The two Oakland, Calif., transit cops who were on the platform when Oscar Grant was killed have been awarded jobs training their fellow officers how to handle suspects. Marysol Domenici and Jon Woffinden, both of whom have been on leave and under investigation for their roles in the shooting, are newly appointed defensive tactical instructors for the Bay Area Transit Authority. In short, they have been given responsibility to teach the very issue they are being investigated for – apprehending suspects. Their new roles will be defensive tactical instructors for the department. “Do I have a problem with it? I surely do,” BART board member Lynette Sweet, told ABC7 News. “What this does is send a message to the public that yeah you guys are coming and showing up at these meeting, but is BART taking a cavalier attitude and almost an uncaring attitude by allowing some of these officers to test up? I have a problem with it personally as a director. It may not be illegal to allow them to do it, but common sense ought to tell a good manager that it’s not the right thing to do.” John Burris, the attorney representing the family of the deceased, agreed. “Based upon what was observed by them on the video tapes and what they testified to, it’s quite surprising that BART would take this position,” he said. The two officers were chosen from 14 of their colleagues who were vying for the position, according to BART Chief Gary Gee. An attorney for Woffinden and Domenici said that despite the criticism, his clients are entitled to the presumption of innocence. After all, he noted, there have been no allegations brought against them. Although a pay hike does and title change does not accompany the new assignment, it cannot be approved until the internal affairs division of the force has completed its investigation. The officer who actually shot Grant is Johannes Mesherle, has been fired and is battling murder charges.

The attorney for the family of an unarmed Black California man shot to death by transit police now says that the ordeal never would have occurred if the officers had not been engaged in an affair. In his $50 million wrongful-death lawsuit, filed with the Alameda County Courthouse, Attorney John Burris contends that the two Bay Area Rapid Transit officers who confronted 22-year-old Oscar Grant on the train on New Year’s Day were involved in an “unprofessional relationship.” Burris’ complaint contends that a female officer “got in the face of the young men (suspected of being in the fight) and repeatedly pointed her Taser at them, threatening to tase them in the face.” Read more.

 The family of Oscar Grant, the unarmed, 22-year-old Black man who was shot to death near Oakland, Calif., on New Year’s Day, wants the Bay-Area transit authority to pay $50 million for its police officers’ actions. Attorney John Burris, says that the agency, its chief of police and three officers played a role in snuffing out an innocent, compliant young man. Burris said Monday that the way Bay Area Rapid Transit Officers Johannes Mehserle and Tony Pirone behaved was “more egregious than I initially thought.” Read the rest.

 The Oakland, Calif., transit officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed, Black man on New Year’s Day is free after posting a $3 million bond. Read more here.

 Another police officer’s brutality set the tone that led to the fatal shooting of a young Black man at an Oakland, Calif.-area metro station on New Year’s Day, a newly released video reveals. The Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department said initially that only Officer Johannes Mehserle was involved in shooting to death 22-year-old Oscar Grant as he lay on the ground with his hands behind his back. What does the new video show? Read more here.

 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.

Cop accused of shooting handcuffed man quits. Hundreds of Oakland businesses are still cleaning up damage to buildings after a violent downtown protest. In a scene resembling the Los Angeles uprisings after 1992’s Rodney King beating trial verdict, about 100 people were arrested after breaking windows and trashing stores days after a 22-year-old Black man’s death. But as others had done in L.A., some of those vandalizing in outrage over the police shooting of Oscar Grant III left Black-owned establishments damaged, knowingly or otherwise. Read the rest here.