Huh. The title makes it sound like the shooting was about race but I didn't get that from the article. Yes the police officer should be punished for what he did but I hate to jump to conclusions about why he did it.

He was arrested on a homicide charge wasn't he? Isn't a homicide charge different from a murder charge?

"Orloff said his office decided to charge Mehserle with murder because there is evidence of an unlawful, intentional killing. However, Orloff repeated several times that the charge does not specify the degree of murder, and refused to speculate on what the final charge would be."

"homicide - The killing of one person by another, whether intended (murder) or not (manslaughter). Not all homicide is unlawful; killing in self-defense, for example, is not a crime."

One article suggests he'll be charged with 2nd degree murder - lacked premediation for 1st degree charge.

Interesting...I heard on the news this morning it was a general homicide charge. Thanks Steph!

I agree with the, don't jump to conclusion about race comment. The title sugar put up indicates race where the article does not. Will all police shootings be summed up to be race related. What about when a black officer shoots a black man. Must be race related... that's always the excuse. I cannot say what was going through that officers mind at that moment. I watched the video. I didn't see anything that would have required him to pull out his gun. And completely agree with this man being charged with something. Since I am unfamiliar with legal terms, I don't know which would imply. I don't think he meant to kill the man. The people shouting on the bus definitely did not help the situation one bit. They were saying of that's not neccesary when up until the actual shooting, I didn't see the police doing anything that was wrong. The guy was fighting them. What should the officers do? Just let him do what he wants? No he should have just sat there like the rest of them. (Please don't interpret that to mean he deserved to be shot, not what I am saying) But he did deserve to have a knee in the back if he keeps doing what the police tell him not to. I just hope that people wouldn't jump to conclusions about it being race related. Race tensions cannot possibly go away any time soon with all this race baiting.

I tend to agree with Genesis. It seems like people are quick to attack the police force, or white people in general, any time a black person is unjustly shot. They make it about widespread racism and police corruption when most of the time it's an isolated incident. All that does is create more and more tension.

End Police Brutality? How about End Murder?

If a black person is unjustly shot by a cop, who should people be upset with?

That particular cop, I'd imagine.

I find it interesting that that ANY time a white person does something to a black person, it's about race. The system isn't broke, just because one idiot makes a mistake and does something horrible. And yes, I think he should be punished for what he did.

"I find it interesting that that ANY time a white person does something to a black person, it's about race."

That's a pretty bold statement to make. Go live in a big city for the rest of your life, then we can talk about what happens ANY time a white person does "something" to a black person.

I also don't really see anything about jumping to race baiting, so I don't really see why it was brought up in the first place. But that's just me.

That particular cop represents the police force. When the shooting takes place while the officer is on duty, it does raise questions about the force. Those questions may eventually be resolved, but they have to be raised - it's a matter of 'personal' responsibility on behalf of the force.

"If a black person is unjustly shot by a cop, who should people be upset with?"
Yes I agree foxie, that particular cop.
Not the entire system and rioting like a bunch savages. Is that any better? Why can't it just be that one cop. What about the people that a trigger happy cop kills that aren't black. We had a hispanic one in our area the other day. Does that mean that they are racist towards hispanic. Why can't it just be that a man was shot? Why can't we work on figuring out why it happened before people start throwing out the race card.

If the victim made no move or did nothing to make the officer feel like he was in danger, I don't see how this could be anything but a cold blooded killing.

I agree with everything Hainan said. Police shootings in general can be very tricky to sort out, but it seems like there is usually some justification (whether it's valid or not is another issue) for why someone was shot...I haven't heard any reason for this one.

...and no, I'm not saying these types of things don't happen in smaller cities, but I'm going to venture a guess that peoples' life experiences are different based on their locations and their circumstances...

"Transit Officer Arrested For Murder After Killing Black Rider"
should be
"Transit Officer Arrested For Murder After Killing Rider"
If it were a white man would it be
"Transit Officer Arrested For Murder After Killing White Rider" ?
No I think not!

And I don't think anyone is trying to defend this cops actions. But don't blame the whole force, or deem the system broken, just because one guy did something wrong. Punish the guy and go on.

I think in some areas race will always be an issue. There is a big thing going on about police brutality in MS right now. Some people have been saying the police throughout the state are racially profiling blacks. They are testifying at the state capitol to try and get a bill passed to protect certain racial groups. Others are saying these laws would keep cops who are just trying to do their job from being able to do it to the best of their abilities. Now I don't know if it's true or not, but it is stirring old feelings. Especially since it is in MS.

I just honestly don't see race ever not being an issue in MS. Yes, it has lessened through the generations... my generation isn't as bad as my parents who had to go through segregation and so on and so forth... but I unfortunately just don't see it ever ending. At least here.

"I haven't heard any reason for this one."

No, especially if he was prone, unarmed, and shot in the back. How horrifying. I can't think of any justification for this.

"Not the entire system and rioting like a bunch savages."
Did you seriously mean to say this Hainan? You're really surprising the heck out of me today.

Wow, that video really affected me. Wow.

Is rioting not savage?

No Foxie, the two are not the same.

"Go live in a big city for the rest of your life, then we can talk about what happens ANY time a white person does "something" to a black person."

Is Indianapolis a big enough city to grow up in?

First off I personally don't think this is an issue of race it would have been WRONG regardless of who was shot. However some of the people in here don't live in Oakland, or the San Francisco Bay Area and haven't seen some of the media coverage, or response this in some ways in this particular city is a race issue and since Citizensugar is in the Bay Area like me I'm thinking the have a little different perspective.........

That being said I was almost disappointed in Citizensugar for not posting anything about this incident earlier ( especially since it's a Bay Area Business), but I'm glad something is being said. This former officer (who quit to avoid part of an investigation) has been dodging responsibility for 13 days and I'm glad the district attorney has decided to move forward with murder charges. Anyone who has seen the tape could tell that this was a clear case of excessive force. 3 or the other 4 police officers all had their tasers pulled on him at the time he was shot so it wasn't even necessary for the 4th officer to draw any type of weapon.

I don't like that people are destroying things. I'm all for protesting as long as it's peaceful.

Rioting isn't savage?!?! Setting cars on fire, breaking windows and looting businesses isn't savage? I don't think I want to knwo what you consider savage.

Care to elaborate, Steph?

Just in case you don't understand why race is being brought into this, unfortunately race and it's relationship to how you are treated by some police officers/departments is a very serious issue in the San Francisco Bay Area....

Example:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=6481906

Look them up Foxie, they do not mean the same thing and you can have one without the other. The use of that word in this thread is seriously objectionable, and telling.

Just watched the video...wow. Because of my personal connections to several police officers, including a shooting, I often think I may be biased with some of my opinions involving the proper use of force. This officer's actions make me incredibly angry because every single day good officers who truly want to do good in their communities put their lives on the line. Idiots like this put their fellow officers in danger. Some shootings are justified and some are not, but I never want one of the good guys to hesitate in using a weapon to protect their own safety or the safety of bystanders in a truly dangerous situation. Unfortunately, incidents like this can have an affect on that and it's the good guys who pay.

By the way the amount of "rioting" , "looting" etc has been minimal I mean VERY minimal, I live in Oakland, work in Emeryville, and live less than 4 blocks from a Bart Station and Bart Headquarters....and just like the " Cop kills black rider" is being blown out of proportion, so is " they are rioting in the streets". Many of the protest, sit ins have been peaceful...maybe annoying, but peaceful none the less!

I find it funny that a BART officer shot an unarmed man in the back, yet the blacks who protest the incident are the savages. Well, funny's not the word, actually...

"yet the blacks who protest the incident are the savages"
Gotta love that liberal spin! Actually, she referred to RIOTERS of unspecified race. Not "black protestors."

And steph, I imagine you're in the same spin boat as far as the use of "savage." YOU look it up. It isn't racial and it IS applicable to violent protests.

We're not not calling what the BART officer did savage, but using that as an excuse to do vandalism is savage. I'm also not saying they aren't allowed to be angry, but to hurt other innocent people or other people's property is wrong.

"yet the blacks who protest the incident are the savages"
Gotta love that liberal spin! Actually, she referred to RIOTERS of unspecified race. Not "black protestors."

You are absolutely right, but the local and national media coverage of the protest would lead you to believe at least visually that the only protesters are Black....because if I wasn't to walk outside, or participate in a protest myself I would believe that all the protesters are young, and black because that's all they show.

Could people who don't know what they are talking about stop eluding that people are rioting "Rodney king" style in the streets because that isn't the case. UGH ANNOYING! Like I said before 99% of the protest have been peaceful, it's unfortunate that only the 1% is being shown to a national audience.

I have looked it up, know what it means, and never asked anyone to elaborate on it.

"We're not not calling what the BART officer did savage" --

"but using that as an excuse to do vandalism is savage."

I am not quick to jump on the police, but that video was disturbing. It's like he shot him, just because he was annoying. If any of of you haven't clicked on the video I highly suggest that you do. It's hard to say if it was race related, since the only white people there were cops.

As out of the blue and cold blooded as that was the cop could have just been sociopathic killer. I can't tell if he was crazy and racist.

I can understand that, bastyle, but if one reads "savage rioters" and thinks "BLACK rioters" that's mostly THEIR problem, and not Hainan's.

The "people" who protested did so in the wrong place. The city of Oakland had nothing to do with the incident. They should have broken the windows at the BART headquarters. Instead, many local hard working business people (and many are minorities) had their places vandalized. Believe me, it is already hard enough to run any business in downtown Oakland. The point could have been made with a peaceful demonstration.

"The use of that word in this thread is seriously objectionable, and telling."
Oh My God, Steph. Rioting of any sort is savage. IT IS a savage reaction. Had nothing to do with race... Please seriously calm down. And BAstyle... they did riot. No one ever said it was as severe as rodney king riots. I live in CA and lived in the bay area for a few years also. I am very familiar with the climate.
littering all over the streets, lighting stuff on fire. That is not normal adult behavior.
And I never excused what the particular officer did. I said he should be prosecuted.

Should have busted in the windows at bart???? Are you really encouraging violent, destructive, savage behavior?

Oh Hain.

Things seems great and peaceful until about 3 minutes. Where people are chanting F*-- the police. Hitting things with the barricades that were meant to protect others. What did the Oakland police do? Seriously, my comment is telling. You justifying riots is what is telling!

I posted the video, hopefully it will be up soon. You can see that not only blacks were rioting...

That video is incredibly chilling.

If a white cop shoots a black person for no reason, it's silly to try to leave race out of the conversation entirely. I'm not saying the cop was racist, but to expect everyone to ignore the obvious is ridiculous.

wow thats the first time I see that video.
Im shocked..completely. speachless..I got huge chills.

I was just listening to them (sorry didn't catch the name of the program) talk about this on the radio, and a caller said that the police confiscated the cell phones of all the nearby civilians. The footage being shown on the news is from some of the phones they didn't get to. It is so disturbing to me that they would take people's cell phones. The motives behind that do not seem pure. It's all so sickening.