CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / OAKLAND
A woman who was videotaping when a San Francisco Bay Area transit officer killed an unarmed man testified Monday that the officer had not been acting overly aggressive toward the victim leading up to the shooting and that he appeared “dumbfounded†afterward.
Karina Vargas, who was one of several people at the scene who digitally recorded the New Year’s Day incident, told the judge at the preliminary hearing for Johannes Mehserle that she believed other officers were behaving more aggressively at the time. And, she said, Oscar Grant didn’t appear to be resisting arrest.
Videos taken of the incident show Mehserle firing a shot into Grant’s back as the man lay face-down on a train platform. The officers had detained Grant and four others at Oakland’s Fruitvale station for allegedly fighting on a train.
“He wasn’t that aggressive at all,†Vargas said of Meh- serle’s behavior leading up to the shooting, on cross-examination by the defense. “He was handling him a little rough . . . but he looked like he was doing what he had to do.â€
Mehserle, who has since resigned from the Bay Area Rapid Transit police department, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge.
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