Former BART Officer Accused Of New Year Shooting Arrested

January 14, 2009 2:22 a.m. EST

Oakland, CA (AHN) - Johannes Mehserle, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer who allegedly shot an unarmed man on New Year's Day and then abruptly resigned from the transit agency, has been arrested, according to reports.

Mehserle, 27, was taken into custody in Nevada on Tuesday and is currently in being held without bail in Douglas County. Authorities are expected to release more information about the warrant on Wednesday.

The arrest comes a day after BART completed its investigation of the death of Oscar Grant III. The transit agency provided the Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff with the results of its probe, but continued to keep the identity of the former officer secret.

Grant, a 22-year old butcher, was on his way home in the early hours of Jan. 1 on a BART train when a fight erupted between some riders. Subway police ordered all passengers off the train at Fruitvale station to break up the fight.

Video taken of what happened next by some passengers using their cell phones have been posted on YouTube. They show Grant kneeling on the floor along with other passengers with his arms raised, then being forced face down onto the ground by two police officers. With the knee of one of the officers on his neck, a third officer shoots Grant on the back as other passengers look on.

Grant's family filed a $25-million wrongful death claim last Tuesday. The claim says the officer who made the fatal shot was Mehserle, but BART has not revealed the identity of the officer.

Mehserle, a two-year veteran of the agency, was scheduled to speak for the first time with investigators about the shooting last Wednesday. His attorney and his union representative appeared at the meeting on his behalf with a letter of resignation that is effective immediately, BART said in a press release that did not mention the name of Mehserle.

The same day of his resignation, a peaceful protest in Oakland turned violent and a funeral service was held for victim.

An afternoon demonstration at the Fruitvale station in Oakland began peacefully but escalated into a riot as protesters smashed storefronts and cars and forced the shut down of transit stations at 12 Street and Lake Merritt. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums also had to assure a crowd of angry protesters in front of city hall.

In a meeting last Thursday that was meant to discuss plans to cut costs and raise fares, members of the BART board was forced to listen to the anger and frustration of hundreds of people who attended the meeting demanding the agency for accountability and the arrest of Mehserle.

The public hearing took several hours, and at the end of it, the members of the board apologized one by one.

BART announced on Monday that it had created a police review committee "to prevent an incident like the one on New Year's Day from ever occurring again."