Slain man’s family files $25-million suit in BART shooting

Graphic video of Oscar J. Grant III’s death at an Oakland train station has roiled emotions in the Bay Area, leading to a demonstration at Bay Area Rapid Transit district headquarters and calls for more oversight of the agency’s police force.

The family of the 22-year-old father, who was shot to death by a BART police officer early on New Year’s Day, filed a $25-million wrongful death claim against the agency Tuesday.

John L. Burris, the long-time civil rights attorney representing Grant’s family, called the death “the worst I’ve ever seen in a shooting case” and said that it “cries out for criminal prosecution.”

In amateur videos, the BART officer can be seen shooting the unarmed man in the back as he lay face down while other officers restrained him.

BART spokesman Linton Johnson said in an e-mail that “we have received the claim, and we are carefully reviewing it but cannot comment on it.”

In an earlier written statement, BART Police Chief Gary Gee said his agency was “committed to complete an unbiased and thorough investigation” and asked the public to “refrain from jumping to conclusions” about the circumstances surrounding Grant’s death.

“We want to express our condolences to the family of Oscar Grant,” Gee said. “I want to assure Mr. Grant’s family and the public that we are taking this investigation very seriously.”

The Alameda County district attorney’s office is also investigating, Gee said.

BART officials have not publicly identified the officer involved in the shooting but described him as a two-year veteran of the agency’s police force. He underwent drug and alcohol testing after the incident and is on paid administrative leave, Gee said, “which is standard procedure.”

But the claim filed Tuesday by Grant’s mother and 4-year-old daughter identifies Johannes Mehserle as the BART officer who “stood over Mr. Grant and mercilessly fired his weapon, mortally wounding Mr. Grant with a single gunshot wound to the back.”

Mehserle could not be reached for comment.

BART spokesman Johnson said late Tuesday that the officer has not given a statement to BART officials or to the district attorney’s office because his lawyers have not made him available. “We’re hoping soon to get an interview,” Johnson said, adding that the officer has “received death threats and has moved twice.”

There has been speculation that Mehserle may have believed he was reaching for his Taser to stun Grant rather than reaching for his gun to shoot him. To Burris such a distinction is not that important.

“If the officer had a Taser and he thought he was pulling it, to me that’s still a criminal act,” Burris said. “It means you’re negligent, as opposed to knowing you pulled your gun.” That, he said, would be “murder.”

“I don’t want to believe that an officer would just kill someone this way,” said Burris, who called on BART officials to say whether Mehserle carried a Taser. “On the other hand, I’m not going to disbelieve my eyes either.”

Grant had been celebrating New Year’s Eve in San Francisco and was heading back to his East Bay home on a BART train when a fight broke out between two groups of riders about 2 a.m.

BART police met the train at Oakland’s Fruitvale station and ordered passengers -- including Grant -- onto the platform.

Video taken by spectators with cellphones shows a chaotic scene, with uniformed officers pulling riders out of a train and then shoving one man onto the ground. With the man face down, an officer stands over him, draws his gun and shoots.

The videos have been posted on YouTube, leading to a welter of angry comments, like one Tuesday afternoon declaring, “This is an outrage! That murderer should be captured and prosecuted.”

The videos have also been broadcast on local television stations.

According to the claim filed Tuesday, Grant was unarmed “and offered no physical resistance” to BART officers.

“Mr. Grant, fearing for his life, made a valiant effort to de-escalate the situation by appealing to the officer’s sense of humanity, telling the officer that he had a four-year-old daughter and asking the officer not to taze him,” the claim said. “Witnesses recount that Mr. Grant continuously repeated this prayer for relief to no avail.”

Grant’s funeral, scheduled for this morning in Hayward, is expected to be heavily attended. A protest at the site of his death has been planned for this afternoon.

And a large turnout is expected Thursday at the regular meeting of the BART board of directors. The shooting is not on the agenda, but board member Tom Radulovich said he planned to introduce a measure to ensure greater oversight of the agency’s police force, which has approximately 200 sworn officers.

“The San Francisco Police Department has a police commission. Most other large cities have the same thing,” he said. “I actually want to see the BART board step up and give BART police the degree of civilian oversight and review that is the norm in the Bay Area.”

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maria.laganga@latimes.com