[Oakland] "Residents Use BART Meeting to Voice Outrage"

re-posted from: KTVU, 01/11/09 at http://www.ktvu.com/news/18459114/detail.html

Oakland Residents Use BART Meeting to Voice Outrage

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Members of the Bay Area Rapid Transit board held another community meeting in Oakland on Sunday to help ease tensions surrounding the New Year's Day slaying of an unarmed man by a transit police officer, but few of the 100 or so people who attended seemed appeased by what they heard.

Most of the speakers criticized BART for what they described as the agency's slow response to the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant and demanded to know if Officer Johannes Mehserle would be arrested. Alameda County prosecutors, and Oakland and BART police say they still are investigating why Mehserle shot Grant, who had been detained in a station following a fight on a train.

"Why hasn't anyone with authority just arrested this guy?" asked Oakland resident Nader Bey, echoing the frustration prevalent at the more than two-hour-long meeting.

Mehserle, 27, resigned from the force before his department's internal affairs division could interview him. BART Police Chief Gary Gee pleaded for patience and said Sunday that he hoped to present the division's findings about the case to the Alameda County district attorney by week's end.

At one point during the public gathering, the second BART directors convened in three days, heated words were exchanged between Oakland City Council member Delsey Brooks and BART director Carole Ward Allen, who represents the district where Grant was shot.

Brooks said she wanted to know when the board would respond to a list of demands she and other Oakland leaders submitted on Thursday. The list includes identifying the other officers who were present during the shooting and asking the state attorney general and U.S. attorney to take over the investigation.

"When are you going to take some action, Carole, some real action? It is clear something has to be done..."

Allen, who earlier had said the board was doing its best to satisfy the public's desire for information without compromising the investigation, left the room visibly agitated.

Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff says he will decide within two weeks whether to bring criminal charges. On Saturday, Attorney General Jerry Brown said he would dispatch a state prosecutor to monitor Alameda County's investigation.

The BART Board of Directors has scheduled a special meeting for Monday afternoon to discuss creating an oversight committee that would have responsibility for monitoring police-related incidents.