Johannes Mehserle, who shot Oscar J. Grant III, has pleaded not guilty.
Mehserle resigned his job as a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer days after the shooting, and he was arrested in Nevada.
The court proceedings took less than five minutes, and the judged ordered the former office be held until his next hearing, scheduled for Jan. 26.
Newly released court documents allege that Mehserle shot Grant while Grant had his hands behind his back and another officer was kneeling on his neck.
BELL SPEAKS ON SUICIDE ATTEMPT
Mychal Bell says he felt pressured to be perfect after his Jena 6 case was over. Following his arrest on a shoplifting charge, he used his Christmas money on a gun to kill himself.
The 18-year-old says he pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired and he aimed it at his chest to try again. The bullet ripped through his body, and he fell to the floor of his grandmother’s home in Monroe on December 29.
In an interview with CNN, Bell said:
“It just got to the point where I just couldn’t take it anymore. I just wanted to show everybody that I really wasn’t the type of kid that everybody was making me out to be. Nobody will ever be perfect, but it’s like that’s where my mind was. You need to be perfect.”
Bell said he felt people were constantly watching him, hoping he’d fail: “‘Just mess up, just mess up.’ There was a lot of pressure on me.’”
People were watching him. A security guard in Dillard’s watched him stuff $370 worth of clothes in a bag while a friend was on lookout. After the guard approached them, they ran and Bell hid under a car. When the guard tried to pull him out, he hit him in the face and was charged with shoplifting, simple battery and resisting arrest.
“I just hear so many people supporting me and everything, and I always feel that if I ever make a mistake again, that whatever I do, it is going to have an effect,” Bell said.
In a way, I empathize with Bell; the Jena 6 became the poster boys for the modern Civil Rights Movement. That was probably a tough pill to swallow for these 14-18 year old boys. But you would think that someone would advise them to sit down. We rallied behind them because we felt they deserved it. We donated because they needed it. We did not, however, offer them a second chance so they could act a fool.
ISRAELI TROOPS BEGIN PULLOUT
Israeli soldiers, just back from Gaza, prepare to leave the border area Sunday along the Gaza-Israeli border in Israel. Israel has declared a unilateral cease-fire.
Israel has said it wants to leave Gaza as quickly as possible and Palestinians call for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the reopening of the enclave’s border crossings. Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but vital humanitarian aid since Hamas seized power there in June 2007.
I don’t empathize with shit. He was trying to take the easy way out. Act an ignorant ass, but off myself so I don’t have to take responsibility.
Bleh.
boo freakin’ hoo Mychal are you kidding me?! no one said he had to be perfect just a decent upstanding citizen which he very clearly isn’t if he’s out there shoplifting.
he can’t blame his criminal activity on his supporters and no one should pity him either because at the end of the day he committed an act which he knows is wrong.
Bell needs to know that noone is expecting him to be perfect. We are expecting him to be the best that he can be. get some counseling, and then maybe try to motivate others to be the best that they can be. please do something with you life. it’s too many brothers in jail now, that don’t get second chances. do the right thing. you have a better advantage of talking to lil kids and making a difference.
That part about me empathizing with Bell, I don’t want that be interpreted as understanding why he’s stealing. I don’t condone that at all.
I’m just saying that these guys were thrust into the spotlight, and they were not ready for that. They should have done what they needed to do to cast themselves in a positive light. Unfortunately, there was no one there to guide them through it all.
That doesn’t excuse the fact that they’re fighting, stealing and pretty much running amok. Sit down somewhere, finish school and go on to be productive members of society.
I live here in Oakland. I consult with the Oakland Unified School District with my non-profit to help build after school programs in the K-5 schools to help families and children. I just wrote an open letter to the district, in which there has been two murders within two to 6 blocks of my elementary school in West Oakland, where my school is located.
The individuals were murdered by assailants at large, in which the Oakland Police Department never calls the schools to inform us that they are in pursuit of individuals and that there are people lying murdered on the paths/streets that my kids have to walk home from in my after school program. I served in the military and in war zones like Israel and Gaza Strip, they at least let their people know that a bomb and/or offer public safety warnings to protect the public……right now, there is nothing to protect our children of color to not be another police accident like Oscar Grant from happening over and over again.
Today, I have asked a series of High School students and youth to come and volunteer at my school and to also march with me down to the Oakland Police Department and the Mayor’s office. Each day I am scared for my children and families.
Yes, tomorrow is a historic day in which we will have a Black President, but our communities and the Black youth at large (Oscar Grant’s) are happening each and everyday.
We have to still keep marching, we have to keep on keeping on and not “keep our eyes on the prize”, until we have true equality, safe neighborhoods free of liquor and drug stores, fast foods on each corners, crack/dealers on every block and every young Black child to aspire to greatness like our President Obama. “Don’t Give Up the Fight”–Bob Marley
I don’t excuse Bell’s actions, but I do to a certain extent feel a little sorry for him.
I wonder what Obama’s policy on Israel will be. If he openly condemns them and severs particular ties with them, he’ll be branded a “terrorist sympathizer” by conservatives. If he lets them continue any future attacks on Gaza he will be met with anger by the rest of the world, and liberals in the US.
I am in a complete confusion over Israel’s actions. What do yall think—heavy handed, Draconian measures against Gaza? Or is it in the interest of Israeli civilians to protect them from Hamas?
A lot of Muslim Americans (as well as the global Muslim community) have completely denounced Israel as effectively committing genocide.
Bell cannot be serious.
TBH where are the parents of Michael Bell? Yeah he gets no sympathy, but he must have gone pretty wayward if no proper parental figures were around to monitor his behaviour. I get the impression a lot of parents of this generation (not all) have this lax mentality that TV and other outside influences can raise their children for them.
Seriously Bell… you got another chance of freedom and life. Stop whining about it and take advantage of it. This I’m gonna shoot myself cause I was pressured into being perfect is STUPID! Do you… MOVE if you gotta. But stop doin stupid shit!!!!!
And that Bart Officer deserves to rot in jail!!! These ppl are put to serve and protect… I always say the police is BABYLON!!!!
the bell incident is very interesting.
i bet there was much pressure, but i have experienced being in a situation before [not personally] where the whole black race is trying to support someone and they go a mess up soon there after. it’s really sad and it takes more than material support to help these guys. he was worried that people were watching him and now they are going to be watching him more than ever.
—Is that n*gger for real. He said he felt the pressured to be perfect? So you’re being
—chastised for shoplifting and you think people want you to be perfect? N*gger
—please. Next time try not being overcome by your covetousness for vanity
—that will lead you to steal. Or if that doesn’t work, try not missing the next time.
–Please, I am tired of you already
I don’t feel sorry for Mychal at all. His ass was given another chance. Not by us, but God had mercy on him to turn his life around. That’s an amazing thing when you have favor like that and instead of him taking that chance to turn his life around and actually do something productive, he out here acting a fool and proving the stereotypes to be correct. He says no one is perfect which is true but not every black man actually lives up to the stereotype of being in the life of crime. Have sex with girls and smoke weed and then say you aren’t perfect don’t go out and commit crimes constantly and consider yourself to be remedied of the consequences. God will take care of him because he is the one that gave him a second chance. It is for this lil boy to realize what his reason for being here is. It’s a damn shame!
I don’t feel sorry for Mychal at all. His ass was given another chance. Not by us, but God had mercy on him to turn his life around. That’s an amazing thing when you have favor like that and instead of him taking that chance to turn his life around and actually do something productive, he out here acting a fool and proving the stereotypes to be correct. He says no one is perfect which is true but not every black man actually lives up to the stereotype of being in the life of crime. Have sex with girls and smoke weed and then say you aren’t perfect don’t go out and commit crimes constantly and consider yourself to be remedied of the consequences. God will take care of him because he is the one that gave him a second chance. It is for this lil boy to realize what his reason for being here is. It’s a damn shame!
I really pity alot of these young people today. No one has heart anymore, can’t handle common stress, firm criticism, and their character just simply weak. So suicide is the easy way out, or not trying harder, or simply given up altogether. I’m only in my 30′s, but I’ve lived long to enough to see the drastic dynamic between what life was like when my genertation was coming up, to those of now. Everyone has to be appeased, ass-kissed, sugar-spoon fed, buttered-up….what the hell happened?!
You see these kids make you mad for ever standing up for them. This boy is selfish and so conceited. Bell should’ve been in jail.
-Shame on all of you. This young man dose not deserve pity. It is clear that he didnt learn a thing. As I said when folks were wearing t shirts and going out to Jena and acting up in these people town, These young men deserved the book. If it were 6 white kids instead of 6 black kids it would have been a different story. It is time for this the boy to be a man and accept the punishment for his actions. If I am not mistaken this is his third strike. He hit a man in the face that was just trying to do his job. He now thinks this behavior is ok. He will continue to showcase the the substandard home training or lack there of recieved by his parents. For God sakes his father push is female lawyer down in a fit of rage.
@ Greatestloveofall
What you have to understand is the fact that not just conservatives believe Hamas not Gaza is in the wrong. You have to understand they are not fighting the people of Gaza, They are fighting Hamas. Everything was fine until and election put Hamas in power and Hamas started attacking Israelis because they dont have the right to be alive. I just want to know how you talk about that. Obama has not been paying attention and that is clear by some of his change of heart policies. He need to leave that alone and work the 350 bill issues. Let the UN deal with THAT why they are there.
I don’t feel sorry for Mychal Bell. Nobody is asking him to be perfect. You got out of one situation that was a blessing. From that moment on you aren’t suppose to be breaking the law. He can kill it with that sad story. You don’t see Genarlow Wilson out here breaking the law and he was innocent. He went to college! No excuse is good enough!
Bell your such a fu***ng coward… matter fact anyone that kills themselves for bs reasons… whats happening when today’s men just think its okay to take themselves out rather than deal with life’s problems as they come… especially when you create them buy your own foolish actions… what if my grandfather was the same build… I would never had made it here… our ancestors went through to much for this senselessness… MAN THE FU** UP
WTF?
Why am I being moderated?
pressure to be perfect? All you had to do was not break the law. Are his expectations of himself that low?
@Mehserle…”are you serious”???
SMDH…This fool obviously is in a psychotic zone!!!
I’m just so dissapointed we rally behind our people and when everything is said and done they prove why the man was tring to lock them up in the first place.(OJ)and (Bell)II’m tired of looking like a fool in the event that i have another arugment with a co-worker or peer of another race I will keep my mouth close.
Out of ALL the things to say he chose ” I felt pressured to be perfect”…. wow
Nobody on earth is perfect Bell, so come again. No, what you felt was the pressure to act like a decent young man, but it’s obvious that’s not in your personality. He is not 10, and knows the difference between right and wrong. His dumb ass wanted to go steal some clothes so he could “look fly”. If your parents aint got it, get a job!
Nothing will never, NEVER get so hard for me where I would want to take my own life.
He will never put more on you than you can bare…..
Mr. Bell just get your act together I will will pray for you
@ JA
“Everything was fine until and election put Hamas in power and Hamas started attacking Israelis because they dont have the right to be alive.”
Wow!!! That’s a very short-sighted view of things my friend, you seem to ignore that Israel has effectively made Gaza into the largest prison ever, they control what comes in and goes out through land, sea and air, so don’t act like Gaza is a sovereign country that one day decided to attack Israel.
Israel has put Gaza under a tougher siege for the past 18 months, I’m not supporting Hamas on every point, but what I know is that when a people are oppressed, they have a right to resist that oppression.
The only reason we (in the West) don’t seem to understand that is that as soon as we see a Muslim resisting oppression, we automatically assume they are terrorists.
How did Israel come to be, was it not through terrorism in the late 40s, bombing the King David Hotel, telling the British to get the hell outta there. Here we are 60 years later, Gaza is bombarded for 20 plus days and we do nothing.
1. dat mud sucka guilty as i dont know
2. dat wasnt enough of a reason to shoot urself… ud rather go to hell than just live the rest of ur life how God intended you to?
can’t you people see that the boy is mentally unstable. YOU CAN’T EXPECT MENTALLY UNSTABLE PEOPLE TO BEHAVE IN A RATIONAL MANNER.
the boy has suffered major trauma. HE HAS NO JOB AND NO PROSPECT OF GETTING ONE. HIS MIND SAID TO TAKE WHAT HE NEEDED. HE DOESN’T HAVE THE CAPACITY TO UNDERSTAND OR MAYBE EVEN THE DESIRE TO LIVE ANY LONGER, HIS LIFE IN THAT TOWN HAS BEEN MADE INTO SUCH HELL.
STEALING was possibly a cry for attention, and for help. After all the marching was done HE WAS LEFT ALONE WITH HATERS EVERYWHERE, DETERMINED TO TAKE HIM DOWN. HE SNAPPED. HE DIDN’T CARE ANY MORE. THE TASK OF TRYING TO BE PERFECT WAS TOO MUCH ON A YOUNG BOY SOWING HIS WILD OATS.
so sad.
AND THEN JUDGMENTAL NEGRO LEADERS GOT ON THE AIR AND CONDEMNED HIM TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY.
I WISH, KNOW NOTHING NEGROES WOULD STOP EVEN TRYING TO HELP. THEY NEED TO DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO MINDLESS ENTERTAINMENT ONLY. THEY DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD, WHEN THEY GIVE UNEDUCATED, UNINFORMED DUMB OPINIONS. THEY HAVE NO TRAINING IN HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY AND ARE QUICK TO JUDGE AND CONDEMN.
if they ever offer to help me, i’ll object!
Bell, you felt pressured to be perfect?
I’m pretty sure you meant to say you felt pressured to do the right thing all the time.
It is never hard to the right thing! But, it is definitely easier to do the wrong thing…it’s called the devil is working overtime.
Don’t let him win!!! Take control of your life, and do what is right! You know stealing is not good. You only felt pressured because you were caught. Take this as wake-up call. Forgive yourself, and become the citizen people believe you are capable to become. It is totally up to you!