Oscar Grant: murdered in cold blood or just as a mistake?

Chief Gary Gee said he, too, had seen video images of the shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old supermarket worker from Hayward. But Gee said he found the footage to be inconclusive, and he said his investigators still needed to interview a key witness – the officer himself.

That officer, a two-year veteran, has not been publicly identified and has been placed on routine administrative leave. BART officials have said only that his handgun discharged at about 2:15 a.m. Thursday at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland and that the bullet struck the unarmed Grant, who had been detained with several others.

Officials have not said whether the officer intended to shoot Grant. One source familiar with the investigation said BART is looking into a number of issues, including whether the officer had meant to fire his Taser stun gun rather than his gun. Alameda County prosecutors are conducting their own investigation, as is standard in officer-involved shootings.

Does it matter whether this was a mistake, that the officer “only” meant to tase him? Oscar Grant was unarmed, lying face down on the floor with two or even three officers on top of him: there was no need to do anything to him. Tasers have not only killed more people than you’d expect from a “non-lethal” weapon, but they also make it so much more easier for police officers to release their inner sadists. Sending 20,000 volt through a uncooperative arrestee is so much easier than beating him with your baton and since it’s supposed to be debilitating but harmless, what does it matter if you indulge a bit too much in it?

What worries me is that Dutch police want to use tasers as well. At the moment it’s only the arrest teams that get to use it, as part of a trial, but with the current lawnorder climate in the country, how long will it be before every copper on the street will have one?