Johannes Mehserle Arrested, Protests Continue

The BART police officer filmed shooting Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day has reportedly been arrested. Update

A rally planned for Wednesday, January 14th from 4pm to 7pm in front of Oakland City Hall (Frank Ogawa Plaza) will proceed as planned, according to rally organizers. Christina Gomez from the Coalition Against Police Execution (CAPE) stated, “Tomorrow will definitely be a day for us to share this good news with folks. The job is not done. He has been arrested but he has not yet been prosecuted. We have to put pressure on DA Orloff… The fight is definitely not over.” More Details

There have been protests and meetings nearly every day since last Wednesday, when downtown Oakland erupted with social unrest, including one Monday night in San Francisco.

On Monday January 12th, BART police handed over evidence to Alameda County District Attorney (DA) Tom Orloff on the shooting. Johannes Mehserle has refused to say anything but police say they questioned the six other BART police officers who were on the scene. BART police also say they questioned 21 people who witnessed the shooting, but police decided to make no recommendation on whether charges should be filed in their hand-off to the DA.

Alameda DA Orloff had said he didn’t plan to charge Mehserle until the end of next week but it is now thought that he could respond sooner.

– Indybay