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Oakland officials hit the streets of their city Saturday to assess the damage to the community resulting from protests that started after former BART Officer Johannes Mehserle was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for fatally shooting Oscar Grant III.
Just over 150 arrests were made during the protests, mostly for unlawful assembly, according to the Oakland Police Department. More than a third of those arrested live outside of Oakland.
The majority of those arrested were in their 20s and 30s, Officer Jeff Thomason said. Charges will be filed after a report is completed by investigators who are reviewing photographs and video of the protesters.
The protesters began gathering shortly after a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sentenced Mehserle to a two-year prison sentence Friday afternoon for fatally shooting a 22-year-old unarmed father. Mehserle could have faced anything from probation to 14 years in state prison.
Following the sentencing, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums said he understood the community’s angry reactions to Mehserle’s prison sentence for shooting Grant at the Fruitvale BART station in 2009, but he called for nonviolent protest.
Mehserle said he mistakenly used his gun instead of his Taser.
Community & Economic Development Agency employees were canvassing
impacted businesses today. They identified one business that had broken windows, according to city of Oakland officials. A few businesses were vandalized with graffiti.
