Bay Area Rapid Trasit board of directors unanimously voted Thursday to rename a street adjacent to the Fruitdale BART station after Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot at the station by former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2009.
A dedication to Grant and a mural unveiling have been planned for March 23 at what will be “Oscar Grant Way” by the West side of the Fruitvale BART Station between 33rd to 35th Avenues.
Mehserle was charged with murder for the shooting death of Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward man who worked as a butcher at an Oakland grocery store, at the Fruitvale station at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2009, after Mehserle and other BART officers responded to reports of a fight on a train.
Grant was on parole for two prior felony convictions but he was unarmed at the time.
In a highly-publicized trial that was moved to Los Angeles County because of concerns about whether he could get a fair trial in Alameda County, Mehserle admitted that he shot and killed Grant but said he had meant to use his Taser on Grant and fired his service gun by mistake.
He was convicted of the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison but was released early because of credits he had accumulated.
Photo Credit: TELEMUNDO 48
Source: NBC Bay Area
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