BART cop who shot man is released after 1 year sentence

[Caninope]

it was an accident, and the man who was shot was sprinting towards the cop, when the cop had reasons to believe he was under the influence of drugs, what would you have done?

Killing someone is killing someone.

And there are different levels of culpability under the law.

[Ifreann]

Probably not.

Definately not. especially when you resign before your trial. Johannes Mehserle resigned from BART before his trial.

Depends on the job, I guess.

[Gravlen]

What the fuck is wrong with your brain. Are you on drugs? Everyone is trying and failing to explain this simple concept to you; Oscar Grant was on the ground, handcuffed,

Wiki sez:

There is disagreement whether or not Grant was handcuffed before he was shot. The day after the shooting, BART spokesman Jim Allison said that Grant was not restrained when he was shot.[7] Court filings by the district attorney's office say that Grant's hands were behind his back and that he was "restrained and unarmed" but do not say he was handcuffed.[1][4] The attorney for Grant's family claimed that Grant's hands were restrained by Mehserle immediately prior to the shooting.[37] The family's claim against BART alleges that Grant was handcuffed only after he was shot.[25] The Los Angeles Times video of the shooting shows that Grant was not cuffed at 2:03 seconds into the video just 5 seconds after the shot was fired.[38]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BART_Police_shooting_of_Oscar_Grant

being pinned by two other officers

One.

while he was allegedly resisting arrest. He had no weapons, he was in no position to reach for a weapon,

Debatable.

Wiki:

Mehserle's motion for bail, citing the police investigation, stated:

Pirone said he told Grant "Stop resisting, you're under arrest, put your hands behind your back." At that time Pirone said he heard Mehserle say, "Put your hands behind your back, stop resisting, stop resisting, put your hands behind your back." Then Mehserle said, "I'm going to taze him, I'm going to taze him. I can't get his arms. He won't give me his arms. His hands are going for his waistband." Then Mehserle popped up and said, "Tony, Tony, get away, back up, back up." Pirone did not know if Grant was armed. Mehserle had fear in his voice. Pirone had never heard Mehserle's voice with that tone. Mehserle sounded afraid.[5]

and Mehserle had all the time in the world to make sure he was holding the right piece of equipment. He failed to do so, being the moron he is, and killed another man through his own negligence and stupidity.

He definately had more time than he used.

[Rokartian States]

Which is unrelated to "He had no reason at all to use the weapon."

Which luckily means nothing, as that is a dictionary definition rather than a legal definition, and with law all that matters is the concept of legal intent, which is defined as: "A determination to perform a particular act or to act in a particular manner for a specific reason" Which was not capable of being established with this particular man in court with all the evidence at hand, at least in terms of intent to establish a case of second degree murder (which was the highest on the table). Sure there was obvious intent for the cop to use force, but being a cop he does in fact have the authority to use force, so that was a non-issue in this case.

^This. Thanks for putting that all into words for me.

[Natapoc]

Seems this discussion has not advanced much. Why do so many people trust what a cop says? Cops are trained to lie.

[Ifreann]

Seems this discussion has not advanced much. Why do so many people trust what a cop says? Cops are trained to lie.

Cops are trained to lie? Since when?

[Ryadn]

Seems this discussion has not advanced much. Why do so many people trust what a cop says? Cops are trained to lie.

Cops are trained to lie? Since when?

Since everybody is against the TRUTH, man.

Cops are trained to shoot first, and that's a problem. My cousin failed his CHP test (yes, I realize CHP and a 'cop' are different, but bear with me) because he didn't hesitated before firing at a target. Their motto was definitely "When in doubt, shoot; let us worry about the damage later." I understand the reasoning behind it, but I don't agree with it.