Free Talk Live

LOS ANGELES -- A white former transit officer was convicted of involuntary manslaughter Thursday in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on an Oakland train platform in a 2009 encounter that set off days of rioting in the city.

The jury deliberated more than six hours over two days to convict Johannes Mehserle in the killing of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was shot to death as he lay face-down.

Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Officer Johannes Mehserle was sentenced in July 2010 for involuntary manslaughter after fatally shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant on an Oakland train platform on New Year’s Day 2009. At 12:01 Monday morning, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said he was freed.

A former transit police officer convicted last year in the shooting death of an unarmed man on an Oakland, California, train platform will be freed from prison early Monday morning, according to a court order.

"An Oakland police officer who was fired after fatally shooting an unarmed drunken-driving suspect in the back has won his job back through arbitration, his attorney said Friday."

A former Ottawa Hills police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for the shooting of a motorcyclist during a May, 2009, traffic stop.

Thomas White, 27, was convicted May 14 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court of felonious assault with a gun specification for the shooting of Michael McCloskey, Jr. A jury deliberated for about six hours after a week-long trial before reaching a verdict.

"An arbitrator today overturned BART's firing of Marysol Domenici, a police officer who had been accused of lying to investigators and an Alameda County judge about another officer's killing of unarmed train rider Oscar Grant."

Calling the crimes inexcusable and barbaric, a judge sentenced two former New Orleans police officers to prison Thursday for their roles in the shooting death of an unarmed man whose body was later set on fire in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina....

A Los Angeles police officer today fatally shot a man allegedly armed with a knife in downtown Los Angeles.

The shooting occurred about 12:20 p.m. at Fifth and Spring streets, said Los Angeles police Officer Lyle Knight of the Media Relations office. The man, who was not immediately identified, died at a hospital, according to
police.

The shooting occurred just a few months after Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts called for a review of police procedures after the controversial videotaped police shooting of a young deer that was cornered in an East Oakland backyard. Officers in that case fired six rounds.