Johannes Mehserle, the 27-year-old White transit cop who was charged with murder in the shooting death an unarmed young Black man, pleaded not guilty Thursday in an Oakland courtroom. The Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff charged Mehserle on Tuesday with committing an intentional, unlawful act when he shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant to death at Fruitvale Station, a stop on the Bay Area Rapid Transit route. Mehserle and other BART officers, who said they were investigating an onboard fight, had pulled Grant and several acquaintances from a train about 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day. When Mehserle shot him – the episode was captured in a cell phone camera – Grant was lying face down with his hands behind his back, according to Oakland Police investigators. Mehserle has declined to talk to detectives about the ordeal. The two-year veteran of the BART Police quit the force on Jan. 7. If the case goes to trial, the jury would have the option of acquitting Mehserle, or convicting him of first- or second-degree murder or a lesser charge of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, according to Orloff. Christopher Miller, the attorney representing Mehserle, said his client is a “fine young man” and that he’s expecting a jury to acquit. Mehserle is being held without bail.

 As prosecutors in Oakland, Calif., ponder whether to file criminal charges against the 27-year-old White transit cop who shot to death a handcuffed young Black man on New Year’s Day, officials for the agency that employed the officer say they’re perturbed by his attitude. “Nobody’s been able to talk to [Johannes Mehserle],” Linton Johnson, a spokesman for the Bay Area Rapid Transit, said of the BART officer who fired the fatal shot. “We’ve been trying aggressively to get him to come in, but he hasn’t. It’s been very frustrating.” Read more here.

An ex-Chicago cop is indicted on brutality charges

. Bail is set for an ex-Chicago police commander who was arrested on charges related to his alleged role in brutalizing Black suspects during the 1980s. The FBI arrested 60-year-old Jon Burge at his home near Tampa, Fla., on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying about the physical abuse and torture of the suspects dating back to the 1980s.  The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago said Burge was released on $25,000 bond in Tampa during a hearing at which he was also ordered to surrender his passport and gun. Burge was a supervisor in the Chicago Police Department’s Area Two and allegedly was aware of officers working over suspects, often employing beatings, electric shocks and suffocation, including one who later sued the department, authorities said in a statement. Burge, according to the feds, gave written statements in the civil case in which he said that he was unaware of any instances of physical abuse or threats in the interrogation of suspects. Prosecutors said Tuesday that Burge not only knew of the practices but had taken part in such incidents. Federal authorities say Burge could not be arrested for the actual abuse because the statute of limitation had run out.

The Maryland teen was found dead in his cell in Prince George’s County, Md.

A month and a half has passed since a 19-year-old Black suspect was found murdered in his cell at a southern Maryland jail, and NAACP officials are angry over the pace of the investigation. On June 29, Ronnie L. White, was found strangled in his cell, less than two days after he was charged with killing a veteran Prince George’s County, Md., police officer by hitting him with his car. Go to BET.com/News to find out what the NAACP says should be done in the case.

Black chief calls the incident an outrage – the police union disagrees

Police in West Palm Beach, Fla., have released a videotape of officers kicking and beating a Hispanic suspect that is so shocking that the chief of police, in a public rebuke of her officers’ actions, is at odds with the police union over the amount of force used. “To see this actually happens, obviously I’m not pleased with it at all. We are held at a much higher standard than anyone else,” said Police Chief Delsa Bush, an African American. On the video, which is only the latest in a string of police beatings caught live in recent years, Louis Schwartz and Kurt Graham can be seen kicking a handcuffed suspect on the ground outside of a drugstore. A few seconds later, the suspect, Pablo Venezuela, still cuffed but now standing, is repeatedly punched in the face by another policeman, Jason Zangara. All three officers are White. Lawrence Fagan, a police union attorney representing the three officers, says, “It is our position that the force they used was proper. They feel they used that force necessary to diffuse the situation and only the force that was legal and proper. Period.” Venezuela, who is suing the West Palm Beach Police Department, received cuts over his eye and needed several stitches, according to the arrest report. Early on in the videotape, a man who appears to be Venezuela is seen using pepper spray as a weapon to rob oxycodone Graham resigned last month, while Schwartz and Zangara are on paid administrative leave. Bush has not yet announced any discipline for the officers.

The Ohio officer was acquitted by an all-White jury on Monday.
Two days after an all-White jury in Ohio acquitted a policeman who shot and killed an unarmed Black woman and wounded her infant son in front of her five other children, U.S. Justice Department officials say they might bring civil rights charges against the officer. The shooting, which took place in early January, drew national attention, as community activists and civil rights leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, spoke out about the racial implications in the case. Lima Police Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, who fired the shot, is White; the victims, Tarika Wilson and her 13-month-old son, Sincere Wilson, are Black. Get more details at BET.com/News.

N.Y. cop caught bullying
A New York City cop had to give up his gun and his badge after getting caught on a videotape knocking a young man off his bicycle during a peaceful demonstration in Times Square. The video, which has been posted on YouTube, shows several cyclists – participating in the monthly Critical Mass ride – pedaling past police officers who stood in the street. The officer can be seen moving toward one cyclist, whom he body-checks with so much force that the man is sent crashing to the sidewalk. Perhaps the most incredible thing about the officer’s behavior is that the scores of people watching him wasn’t enough to deter his actions. The officer has been placed on desk duty until the incident has been investigated.

The Rev. C.A.W. Clark was pastor at the first Black mega-church in Dallas.
The Rev. C.A.W. Clark, a renowned Dallas minister – named by Ebony magazine as one of America’s 15 greatest African-American preachers of the 20th century, has died. He was 93. For more than a half-century, Caesar Arthur Walter Clark served as pastor of Dallas’ Good Street Baptist Church, which many consider the city’s first Black mega-church. “This is the passing of an era. We won’t see his likes again,” the Rev. Gerald Britt Jr., a vice president at Central Dallas Ministries, told The Dallas Morning News. “He was a master of the pulpit. He influenced generations of preachers.” Ordained in 1933, the Shreveport, La., native got his first assignment as pastor at Israelite Baptist Church in Longstreet, La. He was 19 at the time. He took over at Good Street in 1950. “Everybody who know anything about black Baptist life is familiar with C.A.W. Clark,” said Cleophus LaRue, author of The Heart of Black Preaching, in a 2006 interview with the Dallas newspaper. “He was regarded as one of the great black preachers in the 20th century.” He was 78 in 1993 when Ebony listed him among the 15 greatest Black preachers and “the most sought-after revival preacher there is.”

Parents of missing teen say Chicago Police don’t care
The parents of a 15-year-old Chicago girl say police are not putting energy into finding their daughter because she is Black. Yasmin Acree’s mom, Rose Starnes, dismisses the assumption by police that her daughter ran away, pointing to the locks on two gates that were cut and the door to the basement, where her room is located, that was forced open. Starnes also notes that Yasmin, who has been missing since Jan. 15, was excited about starting a new job. Starnes says she discovered Yasmin, an African-American honor student from the West Side, missing when she returned from visiting her grandchildren in Elgin. Joseph Salemme, the grand-central commander with the Chicago Police, says that the family’s charge of racism is ridiculous and insulting.

Louisiana cop arrested for robbing Hispanic motorists
A 25-year-old police officer in the small southeast Louisiana town of Slidell is being accused of stopping Hispanic drivers and stealing their money before sending them on their way, The Times Picayune reports. The officer, Jonathan M. Lutman, handed in his badge and gun Friday, after a short two-year stint, and was booked on one count of theft over $500, eight counts of theft under $300 and four counts of malfeasance in office, Slidell Police Chief Freddy Drennan told reporters. “Anytime we have to arrest one of our own, it’s a blemish on our department,” Drennan said. “It’s a blemish on everybody here. It’s a blemish on law enforcement as a whole. And it’s not something we relish at all. It’s a very sad day when I, as the chief of police, have to tell the citizens of this city and the people of this state that we arrested someone that we put our trust and faith into.” Drennan said it was difficult to know whether Lutman actually stole more than the $3,000 he’s accused of taking during at least four traffic stops between April and June, the Picayune reports. Drennan said that Lutman apparently believed that the language barrier would keep the victims – he targeted Hispanics – from speaking out about the thefts. His theory backfired when two Latinos went to police, who initiated an internal investigation, according to the Picayune. The department then combed Slidell’s Hispanic community and found more victims. “We have gone above and beyond to reach these people out there to determine if other people were victims,” Drennan said. They found four victims, who picked Lutman out of a lineup, he said.

The jazz world loses another giant
Bobby Durham, one of the jazz world’s most recognized drummers, died of lung cancer and emphysema July 7 at a hospital in Genoa, Italy. He was 71. Durham spent many years backing such notables as pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, and appeared on a number of television shows, including The Tonight Show, the Merv Griffin Show and the Mike Douglas Show. He lived in Philadelphia for many years and also resided off and on in Europe, most notably in Italy. Durham, known for virtuosity as a percussionist, was also an accomplished vocalist. His last recording, Domani’s Blues, featured his lush voice on the standard “I should Care.” Following a 1968 concert with Peterson, the late New York Times jazz critic John S. Wilson once referred to Durham’s embellishments on drums as “remarkable displays of technical virtuosity.”

Robbers are run down by super cop

Two suspected robbers from New Jersey are probably wondering how, with all the Dunkin’-Donut-eatin’, pot-belly-havin’ cops patrolling the streets of Philadelphia , they had to end up getting chased by a fitness freak with no fear of bullets. Rakin Thabit and his alleged accomplice, Jonathan Massa, were held over for trial Tuesday on charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy, in addition to a boatload of other offenses. Thabit and Massa, both 42 and from Camden, N.J., allegedly shot a Philadelphia Police officer, who interrupted them robbing a man who was coming home from a church function. Police say that Thabit fired at least six shots at Officer Mark S. Uffelman, hitting him in the elbow. Despite his injury, the officer, an accomplished long-distance runner, “caught up to and collared Thabit,” Philly.com reports. Officers arrested Massa shortly afterward. The men are being held on $2 million bail each, Assistant District Attorney Caroline Keating told the news service.

Inmate was murdered in Maryland , authorities say

A 19-year-old Maryland inmate, who was found dead in his jail cell one day after being locked up on charges he killed a police officer with his car, was murdered, coroner has ruled. Now the Maryland State Police and FBI are looking into whether Ronnie White’s civil rights were violated during his brief stay at the Prince George ’s County Correctional Center , just outside Washington , D.C. On Monday, the Maryland Medical Examiner ruled that White died asphyxiation and strangulation while in custody. The day before, White was charged murdering 39-year-old Prince George ’s County Cpl. Richard Findley during a traffic stop.