It's shocking. Who knows what prompted Mehserle to draw his weapon at all, much less fire it. The situation was clearly out of control, and these cops did not keep the peace. They shouldn't issue deadly weapons to a bunch of twitchy security guards on New Years Eve.
One of the most interesting things about this video is that it makes it even more clear to me that if the BART didn't leave when it did, there was a very good chance the cops would have been attacked by the crowd. (And rightly so, IMO.)
I know they're actual police. I agree that they were about a hair's breadth from a full-scale riot, even before the gun went off.
I know that they're actual police, I was being derisive by calling bart cops twitchy security guards. That said, I wonder: Do many transit agencies have their own police force?
Yeah, I really couldn't figure how why she thought she needed a weapon for a prone handcuffed suspect. All I can think is that she had it holstered, and was holding it, and it fired through the holster or something.
Comments
BART police are real cops, not rent-a-cop security wannabes.
I know that they're actual police, I was being derisive by calling bart cops twitchy security guards. That said, I wonder: Do many transit agencies have their own police force?
Edited at 2009-01-11 03:17 am (UTC)