OAKLAND, Calif. -- A San Francisco Bay area transit agency Tuesday agreed to pay $1.3 million to the mother of a 22-year-old unarmed black man who was fatally shot by a white transit officer in 2009.

The settlement between Bay Area Rapid Transit and Wanda Johnson resolves a $50 million wrongful death and civil rights suit filed in federal court by Oscar Grant's family.


"No amount of money could replace Oscar. Not one dollar or $100 million," said Johnson during a news conference in Oakland. "My heart feels broken for the loss of my son...

"It didn't have to be this way."

Former BART officer Johannes Mehserle, 29, was convicted last year of involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Grant on an Oakland train station platform on New Year's Day in 2009.

Mehserle was released this month after serving one year in Los Angeles jail after his high-profile trial was moved to Southern California.

The shooting was recorded by bystanders and within hours videos of the incident were posted online showing Mehserle firing a bullet into the back of Grant as he lay face down after being pulled off a train, supposedly for fighting.

The videos were subsequently used as evidence during Mehserle's murder trial, further stoking the racial tensions brought on by the shooting. Mehserle tearfully testified that he meant to use his stun gun instead of his .40-caliber pistol.

But the shooting continued to spark debate and protests that on occasion turned violent. Last fall, more than 150 people were arrested in Oakland hours after Mehserle's sentencing. The most recent protest was a peaceful march to downtown Oakland a day ahead of Mehserle's June 13 release. Only one arrest was made at that rally.

Dale Allen, an attorney for BART, said the settlement was reached after both sides met multiple times.

"It's a stage where we start to bring closure to a tragedy -- a tragedy for everyone, the Grant family, the Mehserle family," said Allen said. "A tragedy that was an accident, a mistake based on a jury verdict. This settlement will hopefully help everyone move on."

This is the second settlement that BART has reached with the Grant family. The agency agreed to pay $1.5 million to the mother of Grant's 6-year-old daughter last year.

Last month, a federal judge dismissed charges Grant's family raised against BART.

A civil rights suit filed by Grant's friends is still in litigation, said John Burris, Grant's family lawyer.

Burris said Tuesday that while the settlements do not mean an admission of guilt, paying out $2.8 million proves "that something was wrong."

"We have said that we thought that verdict was a miscarriage of justice and the involuntary manslaughter was not a true representation of Mr. Mehserle's conduct," Burris said. "He got away with it."

Grant's uncle, Cephus "Bobby" Johnson, said Tuesday that his family, as well as a foundation in Grant's name, will continue to monitor that BART's proposed police reforms -- including increased officer and firearm training -- actually take shape.

"What's sad for us as a family is we've spoken from day one that we want accountability and an apology," Johnson said. "There's many more battles on this front and we're going to fight it."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/06/28/agency-to-pay-13m-to-transit-shooting-victims-mom/#ixzz1Qe1pr4yB

She's right, it didn't have to be this way. Her son didn't need to be a gang banger and a drug dealer who had a huge rap sheet and who just got out of prison. He didn't need to be trying to be a bada$$ and fighting people on the BART train. He didn't have to resist and try to act like a bada$$ with the cops that arrived on the scene. He could have complied and not put up a resistance.

The majority of the fault and the blame goes on him, not the law enforcement agent who was doing his job in a dangerous part of town, with dangerous people and a very dangerous situation with threatening people.

so, death for previous record is the kind of community you advocate for?


so if police detain someone they find had a history of shoplifting,, execution would be the shoplifters fault?

the cop made a FATAL mistake, it was noones fault but his own,,,he was standing ABOVE the boy, not trying to detain him

the boy was on his belly on the ground, if he felt threatened by that unarmed boy on his belly,, he might not need to be in police work

if he had shot someone that he thought was coming from the crowd, the argument may have merit,, but in this case, its just an unfounded excuse,,,

Here are three separate scenes of the same incident.

Watch All Videos In FULL!!!!

BART Shooting - #1 The first is the Actual Shooting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXWSgG-KNng


Bart Shooting - #2 - The Environment issues - sounds, crowd noise, bystanders
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFNDK8PQGNw


BART Shooting - #3 - Court Released Video - Officers Actions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2LDw5l_yMI

I feel bad for all involved. Maybe that department should find a different way to 'arrange' their 'weapons' in their uniform so this type of 'mistake' doesnt happen again....

there is too much latitude given. you have this case and the recent miami beach fiasco where they shot 4 bystanders.

I'm not a cop so I don't know what type of use of deadly force training they get, but when I was one in the Air Force they drilled into our brains on a regular basis when and how the use of deadly force could be and should be applied.

And it wasn't a very long list.

This was the guy who on the ground and cuffed I believe, yeah that cop was justified! This "cop" is just a pig and someday may become smoked pork. I have no use for rogue cops!

I put myself in both peoples shoes and just cannot find that justice has been met.

I put myself in the shoes of the officer that made that mistake, and feel terrible, but would question myself about my capabilities to faithfully trust my own actions in a stressful situation. I would forever have guilt about ending that mans life, I know from my own past that many times people have a rough time of things and they have run in with the police and many of them eventually find a way out. To think that Oscar may have found his way out of trouble with the law, and never had that chance becuase of a mistake I made would tear me up everyday.

To be a relative of Oscar, or Oscar himself, I would feel despair at a situation where a loved ones life, or my own life was ripped away for really no reason at all. Being face down on the ground with your arms out to your side, unable to defend yourself against 2 people clearly in control of the situation . . . yea not cool in anyway what so ever.

Ultimately I do not feel justice was imposed in this situation. Far too many times people in authority get a lesser sentence from other people in authority via sympathy.

The ultimate issue here is that across the nation people are arrested for non-violent victimless crimes and end up spending a lot longer in prison without any authority sympathizing with them, sometimes even evidence comes forward and it is ignored by authority.

What we need is a consistency of punishments to make the system fair, to bring transparency to justice.

No, it just makes me feel less sorry for him. I have no compassion for gang bangers and frankly it is one less person to drain the system.

The officer clearly was going for his taser and grabbed the wrong weapon because the guy was resisting and causing trouble.

I have seen them having to tase someone who is handcuffed, it's not a great experience. I caught had a guy that was so violent that he was cutting his wrists down to the bone trying to break out of the handcuffs and was still going. When the cops and the paramedic showed up minutes later they had to tase him to get him inder control.

I can definately see where this could happen, grabbing the wrong weapon.