Posted on 06/17/2010 6:30:43 PM PDT by SmithL
The prosecutor in the murder trial of a former BART police officer who killed an unarmed man called a use-of-force expert to the stand today - a former cop who talked about how officers should stay calm and use as little force as needed when arresting suspects.
But the most memorable part of Sean McCann's testimony came during cross-examination, when - in response to a question by defense attorney Michael Rains - he said he had once drawn his gun on a suspect during a fight without realizing he had done so.
The exchange was the latest instance in which former Officer Johannes Mehserle's lawyer has sought to score points with jurors using the prosecution's witnesses, and underscored the trial's focus on how police officers' minds work during stressful situations.
Rains says Mehserle accidentally pulled his service pistol, mistaking it for his Taser, when he shot train rider Oscar Grant during an arrest Jan. 1, 2009. The chaotic scene that night on the Fruitvale Station platform in Oakland, Rains says, helped confuse Mehserle and led to a fatal error.
Prosecutor David Stein says the Taser story is a fabrication, that Mehserle allowed his emotions to cloud his judgment and intended to shoot Grant with his gun.
...McCann was a police officer in Berkeley until 2004 and taught at the Napa police academy where Mehserle trained in 2006. Late one night on patrol in Berkeley, he told Rains, he got into a struggle with an unarmed robbery suspect near University Avenue and ended up drawing his gun.
"You have any memory of drawing your gun?" Rains asked.
"No," McCann said.
"You have no idea of how that gun got in your hand, do you?" Rains asked.
"No, I don't," McCann said.
Stein wasn't prepared for McCann's personal account,
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
They work like the rest of the worlds minds do... they quickly develop tunnel vision and devolve to their lowest level of training. Which, sad to say is woefully inadequate and painfully lacking in todays police.
The only question I have is what color are the jurors? Everything else in this case does not matter.
There are no Blacks on the jury.
During live fire training with rubber bullets, I managed to shoot both the perp AND his intended victim.
These were random unscripted scenarios, presented to us.
It didn’t seem to register that one guy was backing toward me. All I saw was one definite agressor and a loud person head my way, in poor light.
Then the ex-cop will walk and Oakland will probably burn, kind of reminds me of the Rodney King trial and seems to be setting up the same kind of reaction. Should be a hot summer here in Kalifornia.
Can’t we all just get along?
and you better believe Oakland will burn. Sadly, they will do more damage to their own infrastructure and town folk, all in the name of expressing their rage.
It’ll be just like L.A. which migrated to SFO and Oakland.
This time it will reverse.
It’ll go Oakland, SFO and then Watts.
>and you better believe Oakland will burn.<
Some of those fools are already chomping at the bit to start the riots and the trial isn’t even over yet.
Chomping at the bit to get a new HDTV.
Any excuse will do for rioting and looting.
Thank fully I am in the south bay.
I missed the L.A. riots by 10 hours, I had decided to go home early.
I missed SFO my 10 minutes. I had just finished dinner at Scoma’s and the valet warned us that Union Square had just been mobbed and they were head toward the Piers.
Hightailed it out of town. Listening to KGO and was stunned.
We were going to Union Square after dinner to pick up some clothes that had come in but the area was being described as a disaster zone.
No sooner had I hit the 101, KGO described the mob descending upon Pier 39.
Whew, missed that one.
Came back two days later to pick up the clothes and couldn’t believe the damage done.
Unreal.
And knowing the types of folks they interact with, I am not surprised. A lot of scumbags around there use BART as way to get to their victims in nicer neighborhoods, or use the BART station as their campsite, or use the BART parking lots as a conveninet wealth redistribution zone (Car burglaries and carjacking).
Simply put, there's a lot of people who need killing there. I am glad I did not get hired.
I saw on KTVU-2 that the Oakland PD are already practicing riot control.
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