Organizers said they expected "massive amounts" of supporters to head to an Oakland BART station Sunday to peacefully protest the release of a BART police officer who shot and killed Oscar Grant in 2009. In the end between 200 and 300 people showed up and marched from the Fruitvale BART station to downtown Oakland late Sunday. The event was peaceful.
Oakland police said they had extra officers on hand starting Sunday afternoon in preparation of any and all reaction to the pending release of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle on Monday. There are reports that as many as 100 officers will be on duty, but police would not release an exact number.
Grant's mother and his daughter were among those who took part in Sunday's march.
Mehserle was convicted of killing Grant on New Year's Day 2009 on a Fruitvale Station platform. Mehserle shot and killed Grant around 2 a.m. after BART officers had responded to reports of a fight on a train.
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.
Last year, jurors convicted Mehserle of involuntary manslaughter.
The Superior Court released a document that explained the timing of the release. It said when Mehserle was sentenced on November 5, 2010 he had already served 146 days. Since that date, he has served 219 additional days. The court said with conduct credits of 366, Mehserle will have served the total time of his imposed sentence.
The document ends with "IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant Johannes Mehserle be released from custody on Monday, June 13, 2011" and was signed by Judge Robert J. Perry.
Mehserle will be on parole after his release. It is not known where he will live.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
