Firearms training was in the spotlight this morning as experts testified that movements made by former BART Police officer Johannes Mehersle to release the weapon holstered at his right hip were inconsistent with the proper way to draw a gun.
Mehserle is on trial for second degree murder for fatally shooting unarmed BART passenger Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009.
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein, the prosecutor in the case, read from a report written by Paul Slivinsky, a recently retired BART SWAT officer who is a certified expert with the Sig Sauer pistol that Mehserle used to shoot Grant, which established the gun Mehserle used to shoot Grant “was clean and in nearly pristine condition.”
Under cross examination from defense attorney Michael Rains, Slivinsky said he had fired that model of weapon himself “only once or twice.”
When Rains asked about the safety mechanism of the gun, Slivinsky said the Sig “only has passive safeties,” meaning that there is no thumb mechanism on the side of the weapon.
“There is no reason an officer whose intent is to fire a Sig would have his thumb on the side at all,” Rains said, a statement Slivinsky agreed with.
Stein then brought David Clark, a firearms instructor at the Napa police academy Mehserle attended, to the stand.
Clark described safety procedures for the gun and said the main reasons for unintentionally discharging a gun are accidentally putting a finger on the trigger or not being familiar with the weapon.
Clark said firearms instructors at the academy teach cadets to “never point a weapon at something you don’t intend to destroy,” and said “officer safety is reinforced daily.”
He described a seven-step procedure the cadets at the Napa academy do “over and over; constantly.”
“It takes a long time to build up what we call muscle memory […] [the steps] have to be practiced over and over,” Clark said.
Clark testified that he had never before seen the video he watched today of Mehserle reaching for his holster on his right hip.
Clark said Mehserle’s struggle with the holster was inconsistent with training, as was immediately putting the gun back in its holster after firing the shot at Grant. He also testified that if the perceived threat by Grant was so great, Mehserle should have shot him while still leaning over him, instead of standing back up to do so.
The defense is expected to argue that Mehserle’s struggle with the holster indicate he was trying to remove his Taser instead of his gun, while the prosecution argues that Mehserle’s difficulty removing his gun was due to his nervousness at the time of the shooting.
Clark did not say whether he had any direct interaction with Mehserle at the academy.
“There’s no way Mehserle could have made a mistake because there’s too many steps involved with pulling that weapon out,” said Cephus Johnson, Grant’s uncle, at a press conference after the morning session.
Earlier this morning, Rains asked Carlos Reyes, who was two feet from Grant at the time of the shooting, if he had left the BART train immediately after it stopped at the Fruitvale platform. Reyes had testified yesterday that he had done so, but when pressed by Rains today he said he did not remember.
Rains then showed BART surveillance video which appears to show Reyes on the train for at least five minutes after it had stopped at the platform.
“What were you doing on the train? You were fighting weren’t you?” Rains asked. Reyes responded “No, I wasn’t fighting nobody.”
During opening statements Rains characterized the fight as a brawl between numerous individuals, but several witnesses have testified that the fight was only between Grant and a man named David Horowitz.
Rains then grilled Reyes about his admission that he had lied to BART investigators about whether he was with Grant that night. Reyes testified that “I’m just trying to do what I have to, to never be involved in anything like this again.”
After Rains’ cross examination, Stein asked Reyes what was going through his mind during the BART interview. Reyes said “I was really just thinking about Oscar […] if he was going to be alright or if he was going to be gone.”
Reyes remained handcuffed in police custody for several hours following the early morning shooting before he was interviewed.
Reyes, who was friends with Grant for ten years, fought back tears as he added, “You’re so used to seeing police officers protect you […] when you see them hurt somebody you care about, when they shoot someone in front of you, you don’t know what to do.”
The morning began with another juror, a middle-aged woman, being dismissed for cause. It is believed she was replaced because she kept falling asleep during testimony.
A man from the pool of alternate jurors replaced her. The jury is now comprised of seven women and five men, with four alternate jurors remaining. If all alternates are put on the jury and a juror is dismissed, a mistrial would automatically be called.
Testimony in the case will continue this afternoon in Los Angeles, where the case has been moved due to concerns over whether Mehserle could receive a fair trial in the Bay Area.
The California Beat and The Campanil’s joint continuing coverage of the Johannes Mehserle BART Shooting trial is funded in part through Spot.Us. Visit our special trial news page and help fund this project.