Oscar Grant

People

Oscar Grant

Outcome

unknown

In the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009, Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police Officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland, California. The killing was one of the first police shootings to be captured on cell phone video, and the footage was seen by millions, making it a pivotal moment in the history of police accountability in the United States. Around 2:00 a.m., BART police responded to reports of a fight on a crowded train returning from San Francisco. Officers detained Grant and several other passengers on the station platform. Officer Anthony Pirone kneed Grant in the head and forced him to lie face down on the platform. While Grant was lying face down and restrained, Officer Johannes Mehserle drew his pistol and shot Grant once in the back. Grant was rushed to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead later that day. Mehserle later claimed he intended to use his Taser, not his gun. A 2019 external investigation report (Meyers Nave) concluded that Officer Pirone's aggressive conduct "escalated the situation" rather than ensuring public safety, and that he "started a cascade of events that ultimately led to the shooting of Grant." The report also found that Mehserle "can be seen trying to draw [his gun] at least two times," contradicting his Taser-confusion defense, and that both Pirone and his partner Marysol Domenici "exaggerated or lied" about their fear levels. The killing sparked protests and riots in Oakland in the following days, drawing national media attention and comparisons to the 1991 beating of Rodney King. The incident is widely recognized as an important precursor to the Black Lives Matter movement, which began in 2013. As a result of reforms following Grant's death, BART police became one of the first agencies in the country to implement body-worn cameras in 2012. The biographical drama film *Fruitvale Station* (2013), written and directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan as Grant, portrays the last 24 hours of Grant's life.