The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that in the midst of the court hearing that ended in former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle being ordered tried for murder in the slaying of Oscar Grant was testimony about another officer's expletive uttered just 30 seconds before Grant was shot.
According to the Chronicle, the officer, Tony Pirone, can be heard on one of the videos made by BART riders at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland early New Year's Day as standing over the prone Grant and yelling, "Bitch-ass n*****." Pirone and his attorney say he was repeating what Grant first yelled at him, but the sound-enhanced tape does not reveal Grant's voice.
On the tape, Pirone can be seen delivering a "shoulder chop" to Grant, bringing him to the ground. Pirone can be heard saying twice, "Bitch-ass n*****, right?"
The East Bay Express, writing about the new information, pointed out that “Pirone has a history of not telling the truth.”
As the Chronicle noted, prosecutors showed the tape in court on the last day of Mehserle's preliminary hearing, but it was overshadowed by the judge's decision to send Mehserle to trial for murder.
Oscar Grant was killed early New Year's Day by a white San Francisco BART police officer. The officer has claimed that he meant to pull his Taser, not his gun.
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