OAKLAND — Transit police Monday wrapped up their investigation into the controversial shooting death of an African American man by an officer and, just hours later, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District board created a panel to oversee police department activities.
BART Police Chief Gary Gee said his department forwarded the investigation results Monday morning to the Alameda County district attorney's office, which will decide whether to charge transit Officer Johannes Mehserle in the death of Oscar J. Grant III.
Gee said during an afternoon news conference that his department has not come to any conclusions about the shooting and has made no recommendation to the district attorney.
"I'm not able to say whether there's enough for the district attorney to file criminal charges," Gee said in response to a question. "This is a continuing investigation."
At a special meeting shortly after the announcement, the BART Board of Directors voted unanimously to create a transit police department review committee, consisting of four members of the board. The committee will review policies and keep tabs on "major police incidents."
More than a dozen people in the audience castigated the board before the vote, angry that the details of the shooting remain cloaked in mystery, demanding that community members be included on the review board and calling for Mehserle to be put behind bars.
"A crime has been committed," said Toby Blome, who described herself as a peace activist from El Cerrito. "This officer needs to be arrested. He needs to be arrested right now."
Immediately after the vote, BART board member Lynette Sweet told reporters that Gee and BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger should step down because they have mishandled the aftermath of the shooting and communication about the incident.
"It's a nightmare that didn't have to happen," Sweet said. Dugger and Gee "are letting [board members] go out as the face of what happened without enough information, and it's so totally wrong."
Although Sweet questioned whether she could round up a majority of board members to support her, she said, "I can vote to say, 'Heck, yeah, they got to go.' "
Grant, a 22-year-old father, had been celebrating New Year's Eve in San Francisco and was heading back home to Hayward aboard a BART train when a fight broke out between two groups of riders about 2 a.m.
