On the first day of the year 2009, a public transportation officer shot her child on a platform of the Bay Area Rapid Transit. The account of what occurred thereafter is contained within those recordings, which have remained undisclosed for more than ten years. Reverend Wanda Johnson takes a seat on a collapsible chair in her driveway during a sweltering June afternoon. She has set up an outdoor workspace due to the absence of air conditioning indoors. She moves her chair closer to a small table where a computer is situated and prepares to listen to selected portions from almost 60 hours of recently made public recordings—a documentation of a police inquiry. The narrative within those recordings has never been fully exposed until now.
The movie “Fruitvale Station” later depicted the event that would be the last day of Grant’s life, in which Michael B. Jordan plays the role of Oscar Grant. On the train station platform, the 22-year-old Grant was lying face down, as Officer Johannes Mehserle fired a single fatal gunshot into his back. This police shooting was one of the first captured on millions of cell phones.
For the first time, a new podcast by KQED and NPR titled “Watch Our On KQED and NPR” delves into the investigation that allows listeners to hear never-before-heard tapes. These tapes may provide larger lessons for the system of accountable police who fail to hold to their promises. In 2019, BART was forced to comply with “The California’s Know Your Right Act,” thanks to a lawsuit filed by a member of the NPR station. However, until now, there has been no outside agency that has heard what actually happened after the cell phone video ended.
Pirone, also known as “Tony,” was never criminally charged, but he was dismissed from his position as a former police officer at BART for his actions on the platform. However, new attention is now being given to long-secret files that reveal two retired commanders and the Chief of Police made significant mistakes in the investigation of the shooting incident and the aftermath of Grant’s death. It has long been evident that BART made significant missteps in the investigation of the shooting and the subsequent events. Additionally, Mehserle, the former officer, would serve 11 months in jail and be convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
The partner began yelling at Pirone, objecting to the way he was handling the situation. After Grant repeatedly hit Pirone, Grant tried to stand up and intervene. Pirone threw him to the ground and removed him from the train. When a group of young men stopped Pirone on the platform, Greer jumped back on the train and responded to the call about a fight among the crowded New Year’s celebrators. Pirone was the first officer to respond.
Mehserle was unable to pull out his gun when he tried to. Grant was held down by Pirone as Mehserle attempted to handcuff Grant. Five BART officers, including Johannes Mehserle, responded to the backup calls.
Within seven minutes of Pirone arriving on the platform, Oscar Grant was tragically shot.
Johnson states, while she listens to the recordings, “This individual initiated an occurrence that escalated uncontrollably, resulting in the tragic demise of my son,” and that is what is truly disheartening and distressing to me. He faced no consequences whatsoever.
Neither Mehserle nor Pirone consented to provide a statement for this article.
‘Intimate bond’ or ‘Strong connection’.
The outcome and potential scope of both administrative and criminal investigations may be limited, indicating that leaders and criminal investigators at BART have repeatedly missed opportunities to question officers and review internal tapes and documents.
The gunman was a law enforcement official, but what they didn’t publicly announce was that BART police officers issued a request for medical aid and reinforcements via the radio immediately after the gunshot was discharged.
Later, investigators were informed by an Oakland police officer that they had to rely on their own deduction skills to determine that it was a shooting incident involving a fellow officer.
The detective from BART, who initially responded to Joel Enriquez’s call, also had to wait for another officer to clarify the incident, as he could hear from the recorded conversations that he wished to review the manual policy in order to be better prepared.
Enriquez was also connected to two of the main officers engaged in the occurrence, Johannes Mehserle and Tony Pirone.
“I want to make sure that you’re okay with interviewing me,” Tony Enriquez said on the recorded tape from January 1, 2009, less than an hour after Grant died in an Oakland hospital. “I would like to put it on record that I have a close personal and working relationship with you, Pirone.”
“Sure, I’m okay with that,” Pirone responded.
In the initial interview with Pirone, Enriquez fails to ask key questions about the repeated use of force by the officer and does not challenge or ask Pirone to explain his assertion that he was on the verge of using deadly force out of fear for his life.
Enriquez did not reply to inquiries for a statement.
Officer Marysol Domenici, Pirone’s partner, informed investigators that she was prepared to personally initiate gunfire because she perceived the crowd on the platform as highly menacing following Mehserle’s shooting of Grant.
During the interview on January 7, 2009, she mentioned that she was aware of the audience’s presence and was uncertain whether they were on her side or against her. She also acknowledged that she knew I would be thinking about this. She revealed that she had considered the possibility of people initiating violence, which is why she only carried two taser cartridges.
Following an appeal, Domenici successfully regained her employment, despite the termination of both officers. The external legal firm, which was appointed by BART to handle the internal affairs investigation, determined that their conduct was justified as they attempted to amplify or fabricate their level of apprehension during the incident.
A tactical choice.
According to police reports, BART investigators started expressing concerns about Pirone’s forceful behavior just one week into the shooting investigation.
As stated in a report, Sgt. David Chlebowski, an internal affairs investigator from the department, informed BART Police Commander Maria White about a witness video on a local TV website, eight days after the incident occurred.
Sgt. Chlebowski and several unidentified BART investigators expressed their apprehension regarding Pirone’s actions as shown in the recording, according to White.
However, she informed the detective unit members that the primary focus of their investigation into the homicide was the delaying actions of Pirone, a police officer, in the probe of records.
Prior to instructing BART Detective Alan Fueng to initiate a criminal inquiry into Pirone’s utilization of power, she delayed for a month – until a few days subsequent to BART acquiring a duplicate of the footage from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
In later police reports, Fueng recounted interviewing Pirone and his colleague, Domenici, on the evening of the incident.
Pirone was never prosecuted. The outcome of his investigation was a “concise summary report.” On March 20, 2009, the report was delivered, “without a suggestion,” to the District Attorney’s Office “for their assessment and decision.”
Nancy O’Malley, the District Attorney of Alameda County, stated in an interview with NPR and KQED that her office wanted to build the strongest possible case against Mehserhle, using Pirone as a witness, which meant she did not charge Pirone strategically.
“He played a crucial role as a witness in this because he initiated the entire incident,” she stated.
BART hired Meyers Nave, an external legal organization, in response to significant public pressure in February 2009 to conduct an internal affairs investigation.
As per a spokesperson’s statement, BART’s board opted to employ Meyers Nave “because it believed it was crucial for the public to have faith in an autonomous inquiry carried out by a highly regarded, proficient legal firm.”
Public safety made sure that the situation was brought under control in a manner that intensified the situation and violated policy, Pirone’s forceful conduct on the platform discovered in the Meyers Nave report, unveiled by the “The Right to Know” Act or Senate Bill 1421 in 2019.
The recordings exhibit that Meyers Nave investigators interrogated Pirone regarding the motives behind his utilization of racially offensive language while conversing with Grant.
During his interview with Meyers Nave investigators, Pirone expressed, “Then why are you causing trouble for us?” He proceeded to use derogatory language by referring to the individual as a disrespectful term. I responded by saying, “So you’re calling me that disrespectful term?” At that moment, I recall Mehserle intervening and forcefully pushing the person down. I distinctly remember Pirone mentioning his four-year-old daughter and expressing his admiration for law enforcement.
Pirone played a significant role in the motion of events, creating a tense and chaotic situation on the platform if even the shooting of Grant Oscar was unintentional.
Meyers and Nave also discovered statements by Pirone that contradicted evidence video, witness interviews, and multiple shifted force uses and actions of his own, regarding the grounds for Grant’s detention.
According to this report, Pirone was terminated.
Pirone is presently enlisted in the California Army National Guard. He holds the position of a Communications Sergeant in the Special Forces.
“From 1997 onwards, Pirone, an exceptionally honored soldier with numerous accolades, has served in the military,” stated a representative for the National Guard via email. He chose not to respond to any additional inquiries.
‘I believed he possessed a firearm’.
The firing was accidental and that the firing was unintentional, not his semi-automatic firearm, and that he intended to retrieve a taser, not his semi-automatic firearm, and that the recordings also redirect attention to Mehserle’s contentious justification for the shooting and his final defense during the trial — that he intended to retrieve a taser, not his semi-automatic firearm, and that they heard Mehserle declare his intention to tase Grant, both Pirone and Carlos Reyes, one of the individuals detained on the platform, later confirmed.
During Mehserle’s criminal trial, the jury accepted his explanation and found him guilty of unintentional manslaughter.
However, the Meyers Nave report, which was published in 2019 following the implementation of Senate Bill 1421, reached a contrasting determination.
Grant Oscar, who was fired when Mehserle found the report, reads it. On the final occasion, he can be seen looking back at his behind, and he can be seen trying to draw his gun at least two times (the gun can be seen on his holster/gun hand).
“Defective” and relying on a solitary video frame, the Meyers Nave examination was challenged by Michael Rains, Mehserle’s attorney, during an interview with NPR and KQED, questioning this conclusion.
“That’s likely one one thousandth of a second,” Rains stated. “He doesn’t compute, ‘I’m observing my firearm.’ That’s absurd.”
Grant’s statement to investigators, which was included in the newly released records, indicated that Mehserle mentioned never using his Taser and going for his gun during the shooting, as officers of BART confided in him.
Throughout these discussions, Foreman mentioned that Mehserle often experienced episodes of intense crying. He stated, “Occasionally, he would express, ‘I believed he possessed a firearm, you see, I believed he possessed a firearm.'” Foreman, a seasoned BART police officer who provided emotional assistance to Mehserle following the incident, informed investigators that he engaged in daily conversations with Mehserle in the week following Grant’s shooting. This statement was made during an interview on January 9, 2009.
Rains stated that he could not provide an explanation as to why Mehserle did not inform Foreman that he had intended to use his taser. Rains further expressed that his client was experiencing severe emotional distress.
Rains stated, “And that’s how he experienced it for days, for weeks,” which was a disgraceful and humiliating letdown for him.
It was a mistake that other three officers and Foreman did not mention anything about the taser in the days after the shooting of Mehserle.
‘I would currently be incarcerated.’
Following the incident, choices taken by BART Command personnel during that initial period might be one of the factors contributing to the uncertainty surrounding Mehserle’s defense.
David Mastagni, the lawyer for Johannes Mehserle’s Legal Defense Fund, asked investigators to review the bystander video of the shooting before his client provided a statement to police on the morning of New Year’s Day.
As per a report authored by White, Commander White consulted with investigators from the D.A.’S Office and they arrived at the choice to permit Mehserle and his lawyer to view the video.
After learning and watching the video, it was discovered that Oscar Grant, who had invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, had died in the hospital.
Grant fired Mehserle, as it could be used administratively, but it would not be usable in a criminal investigation, a compelled statement. According to the report, White ordered Mehserle, an employee, to discuss giving a statement.
Mehserle refrained from making a statement the following day. He consented to returning home, and they granted him permission to speak, as per White’s report. Mehserle expressed his fatigue and inability to provide an interview that morning, however, the BART command staff did not enforce it.
Six days afterwards, Mehserle stepped down from the police force instead of providing that declaration.
They were asked to give up interviews instead of using Microsoft Word to type up the statement. At the time of the shooting, officers who were on the platform did not require staff from BART’s Command Management System. Other departments at BART were also visible in the regular case of BART. The officers involved in the shooting were Knudtson Emery, Guerra Jonathan, Flores Noel, and Woffinden Jon.
Additionally, Flores brandished his baton and retrieved his taser, while apprehending both his taser and baton, Flores apprehended both his taser and baton. Knudtson tackled Fernando Anicete, an acquaintance of Oscar Grant’s, who purportedly hurled a phone in the direction of Domenici. Moreover, they were not interrogated regarding their own actions. Similarly, no inquiries were made concerning the actions of Mehserle or Pirone. Woffinden served as Mehserle’s partner on that particular evening. The officers were not interrogated about the actions of Mehserle or Pirone.
The officers were ultimately questioned more extensively by BART detectives and subsequently by Meyers Nave investigators.
The BART police station detained and interrogated all of Oscar Grant’s companions present on the platform that morning, namely Fernando Anicete, Michael Greer, Jack Bryson, Nigel Bryson, and Carlos Reyes. They were all subjected to handcuffing.
According to the police records, they were informed of their Miranda Rights but were informed that they were not being detained.
“Why is it different then? The police officers just performed the same action. If I were to shoot someone on BART in their chest while they are already incapacitated, I would currently be incarcerated,” Jack Bryson can be heard explaining to investigators.
Detectives are investigating police shootings to uncover any favoritism, ensuring that there is no cover-up and that Bryson provides a thorough account on the taped evidence.
The suggestion sent to the D.A.’S Office did not desire the commanding personnel who overturned them, but the documents indicate they were supported by Fueng, the other primary investigator. Law enforcement records reveal that Enriquez proposed that all the individuals in custody should face charges of resisting arrest in October 2009.
The group of five people who were apprehended went on to initiate legal action against BART. In due course, the institution came to an agreement with them, resulting in a settlement of $175,000.
‘A group with problematic individuals.’
Officers Grant said, “I am unable to breathe,” as he recounted the tragic event where Grant’s son, Oscar, was shot down. The way Pirone held him down made Grant think of what happened to George Floyd, and the echoes of that incident were felt by Wanda Johnson, as the country was once again gripped by protests against police violence. This past summer, another video of a police killing went viral.
The protests combined with a groundswell of support have prompted Tony Johnson, the District Attorney, to reconsider the charges against Tony Pirone and reopen Grant’s case.
District Attorney Nancy O’Malley concurred.
In January 2021, she announced Pirone’s disgraceful and unprofessional conduct as utterly aggressive, charging him with anything that could not be tolerated in her office.
She stated, “We exhausted all efforts to identify any lawful principle that could impose responsibility on Pirone, apart from a 149.” “We thoroughly reviewed every report and analyzed various videos.”
The “Right to Know Act” revealed hundreds of unsealed internal police records, allowing for a rare criminal charge of potentially criminal misconduct, including perjury and sexual misconduct, stemming from the improper use of force under Penal Code 149, which has a long statute of limitations.
“Oscar Grant tragically passed away and we apologize for that,” stated the present BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez.
Alvarez, the agency said that a lot of hard lessons have been learned from the killing of Oscar Grant, and since then, it has significantly improved by implementing reforms, including better civilian auditor training and the use of body cameras.
The department has implemented numerous changes that the Meyers Nave report acknowledges Alvarez for. Mehserle did mistakenly use his firearm instead of his taser, but he maintains his personal belief. They, as well as Pirone’s actions, are still in violation of the policy, as stated by Alvarez.
Alvarez commented on the external inquiry, stating that individuals who arrived later had more opportunity, in my opinion, to analyze a greater amount of data and approach matters from various perspectives.
One aspect has remained consistent: inquiries into shootings or officer wrongdoing continue to be conducted internally.
Alvarez mentioned that he doesn’t perceive any problem with this widespread custom.
Alvarez stated, “Companionships will always persist. Therefore, one must handle it in a professional manner and comprehend that it is their responsibility.”
Following the shooting of his nephew, Grant’s uncle Cephus Johnson, a strong advocate for the approval of “The Right to Know Act,” expressed the distress he feels upon learning about the errors committed by investigators during the initial hours and days.
“You see, everything that we were aware of is actually being revealed today through simply listening to these discussions,” Johnson stated.
To him, it is evidence that law enforcement cannot regulate themselves.
He stated, “This is the rationale behind the necessity for accountability and transparency, as we have consistently expressed.” “It is evident that we cannot rectify this system if every inquiry commences in such a manner.”