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The former BART police officer accused of fatally shooting an unarmed man on a transit station platform told a fellow officer moments before firing his gun that he was going to discharge his Taser, according to a document released Friday.
Johannes Mehserle, 27, was ordered Friday to be held on $3 million bail on charges that he shot Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Hayward man, in the back while Grant was lying face down on the ground at the Fruitvale station platform after police responded to reports that there had been a fight on a train.
In a draft of the bail appeal released Friday, Attorney Michael Rains said that Mehserle told Officer Anthony Pirone he was "going to taze Grant and [yelled] at Pirone to 'get back,'" the document said quoting reports reviewed for the motion.
Pirone told investigators, the document revealed, that Mehserle told Grant to -- "Put your hands behind your back, stop resisting, stop resisting, put your hands behind your back."
He then said: "I'm going to taze him, I'm going to taze him. I can't get his arms."
Pirone told investigators Mehserle then popped up and said: "Tony, Tony, get away, back up, back up."
Mehserle was armed with both a Taser and a handgun. He then allegedly drew the handgun and shot Grant once.
Mehserle -- who resigned the week after the shooting incident that provoked widespread outrage and protests -- has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
With emotions in the community still simmering, authorities increased security at the courthouse as Mehserle's made his appearance before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson. A group in the hallway outside could clearly be heard chanting "We are Oscar Grant. We are Oscar Grant."
The $300,000 bail was far less than former San Francisco District Attorney Jim Hammer predicted before the hearing. "In a run of the mill murder case, there is generally bail -- $2 to $3 million," Hammer said. Hammer added that the bail hearing was just the beginning of a lengthy legal journey. With several cellphone videos having been broadcast of the shooting, the potential jury pool may have already been tainted. "It's a real nightmare not just for the judge but for the DA also," Hammer said. "If you look back at the most recent case -- the Rodney King beating trial -- you have video of alleged police misconduct played over and over. What that means is that the jurors in Oakland probably have already made up their minds about it."
"The defense will make a motion to move it [the trial] out of the hothouse atmosphere here in Oakland and Alameda County," he added.
Hammer said the trial could be reassigned almost anywhere in the state, including communities where the racially charged nature of the case may be an issue. Grant was black and Mehserle is white.
"That would be bad news for the prosecutor," he said.
Source: KTVU.com