Protesters threaten disruption of service at BART Fruitvale Station

Oakland Tribune ^ | 2/27/9 | Angela Woodall

[SmithL]

Nearly two months after Oscar Grant III was shot to death by a BART officer, protesters threatened to disrupt service at the Fruitvale Station where Grant died the morning of Jan. 1.

The small group gathered at the station Thursday to announce that they would shut it down March 5 during rush hour unless officials met their ultimatum for increased accountability and other demands organizers have made since early January.

About 15 people walked from the station's plaza upstairs to the platform where Grant was shot.

They placed flowers inside a chalk outline meant to represent where Grant's body lay after BART Officer Johannes Mehserle shot the unarmed man. Mehserle, who was arrested and charged with murder in January, is out on $3 million bail.

He is required to appear in court on March 23.

Grant supporters are expected to march about 4 p.m. today — on what would have been his 23rd birthday — from the Hayward downtown BART to City Hall.

Also Thursday, attorneys gave members of the BART Board of Directors an overview of the status of an independent investigation being conducted by their law firm Meyers Nave.

"We will "... be providing regular updates and periodic updates as to our status so everyone will be informed as to where we are at any point in time," said attorney Jayne Williams.

A broadcast of the entire update is available at www.bart.gov/news. BARTtv News will also post video of an update from members of the BART Board Police Review Committee.

[SmithL]

[Retired Greyhound]

I am all for protests. Have fun. But don’t come crying if you get your ass kicked by the guys with batons.

Rebellion is only successful if you have sufficient numbers.

[WayneS]

“Fruitvale” sounds to me more like a station you would expect to find on the SanFran side rather than in Oakland.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Community organizers doin’ their thang...

[leonid]

Almost beautiful, ain’t it?

I bet most of them are hippies, though.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> “Fruitvale” sounds to me more like a station you would expect to find on the SanFran side rather than in Oakland.

There is a “Fruitvale” station one stop up the line from Henderson station, where I catch the train into town (Auckland).

Fruitvale is a lonely station bathed in arc lites during the nite: a long way from anywhere. Covered in grafitti. I’m a big ugly lad, but it gives me the creeps on the odd occasion when I have to use that station at nite: I always keep my back to the wall and try to time my arrival to be close as possible to when the train comes in.

[rogue yam]

...met their ultimatum for increased accountability...

So what is the metric by which we the public can objectively determine whether this "ultimatum for increased accountability" has been met?

[az.b1bbomberfxr]

IMHO, this guy looks like he would have been a future resident of the CA Dept of Corrections, so the BART officer did the CA taxpayer a great service by saving them countless thousands of $ to HOUSE, FEED AND MEDICALLY CARE FOR THIS BASTARD FOR YEARS TO COME...BYE.