In case you haven't heard, a transit cop in Oakland, Johannes Mehserle, fatally shot a man, Oscar Grant, execution style while he was being restrained.



This view has a better perspective.



Did the cop mean to shoot this guy in the back? I don't think so. Although the second video shows the actual shooting clearer, the first video shows his immediate reaction. He looks completely surprised that he shot the guy. You hear all those people screaming in the videos? I am sure that the cops heard them too. No cop is crazy enough to execute a guy in front of whole bunch of witnesses.

My guess is that he thought he was shooting him with a taser for "resisting arrest." According to lots of other articles I have read on the internet, Johannes was threatening Oscar with his taser gun a little before the shooting but apparently put it away. It is possible that he mistakenly drew his gun thinking it was a taser gun (which begs the question: why are taser guns so similar to REAL guns?).

But there is something that SHOULD come out of this. Had there not been a TON of video cameras showing this, do we really think there would have been this kind of uproar? Is it be possible that the city would quietly pay off the family and the guy would be reassigned? Who knows. I think one thing is clear though. People should be ENCOURAGED to video tape cops during arrests. Because of their "authority," cops' accounts of situations will always be trusted and civilians will be suspect. The video is your tool to show the world the truth.

It should be a criminal offense for a cop to try to stop an innocent bystander from video taping an arrest from a safe distance(jackass videographers that get in the face of cops while they are doing their job deserve to lose their cameras and get arrested themselves).

Let me repeat myself for the zillionth time. The vast majority of cops are good cops and their sacrifices are tarnished by a small minority of bad cops. That said, there should be no mercy with respect to bringing down those bad cops.

Kopbusters is a reality show that sets up cops to see if they break the law. Here is a link to the video of them violating the 4th amendment by searching a house growing two christmas trees.

The unnamed Newark Police Officer was quoted as saying, "I can do whatEVER I want!"

William S. James Elementary School is going to have a hard time finding parent chaperones for the third grade in the near future. Apparently, if you tap the shoulder of the son of a state trooper and tell him to "shush", you will be charged with assault.

A unknown Mount Olive, NJ Police Officer shot a yellow lab twice with his shotgun because it was agressive. He didn't call Wayne County Animal Control. He ignored the pleas of the next door neighbor that the dog wouldn't hurt anyone. Just bang.

Calls to the Mount Olive Police Department asking for the name of the shooter weren't returned.

Kenneth Holtz, a 20 year veteran of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, was fired in 2006 for violating department rules and regulations regarding “respect among members” and “conduct reflecting adversely on the department or employee.” What did he do? He pulled over a fellow cop for drunk driving. So even the good cops hate the bad cops.

Add the Albuquerque Police Department to the list of PDs that don't like being video taped during arrests. Or even AFTER an arrest. Clearly the photographer should have taken the right turn when he got there.

Because of his mental problems, Peter Ballance records all of his conversations so that he can remember things. He even has a pin on his chest informing you that he is recording the conversation. Well, the Greenacres Police Department has a problem with any record of their conversations so they decided it would be good to tackle him and charge him with resisting arrest. Now that he's acquitted, he suing the City of Greenacres. Sam Drucker had no comment.

Good ways to get arrested in NY include riding a bicycle and taking photographs of the police. But if you REALLY want to piss off NYPD cops like Sgt. Timothy Horhoe (the leader of this Gestapo action), refuse to surrender your Constitutional right protecting unlawful search and seizure and don't show them your identification.

Watch the 12 minute video documenting the violations.

After taking photos of Montreal police arresting someone, Brendan Colin Jones was fined $628 canadian dollars (which is now like $1000 US) for "improper use of city structures." What was he improperly using? The ledge in which he was sitting. So Montreal PD joins the long list of police departments that must be doing something bad when they arrest people because they HATE it when you photograph them doing it.