Web videos of Oakland shooting fuel protests
More than 100 people were arrested in downtown Oakland on Wednesday night when a protest turned violent, fueled at least in part by videos that quickly spread online of a subway policeman fatally shooting an unarmed man while he was lying on the ground restrained by another officer.
The case--and the overall intense community response to it--highlights the impact technology can have on news events. The devices people carry in their pockets give them the ability to turn what would normally be a case played out in the courtroom into one in which anyone with an Internet connection can serve as virtual judge and jury.
BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, allegedly shot Oscar Grant, 22, early on New Year's Day after Grant was pulled off a BART train following a scuffle among riders. Outrage over the incident spread quickly after videos--taken by onlookers with their cell phone cameras--started appearing on TV and the Internet.
Links to videos of the incident quickly circulated via e-mail. One of the first videos posted on YouTube was a KTVU Channel 2 news broadcast, which includes live video clips and an interview with a woman who took some of the video. (Note: We included YouTube links because of compatibility issues.)
This video, also from a KTVU broadcast, was later posted on YouTube. It appears to show the gun. Another video shows the scene from a different angle.
Much of the video is grainy and views of the scene are sometimes obscured by people moving in front of the camera. However, there is no mistaking that the victim was on the ground, subdued by officers and not appearing threatening to anyone.
"When you watch that video your stomach just drops out from underneath you when you hear that gunshot because you know what the end result is," BART Chief Spokesman Linton Johnson told Channel 7.
What started Wednesday as a peaceful protest against the shooting and the way it was handled by authorities, turned into a near riot with protesters setting fire to trash cans and cars, including a police cruiser, and breaking store windows. There appeared to be no injuries, but about 105 people were arrested.
Exacerbating the anger among citizens was the fact that the shooting officer had resigned earlier on Wednesday, before authorities questioned him for an internal investigation. With no word from the officer explaining what happened, people have been left to speculate about the cause of the shooting (one theory is that the officer mistook his gun for a taser gun) and the mystery has undoubtedly driven even more people to view the videos.
The raw video on the Web site of KTVU Channel 2, based in Oakland, has been downloaded more than 500,000 times since it was posted on Monday, said Ed Chapuis, news director at the station.
The videos have played a critical role in the public interest in the incident, he said. "You have the incident in question actually on tape. You've got multiple views of it," he said. "That's what's different and unusual about the case."
Before broadcasting the video, KTVU officials debated whether or not it was appropriate to do so and decided that because there were so many questions raised about the sequence of events during the shooting, there was a strong journalistic reason to share the video with the public, according to Chapuis.
"This is a tragedy and there was nothing good about what happened," he said. "That is what we as journalists should be focusing on."
In the aftermath of the protest, people are again turning to technology as East Bay residents turn to microblogging site Twitter to get updated information about the investigation and subsequent protest activities.
It should also be noted that the victim's family on Wednesday publicly decried the Wednesday night violence, calling it an affront to his memory.
Twitter users were using the site to post and get information about the Oakland shooting and additional protests.
(Credit: Twitter)
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor.
And that board guy - does he only speak in cliches?.What a twit
Another question ... why don't enough blacks seek a position in law enforcement (especially in a black community)?
Color me ignorant.
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by sffog
January 10, 2009 2:26 PM PST
- How about this:
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by TotallyMadeUpName
January 10, 2009 7:36 PM PST
- Here's the part you aren't getting. Resisting arrest, if that is indeed what he did, is not a capital offense in this country. How dare you insinuate that an on-the-spot death sentence is justified. Have you even SEEN the video?
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by mnogrady
January 12, 2009 2:56 PM PST
- Watch the Video. Your statement ignores the facts!
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by Dalkorian
January 12, 2009 4:29 PM PST
- by sffog January 10, 2009 2:26 PM PST
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(8 Comments)You don't run from a cop and/or resist arrest. That's about as basic as it gets. You'll always lose if you do. If the guy wouldn't have resisted his arrest, there would have been no struggle and and he would still be alive today. What part am I not getting???
How about some taking at least some responsibility by the victim's family instead of blaming it all on the cop?
How about this:
You don't run from a cop and/or resist arrest.
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Wow, you really are an idiot aren't you. Do you realize that you just claimed that "running from a cop and/or resisting arrest" is an offense that should be punishable with an immediate death sentence and without a trial? Hitler might have agreed with that, but few others would.
"That was pretty brutal, even by my standards."
- Robot Devil, Futurama (BBB)