There were riots in Oakland last night over the New Years Day homicide of Oscar Grant, who was shot by BART transit police at point-blank range in the back while being restrained by officers.
When an unarmed man is shot in the back after police put him face down on the ground, it is the time for authorities to demand action, not patience. Days after the incident, the officer still has not been interviewed. The delay in this critical part of the investigation hints at the callousness to the worth of human life to a public that is all too familiar with racial profiling, police brutality and cover-ups. Whatever the final investigation reveals, the bottom line is that there is never justification to shoot an unarmed person, especially one who is restrained. It is an obvious violation of the most basic human rights standards, and a clear cut abuse of power.
(Photos by Thomas Hawk and The Inadvertent Gardener.)
Riots over abuse of power by authorities make me extremely happy.
Cop is being investigated so this is not all true. Could have been an AD, think that has to be investigated more.
What part is not all true?
None of it is true. Resist arrest, suffer your fate.
i saw these same pictures with a different story about ten minutes ago.
Ray, you’re right. I had forgotten that transit police have the power to conduct summary execution.
Albert, these aren’t my photos, so it’s entirely possible they’ve been picked up elsewhere. You can click through to go to the respective photographer’s Flickr.
Man I didn’t realize all the property damage inflicted upon random cars and businesses. It originally just looked like a police-civilian confrontation. That’s terrible.
Good writeup here.
Vanessa, thank you for showing us that you have exceedingly poor reading comprehension skills.
Douglas
Sure, but when California/balkanized entities in North America/the West pull a Zimbabwe, I’m sure the cheering will end.