BART Shooting Victim Unlikely an Innocent

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXWSgG-KNng&feature=related

The link will take you video of a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system police officer shooting and killing a 22-year-old man in an arrest that went terribly wrong.

You'll see, or have seen, two officers trying to subdue one last man who had been involved in a brawl at a BART station around 2 a.m. on New Year's Day.

Here's how the San Francisco Chronicle described the shooting in its Jan. 2 edition:

Jill Tucker, Kelly Zito,Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writers
(01-01) 18:41 PST -- A young man allegedly involved in a fight aboard a BART train was shot to death by a BART police officer on the platform of the Fruitvale Station early New Year's Day, in the midst of a brawl between two groups of young train passengers.


Watch the video, just pay attention the young guy laying on the ground and the officer who pulls out a gun and then pulls the trigger -- shooting the guy in the back. The obvious reaction is one of horror because as the officer's pulling his weapon, another officer has the victim on the ground with his knee on the back of the victim's neck.

The first three or four times I saw it, I agreed with people who were outraged by such an outlandish and unnecessary display of force by a policeman. Then, I paid more attention to the surroundings...the other men who were already subdued and handcuffed...the sounds of the, likely, hundreds of BART passengers who stumbled into the middle of a war betwen "two groups of young train passengers." And, before I had to hear the victim's mom explain how he was turning his life around and how he would never see his 4-year-old daughter again...I suddenly became a caustic, cynical, old man.

"Two groups of young train passengers," judging solely by the looks of the fellows who officers had arrested, translates into "two gangs." They might not be Crips and Bloods, but they were two groups of guys running together and had a major beef -- in a very public place -- which each other.

There was no reason to even pull a weapon with the guy on the ground. It's a tragedy that the young man was killed. His family, I'm sure, will win a case and get civil damages from BART to help raise the man's daughter. The officer was wrong. He'll lose his job. BART will probably start doing more than advertising for police officers in BART stations, probably put their officers through more training.

I feel no pity for "young train passengers" who chose to put themselves at risk. I'm absolutely safe from even the worst BART or city police officer because...I don't brawl in a BART station at 2 a.m. and if an officer ever needed to talk to me about anything -- I'd do whatever he asked of me whenever he asked. I'd make it really easy for them. They wouldn't even have to put their knee on the back of my neck.

It's outlandish to imagine that the victim and his other "young train passengers" are even close to innocents. They chose to put hundreds of innocent citizens at risk by brawling in a a public place. If the BART officers hadn't tried to subdue the brawling groups, it could've actually been an innocent bystander who took a bullet.

So, the officers mishandled the situation. It's sad that the man lost his life. But...he chose to put himself in a risky, dangerous situation. The video makes the young "passengers" look like what most people I know consider to be common street thugs. In spite of the sadness I feel for his death and his family's loss (even street guys have loved ones), part of me feels like the BART stations might be a little more safe now. The streets are free of one less "passenger" who thinks it's OK to throw down, throw punches and, maybe, pull a weapon...any damn place he pleases.

There are thousands of people protesting in the Bay Area. Not one protestor will state the obvious, however. You won't hear anyone say, "Well, OK...if they hadn't been fighting in a BART station at 2 a.m., this never would've happened."

At some point, I'm sure, we'll learn of the victim's history. We might learn he was leader of an inner-city Boy Scout troop, who knows? What do you think we'll find out?

If one of my kids or a friend said, "Hey...we're rollin' on BART on New Year's EVE...me and my boys..." I'd say, "That's a risky proposition. Be very careful."

Ultimately, policemen make mistakes. There are bad policemen. I don't know anybody who has ever had an altercation with a police officer. Why? Well, I don't know anybody who puts themselves in situations where policemen have to intervene.

Sadly, the shooting seems like an example of when bad things happen to apparently bad people. The victim might not have been the baddest dude at that BART station...but he took a bullet for whomever were the baddest dudes.

Don't cause trouble and trouble will rarely find you.