BART Police Shooting of Oscar Grant - BART's Response

BART's Response

On January 8, 2009, BART's elected directors offered apologies to the victim's family.

BART later filed a legal response to the lawsuit that claimed that the shooting was "a tragic accident", and that Grant contributed to the fatal incident. BART said the officers were "just defending themselves" and that "Oscar Grant willfully, wrongfully, and unlawfully made an assault upon defendants and would have beaten, bruised, and ill-treated them if defendants had not immediately defended themselves."

BART has also held multiple public meetings to ease tensions. BART board member Lynette Sweet said that "BART has not handled this correctly," and called for the BART police chief and general manager to step down, but only one other board member, Tom Radulovich, has supported such action. The Board of Directors created a transit police department review committee to review policies and monitor "major police incidents."

An investigation was launched to determine whether any other officers should be disciplined. On January 12, investigation results were forwarded to the district attorney. The investigation, which interviewed seven police officers and 33 other witnesses, came to no conclusion and made no recommendations. The details were forwarded to Meyers Nave, an outside law firm, for an independent investigation. It was led by Jayne Williams, the former city attorney for San Leandro, and was estimated to cost $250,000. In August, the law firm provided two reports to BART but only released one publicly. The report said officers failed to follow recommended procedures, failed to work as a team, and had lapses in both tactical communication and leadership.

The footage of a cell-phone video showing Pirone striking Grant caused additional responses after KTVU's broadcast in January. BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger angrily said a "rigorous" internal affairs investigation would be ordered. Later, an attorney representing BART, said that Grant provoked Pirone's blow by trying to knee Pirone at least twice, "It is our position that there was a provocation and assault on Mr. Pirone based upon a video that shows Mr. Grant apparently hitting Mr. Pirone with his knee," On September 22, KTVU reported that Meyers Nave had recommended the termination of Tony Pirone and Marysol Domenici in its unreleased report. After being on leave since the incident, Domenici was terminated on March 24, 2010 but rehired the following December. Pirone was terminated on April 21 after an internal investigation upheld a finding of misconduct against him.