![]() ![]() Yet it can be easy to forget exactly what happened on that Oakland train platform in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2009. The shooting of Grant still ricochets: It touched off a national conversation about racism and police violence and initiated a form of stark, instantaneous documentary in which witnesses capture use-of-force incidents on cell phones and post the footage to YouTube and social media. Ten years after BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle killed Oscar Grant, and six years after the shooting was depicted in the film “ Fruitvale Station,” the incident is recalled by many observers as the most seismic moment for police accountability since the 1991 beating of Rodney King, which also was caught on video. (Bottom right) Mehserle looks up moments after discharging his weapon. (Bottom left) Mehserle holds his gun after shooting Grant. (Top right) Mehserle and another officer place Grant on his stomach. (Top left) BART police officers talk to Oscar Grant as he sits against the wall at the Fruitvale station platform. Verdictįruitvale Station is a fair portrait of Oscar Grant's story, and a brilliant portrait of how lack of opportunity, routine incarceration and racism conspire to devalue the lives of young black men in America.Comments This composite image, made from a cell phone video released by attorney John Burris, shows the moments before and immediately after Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant on the Fruitvale BART station platform on Jan. Its focus is on the impact on Grant's family and friends, not on what the officers thought or did. ![]() The jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter – a lesser charge than the second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter options that the judge had also offered. Mehserle's defence argued that he mistook his gun for his taser. Grant was shot in the back by Officer Johannes Mehserle. ![]() One video has been said to show an officer striking one of the detained men, identified by some as Grant the officer's attorney disputed that analysis. Though the events on the platform were filmed by several people present, the exact details remain controversial – and the film does not use the real names of the police officers involved. There is a fight on the train, and the BART police arrive. The film builds towards its crucial final scene at Fruitvale Station. Police intervene in the drama at Fruitvale Station. Though Fruitvale Station focuses on just one story, it relates to a much wider narrative. Ezell Ford was fatally shot by police in Los Angeles he was unarmed and reportedly suffered from a mental illness. ![]() John Crawford, a father of two, was fatally shot at a supermarket in Ohio by police while holding an air rifle. Other cases have also made headlines in the last few days. Protests in Ferguson, Missouri have been met with an extraordinary police crackdown after unarmed teenager Michael Brown was fatally shot by police on Saturday. Fruitvale Station was released in July 2013 – coincidentally, just as George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin.įruitvale Station feels all too relevant again this week. It is estimated that one in three black men in the US today will be incarcerated at some point in their lifetimes a report by one activist organisation has claimed that a black man was killed by police, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes every 28 hours in 2012. In context, though, it is part of a significant historical story. Fruitvale Station is a quiet, unassuming story about the shooting of one ordinary man. Many historical films deal with grand events, like wars or revolutions. ![]()
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