight off of Grant’s back, Grant put his hands behind his back as instructed so he could be handcuffed.Then,&nbsp;Mehserle shot him.“Pirone is the reason why you have that agitation,” said Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who present at Monday’s press conference.She is asking for felony murder charges against Pirone. Murder charges do not have a statute of limitations, meaning they can be filed no matter how long it is after the alleged crime.O’Malley said she has assigned a team of lawyers “to look back into the circumstances that caused the death of Oscar Grant. We will evaluate the evidence and the law, including the applicable law at the time and make a determination.”Represented by civil rights attorney John Burris, Grant’s family sued BART, who&nbsp;agreed to pay Grant’s daughter a total of $5.1 million.Until this year, Mehserle had been the only officer to face charges in over a decade in Alameda County for the death of a civilian. San Leandro Officer Jason Fletcher for voluntary manslaughter for the death of Steven Taylor, who was fatally shot at Walmart store in April.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersClose

GET BREAKING NEWS IN YOUR BROWSER. CLICK HERE TO TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS.XBy | | Bay Area News GroupOAKLAND — Eleven years after Oscar Grant was shot to death by a BART police officer, the Alameda County district attorney has agreed to reopen the case after demands from his family.Grant’s family and supporters held a press conference Monday at the Fruitvale BART station where he was killed, calling on District Attorney Nancy O’Malley to reopen the case, pointing out the similarities to George Floyd’s death.“We’re not holding our breath,” said Grant’s uncle, Cephus X Johnson, known as Uncle...

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Angela Ruggiero

Latest Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area news from reporters & columnists at The Mercury News.

DA to reopen Oscar Grant case in response to family’s demands

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