A Killing in Plain View - BART Police Officer fatally shoots Oscar Grant in the back while the victim was laying on floor.

Oscar Grant Murdered by Oakland Police Officer
(shortened video to moment of slaying 0:20 Sec.) BART Shooting

A 22 year old life was extinguished in front of scores of people, a video camera and at least a video phone.

Watching the shortened video I can't see what prompted the officer to get up from having his knee on Oscar's back, as it appears to be the case, draw his weapon as he was getting up and fire down at the body of Oscar laying on the ground while surrounded by at least 3 other police officers, two of them kneeling down and another standing up to the left of the shooter.

The video at your right, is a cut to the moment of the slaying, I need to clarify that it was not an Oakland Police officer who shot Oscar, as the person posting the video titled it, it was a BART Police Officer

We will have to wait until there are hearings, all the evidence is entered and all the withnesses have testified as to what they saw and heard before making a final judgement - however, it is very disturbing to see in the video that there appears to not have been a case where the life of any of the officers was threatened.

KARINA VARGAS VIDEO = 10:00 min.
Police Murder Unarmed Man @ Fruitvale BART 12/31/08

19 year old Karina Vargas was returning from the New Year Celebration in San Francisco and had with her the video camera she got as a Christmas gift with her, in the video on you right you can see all the clips of the footage she caught and hear her narrative of what she experienced.

Whatever the outcome, I'm glad we were so fortunate that somebody had video equipment at such a moment, it allowed us the second best option to being there physically to witness what appears to be an unjustified use of lethal force by an officer of the law.

It can be argued, as it is being done, that the scene was caotic, noisy and the officer tried to defend his comrades, but this type of situations are precisely the ones that police officers are trained for, that is why they receive training for when they face, or under stressful situations, so they can act calmly and not react on instict.

Article on The Mercury News

New video shows BART officer shooting Hayward man in the back
By Sean Maher
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 01/04/2009 10:10:58 PM PST

The mother of Oscar Grant III, Wanda Johnson, talks with the mother of Oscar's 4-year-old daughter, Sophina Mesa, at a press conference held in Oakland, Calif. on Sunday, January 4, 2009. Oscar Grant III was shot and killed by a BART police officer on New Year's Day at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland. Attorney John Burris is filing a $25 million dollar claim against BART on behalf of the family. (Dan Honda/Staff)

Because of an apparent lack of restrain by a police officer, a young man is dead, leaving behind a grieving wife, a 4 year old daughter and another broken heart mother.
As I previously said, we will have to wait for more evidence in order to make a more valid judgment, however, I want to make a few observation and comments regarding some of the comments on the short video clip posted at YouTube.

For anyone who still doubts that there are horrible / ignorant people out there who are full of hate and are unmoved by the death of another human being, this should clear any existing doubts, furthermore, they will see how these people are uncaring to what appears to be, for now, an unjustified homicide, they do not care or are simply ignorant that it can happen to them, even so they may be white, yes, it can happen to them, but even if that were not to be a thought worth even considering, the fact is that a civilian was killed in front of many witnesses while being on the ground surrounded and apparently complying or at least already sudued by the police officers.

Getting back at the comments on the short clip video, there were two people who made the most disgusting, horrible comments that anyone can imagine, the first one's screen name is lifted98ford, this is what he had to say 15 minutes before I read it: (Comments Page)

All you NIGGERS try to do is find a way to file a lawsuit on everything so your broke NIGGERS can get off welfare because you cant buy crack with food stamps!!! All the hard working whites have to pay taxes to support you lazy broke crack addicts. And no OBAMA isnt going to make a change for all you lazy NIGGERS so you wont have to work and everything will be handed to you. All the OAKLAND cops are all ZOO keepers. KILL THOSE STUPID NIGGERS!!!!lifted98ford

And this is what he said 14 minutes before I read it:

Who cares the cops shot another ignorant NIGGER that will soon turn into a
lying, thief and rapest. 99% of crime are done by the stupid NIGGERS! How many
white people do you see committing crimes like these NIGGERS DO! and how
ignorant they all are that everytime a white officer kills or has a fight with
one of these MONKEY NIGGERS its all a hate crime now dont you stupid NIGGERS
have anything better to come up with. lifted98ford

The second person who posted a very uncaring comment was Cockroach2008

Oscar Grant was a thug!

He got what he deserved! I am delighted he died. Had I been there, I would have delivered a round to his head, right behind the ear.

The BART police handled the situation properly and appropriately.

Today I am sending food to the police, contratulating them on a job well done. Thank you for cleaning up our neighborhood and for the rest of you punks, "Watch your ass! Continue like you have, and your fate will be the same!"

Cockroach2008 (46 minutes ago) Cockroach2008

It is very hard to really convey how I feel just reading these comments, hard to imagine these people are human because they show no apparent signs of humanity.

Reading their words bring to my mind flashes of what right wing talk radio and hate tv is actually doing, dehumanizing people so they can see a tragedy and not being moved by what appears to be an unjustice.

What do you think? Are they Hate Radio listeners?

Aren't they Americans? Do they ignore that there are rights under the Constitution? I wonder and ponder that chances are they identify as christians, it is at least a 7 to 3 odds that I'm right and they call themselves christians.

Not only digusting, but a genuine threat to the Internal Security of The United States of America.

Another person, illegalusername (4 hours ago), commenting on the shooting had this to say

"The suspect was guilty of a blatant case of Walking While Black, which led the officers to administer summary execution."

I don't think there are fact on evidence to totally support this, but you have to wonder if the person had been white under the same circumstances this could have happened.

"Walking While Black" Is dangerous, as is "Walking While Brown", "Walking While Transgender", "Walking While Gay" or "Walking While Lesbian"

We have ample and frequent evidence that it is dangerous to walk while being a member of one of the above groups, while I don't blame 'right wing hate radio' for this one, they are not helping to the peace and security of targeted groups in the United States, quite the contrary, they contribute to increase the atmosphere of hate and intolerance by demonizing (sic) and dehumanizing human beings as something 'less than'

Aurora Grajeda
SFCA 010509