Did BART Cop who Killed Oscar Grant Mistake Gun for Taser?

The Oakland Tribune story Man dies in BART officer-involved shooting is a perfect example. The report completely removes the killer from the killing and shifts responsibility to a mischievous little self-willed, but incontinent, gun: an officers gun discharged, wounding Grant.

Now the San Francisco Chronicle provides an example of journalism sacrificed in service of police deception: One source familiar with the investigation said BART is looking into a number of things, including whether the officer had meant to fire his Taser stun gun rather than his firearm.

The Taser excuse is so preposterous that the source preferred to remain anonymous. Why is the Chronicle printing unaccountable rumors? Yet the article begins with the official BART statement: BARTs police chief asked for patience from the public today after video footage surfaced showing one of his officers fatally shooting an unarmed man he found the footage to be inconclusive.

So, officially, we should wait for the police investigation, and not believe our lying eyes. Yet, unofficially, police anonymously spread disinformation that would have us believe that it was something less than the murder we see in several witnesses videos.

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