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Oscar Grant Update: Bay Area is Stunned as a Lying BART Cop is Reinstated

December 20, 2010 By

Marysol Domenici

Last week an officer who blatantly lied under oath was given her job back.. We’re talking about Marysol Domenici who was one of the first officers to on the scene at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, January 1 2009 when an unarmed Oscar Grant was shot in the back by convicted former BART cop Johannes Mehserle.

Domenici was fired after an independent investigating law firm Meyers Nave concluded she had lied about what took place the night of Grant’s murder. Domenici who had been on 15 months paid leave at the time of her firing, appealed via arbitration with the ruling she be immediately reinstated with back pay. The arbitrator, William Riker insisted that the prior investigation was flawed and that he saw no evidence that Domenici was untruthful.

Rulings like these have given people more and more reason to have little confidence in the justice system. What has taken place over the past two years around the killing of a Oscar Grant is something all of us involved with social justice issues will have to study for years to come. How can one be so meticulous in following every ‘proper’ step to seek justice only to see it thwarted at every turn?

To hear an arbitrator say that Domenici didn’t lie is beyond outrageous. Here’s a few things that are glaring.

During the preliminary hearings Domenici under oath emphatically stated that Oscar Grant had grabbed her arm. However when a video was shown it showed Grant holding on to the arm of his friend Jack Bryson.  When confronted with the video, Domenici recanted her statement.

Under oath Domenici claimed that there were 40-50 people on the BART platform, the scene was chaotic and she feared for her life.. Those were exact words-She feared for her life. However, when a video is shown.. there is NO ONE on the platform.. Where were the 50 people?  Not only that Domenici trained Black belt fighter which suggests a discipline and methodic approach toward dangerous situations, claimed she feared for her life, yet never called for back up..She also said that she would’ve used lethal force and killed somebody.

During the actual trial when Domenici took the stand she was confronted with her lies about 40-50 people being on the platform.. She tried to switch it up and say the train that was packed with passengers returning home from New year’s celebrations was ‘an extension’ of the platform. Yes, the train was packed, but no one was rowdy or jumping our confronting officers.

Domenici also claimed that Oscar friends caused his death by not co-operating. She made the claim they had struggled against her, but when questioned she noted that Grant’s friends didn’t struggle. What was crazy was Domenici had pulled out a taser and had pointed it at the heads of some of Grants friends threatening to shoot them which was not only against department protocol but also deemed unconstitutional by the 9th circuit court.

For folks in the Bay Area who have followed this case, from day one there was a call to have all the officers on that BART platform charged with crimes after Oscar Grant was murdered. While it was Johannes Mehserle who did the shooting, Domenici and her partner Tony Pirone who was also fired and now appealing, set the hostile climate that led to Grant’s death.

By deliberately exaggerating and making it sound like things were out of control, anyone the officers grabbed that night were likely to be subjected to harsh treatment. This is what happened to Grant and his friends.  Even after he was shot, he was handcuffed because the officers claimed the environment was hostile.

BART says the ruling to reinstate Domenici is out of their control. The ruling has left many in the Bay Area asking some hard questions: 1-How could Marysol Domenici be reinstated in the face of all her wrong doings? 2-Why has she not been charged with perjury? By all accounts she lied on the stands. Her sworn accounts do not coincide with what was shown on videos? They also change from the preliminary trial to the trial?  Why hasn’t Alameda DA Nancy O’Malley hit Domenici with perjury charges?  The statute of limitations have not run out? If not O’Malley should this question be brought to the feet of California’s new Attorney General Kamala Harris?

Many are vowing to keep pushing in the upcoming New Year. Thus far two years have hard work have been stomped on by a far right conservative judges, Robert Perry and now this arbitrator who says he found nothing untruthful. All one has to do is read her statements, look at the video and can see it clearly. It’s clear for some the admission that cops could do something so egregious is unfathomable and thus even in the face of something this glaring, they give the police benefit of the doubt. That has got to change in the New Year.

-Davey D-

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Oscar Grant Family Press Conference: The Trial, The Verdict & What the Mainstream Press Covered Up

July 11, 2010 By

Oscar Grant's Uncle, Cephus Johnson aka Uncle Bobby along with Minister Keith Muhammad.

Sat July 10 Oakland, Ca: There was a press conference held at True Vine Church Here organizers along with the Oscar Grant family returned from Los Angeles and gave a Community Report Back. They go in on the jury and the press.

Minister Keith Muhammad started off by presenting a detailed break down of what took place in the courtroom. Here are the links below..followed by a brief summary of what was talked about…

http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50228/ pt1

http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50231/ pt2

http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50226/ pt3

Minister Keith talked about the jury and the way they deliberated. He noted the instructions given to the jury and the steps they were supposed to take in determining a verdict. He explained the delays that took place  and what they met. He noted the instructions Judge Robert Perry gave to them. Folks need to hear this portion of the press conference and keep in mind many of the concerns that Minister Keith and the Grant family raise around how quickly the jury returned a verdict. On many levels, it seems the jury didn’t fully deliberate at all.

The issue of the jury’s racial make up is talked about and how the lack of African-Americans raised cause for concern and impacted the verdict. Los Angeles is almost 25% white but was 75% on the jury. The claim that there were no Black jurors available was outlandish. Minister Keith outlines what Judge Robert Perry insisted upon in terms of selecting a jury. Many people felt the prosecutor David Stein dropped the ball. As was pointed during this press conference, he was handcuffed by the specific instructions and method dictated by Judge Perry…

What’s most troubling is what was not reported by the mainstream press around both the jury deliberation and instruction. They also spoke about how harshly the family was treated when the jury was finally reached a verdict. They weren’t even allowed in the courtroom, by callous guards..

Below is the link to the podcast detailing the Jury selection and deliberation as well as how the family was treated in court. Minister Keith also lays out some key issues that were presented in court but covered up by mainstream media… What should be noted was during his presentation much of the mainstream local media was present from KPIX to ABC etc..I would encourage folks to listen to the presentation which is in 2 parts and see if any of this is reported. Ask yourself why it hasn’t been in the news.

http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50228/

The Harsh Treament of Oscar Grant’s Friends Both That Night & On the Stand

Killer cop Johannes Mehsersle

In pt2 of the Community Report back… Minister Keith lays out the under reported treatment of Oscar Grant’s friends who sat on the platform and witnessed their friend be killed in front of them. He talks about the harsh treatment they received by the police including taunts after Grant was killed. He explains how the young men some as young as 15 were handcuffed and made to sit in jail handcuffed for over 6 hours after Grant was killed and then informed that they were NOT arrested and were free to go.. This is beyond heartbreaking

Minister Keith details the testimony the boys gave in court and the video footage they took while on the platform. Key aspects to the boys testimony including how the Johannes Mehserle‘s defense attorney Michael Rains tried to mock them and assassinate their character when they took the stand. Hearing about what Oscar Grant’s friends endured is beyond troubling.

Also included are details around the judge’s treatment. The boys when seeing the video broke down in court and the jury was instructed to leave.. They did not want their tears to impact the jury. With Mehserle the jury was allowed to stay when he cried. Minister Keith also explains how Mehserle was coached on how to cry..

Included in this portion is a lot of other key elements the mainstream press witnessed and was presented yet decided not to include in any of their reports. The most glaring was the behavior of Mehserle’s partners and them using racial epithets..

They also lay out the role, the money spent and conflicting testimony delivered by the expensive expert witnesses that Mehserle brought forth. He spent 65k on one witnesses who attempted to tell everyone the dozens of videos showing Grant’s shooting were unreliable and inconclusive.

He spent 50k on another expert witness a former cop named Greg Meyer who tried to tell us that Mehserle meant to use his taser. What the mainstream press ommited was showing how Mehserle ion several occasion brandish his taser that night in attempts to taunt and intimidate Grant and his friends who were never charged with anything or legally arrested. Grant took a picture of Mehserle holding the taser two minutes before was killed.

Lying cops Marysol Domenici and Tony Pirone

It was also pointed out that the officers and media claimed that Grants friends were out of control and threatening, however none of the videos or police reports indicate this.

What was also glaring were the lies told by Mehserle’s partners Tony Pirone and Marysol Dominci.

Below is the podcast to part 2.. This is very detailed,,pay close attention..please pass it around.

http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50231/

Uncle Bobby Speaks to the Letter of Apology Released by Johannes Mehserle

Cephus Johnson aka Uncle Bobby is the uncle to Oscar Grant. Here he talks emphatically about the ‘apology letter’ sent by Johannes Mehserle. He says its garbage and fake. He explains that the letter was never addressed to him, Oscar’s mother Wanda, Tatiyana (Oscar’s daughter) or Sophena (the mother to Oscar’s daughter). He also talks about how Mehserle in his defense chose to assassinate Oscar’s character while invoking the policeman’s bill of rights to keep his hidden.

He noted that the letter was garbage and was as fake as the tears he shed on the stand. He said that Mehserle needs to spend 14 years in jail an then write a letter of apology and give it to the family privately. Cephus also explains the lies Mehserle detailed in his letter including how he attempted to attend to Grants aid after shooting him. Uncle Bobby points out that the video shows Mehserle handcuffing Oscar after he shot him..

Cephus also addresses the issue of violence during protest. he talks about police dressed as undercover agitating the crowds. Its later pointed out tht the family never called for violence. Its unfair to place blame on the family. Below is the podcast of the full press release and interview we did with Cephus Johnson. The video just shows a portion of his remarks.

http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/50226/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfYGQNZAeQc

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Killer Cop Johannes Mehserle Writes an Apology Letter-Is it a Sincere or Calculated Gesture?

July 10, 2010 By

So Johannes Mehserle wrote a letter of apology for killing Oscar Grant.. Is it the start of him trying to redeem himself? Is he truly remorseful or is this a perfectly timed gesture designed to get public sympathy and help lessen his sentence by making him appear a bit more humane in the eyes of the judge..The Grant family thinks its too little too late.. Most of us agree..

Yesterday during our Hard Knock Radio show, former Green Party vice presidential candidate Rosa Clemente noted that if Mehserle was really sorry, how about pleading guilty and serving time for the crime he committed.  I would add to that suggestion and say that Mehserle if he was really sorry would testify against his lying partners Tony Pirone and Marysol Dominici.

This man had plenty of time to apologize and yet he waited to the 11th hour when he’s about to be sentenced to apologize.. Sounds like straight bullshit to most of us.. But since he’s in the introspective apologetic mood, lets see if he’ll extend that apology to all the people who witnessed his actions and were traumaticized further when his lying partner rushed onto the BART train snatching cell phones from people who filmed the incident.

Will Mehserle apologize to Kenneth Carrethers the 41 year old Black man he beat 6 weeks prior to killing Grant? An apology with no action to help heal are just hallow words

-Davey D-

Killer cop Johannes Mehersele wrote a letter of apology..Is that enough to heal wonds?

SAN FRANCISCO — The former San Francisco Bay area police officer convicted of killing an unarmed black man in an Oakland train station wrote a letter apologizing to the victim’s family, saying he’ll forever “live, breathe, sleep and not sleep” with memories of the “terrible event,” according to a copy released by his lawyer Friday.

Johannes Mehserle said in the handwritten letter that he “never intended” to shoot 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who died of a gunshot wound to the back after being pulled off a Bay Area Rapid Transit train on New Year’s Day 2009.

The emotional letter is dated July 4, four days before a Los Angeles jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.

“For now, and forever I will live, breathe, sleep, and not sleep with the memory of Mr. Grant screaming “You shot me” and putting my hands on the bullet wound thinking the pressure would help while I kept telling him “You’ll be okay!” Mehserle said in the letter, released by attorney Michael Rains.

Thursday’s verdict outraged Grant’s family and touched off violent protest in Oakland, where the case has enflamed racial tensions.

Mehserle, 28, testified during his trial that he struggled with Grant and saw him digging in his pocket as officers responded to reports of a fight at a train station.

Fearing Grant may have a weapon, Mehserle said he decided to shock Grant with his Taser but pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead. Grant was shot as he lay face-down.

The jury found that Mehserle didn’t mean to kill Grant, but that his behavior was still so negligent that it was criminal.

Mehserle’s letter made no mention of his intention to pull a Taser. He also said he had wanted to communicate with Grant’s family in the days after the shooting but was prevented by death threats to him and his family and friends.

“I have and will continue to live everyday of my life knowing that Mr. Grant should not have been shot,” he wrote. “It saddens me knowing that my actions cost Mr. Grant his life, no words express how truly sorry I am.”

original article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gT6GJGL3quMPjCe1oU1W2zvpFfcAD9GRP6NO0

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Justice 4 Oscar Grant (We Take a Look Back)pt1: Meeting w/the DA-Rally at Fruitvale

July 1, 2010 By

Today (July 1 2010) closing arguments began in the Oscar Grant trial. Its been a long time coming and a remarkable feat that we even got this far. The community spent a good 18 months organizing, struggling and resolving important issues around this case.

It was remarkable that folks came together in spite having different approaches and takes on how to go about doing things. There were church goers, militant folks, older, younger etc.  Lots of conversations, tense moments, but collective action at the end of the day…

Below are several videos that show what took place the day of the first rally for Oscar Grant at Fruitvale Bart on Jan 7th 2009.  It’s important to understand the full backdrop. First, people were still on a high that we had elected our first Black President Barack Obama. Many were excitedly gearing up to the inauguration. There was alot of hope and anticipation that a new day was coming…

For folks in Oakland, the murder of Oscar Grant at the hands of white officers including one (Tony Pirone) who called him a bitch ass nigger moments before he was shot, was a huge wake up call that we were not in a post racial society and on many levels it would be business as usual. The fact that Grant’s murder took place in front of hundreds of people, many who recorded this on cell phones spoke volumes. It was brazen. It was unthinkable and it was taken as  symbolic of the resentment and anger many percieved white folks having because of us having a Black President.  That was the talk early on in january of 2009.

Second thing to keep in mind.. 7 days had gone by and there had not been an announcement , press conference or any public statement from Mayor Ron Dellums or the District Attorney Tom Orloff about what many had started calling an execution. BART had a spokesperson speak to this, but no one from their board that oversaw the agency had come forth. In the meantime, residents were seeing this video being played over and over again which each day a new and clearer video surfacing.

This thing about the videos was important because one of the most troubling aspects of the shooting were BART police jumping on trains snatching people’s cell phones saying they were needed for evidence. To this day there’s no telling what was kept, erased altered etc..Again many were upset about the police taking cell phones which recorded this murder and there was no action taken agaisnt the police.

January 7th 2009 was the date of  Oscar Grant’s funeral. That morning, close to 100 clergy, activists and elected officials in Oakland’s Black community came to the steps of the Alameda County courthouse and held a press conference to announce their intention to secure a meeting with District Attormey Tom Orloff who up to that point had dismissed their requests both invidually and collectively. Peep the videos as they speak for themselves and provide a sense of what was going on at that time. All this went down before the riots/ rebellion that would take place later that evening..

This video shows a few of the many remarks that took place on the courthouse steps prior to the 100 Black Leaders entering the building to see District Attorney Tom Orloff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dlwf3osfeU

This video shows what went down once people crowded into the lobby and asked to see the district Attorney. Keep in mind, folks including elected officials had been trying to meet with Orloff a day or two after Grant got shot. On the 7th day they said enough is enough and folks headed on down to his office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEVcllimLHE

After an hour of haggling District Attorney Tom Orloff finally agreed to meet with the group but would not allow press into the meeting.  He also said No recordings. For the first 15 minutes he was pretty dismissive of people’s concerns.. I pulled out my camera when he told one of the elders that he had no intention to go out and inform the community why he had not pressed charges. He said that job was on us as community leaders. I pulled out my camera at that point.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biU2Eza9p50

Below is a video of the start of the rally at Fruitvale BART on Jan 7th 2009. It was the same day that 100 Black Leaders were initially rebuffed by Thomas Orloff the DA who even after finally meeting did not offer to press charges on Johannes Mehserle the officer who killed Oscar Grant…

The rally at Fruivale BART took place later that afternoon and was put together by a newly formed group called CAPE Coalition against Police Executions..It was also the day of Oscar Grant’s funeral and many people were returning from there to the rally. Folks were very emotional.

What you’re seeing are excerpts from that rally… At the end of the video you see one of the more visible, outspoken and militant  figures during many of Oscar Grant protests.  His name is Mandingo Hayes he’s an activist who was later accused of being a police informant and a former pimp after a February 8  2003 Oakland Tribune article surfaced.  It’s a claim he has denied. You can see that article both online or in this California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice PDF on pg 13 where they have a report about how police informants are being used.

In the clip he is shown encouraging folks to leave the rally and go down to BART headquarters. His push was in direct conflict with what CAPE organizers wanted.. The back story to this was Hayes and his people were already at Fruitvale BART when rally organizers arrived. He had set up camp, was standing on top of the turnstyles and had pretty much shut down the station.. He wasn’t feeling the ‘peace and prayer’ vibe the organizers were putting out and let it be known. He kept calling for folks to take action..

Rally organizers tried to work out a compromise as they wanted to keep things more peaceful..

Eventually Hayes got back on the mic and made his call for folks to leave.. He and a crowd of about 50-100 people broke off and went downtown .. the rest is history.. It was the precurosr to what many call the Oakland Rebellion..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phvA-2E1-yM

We continue looking back in the days after Oscar Grant’s death. This is more footage from the Rally at Fruitvale, just before the the riots/rebellions that took place in downtown that evening… Here you hear you see and hear controversial figure Mandingo Hayes hyping the crowd talking about he’s ready for action.. We also speak with rapper Deuce Eclipse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooWr-RhovPg

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Coundown to the Oscar Grant Vedict/ Why Are Police beating Our Kids?

June 30, 2010 By

Click HERE to listen to Breakdown FM podcast

Click HERE: http://bit.ly/9IlXCm

Breaking News Update Wed June 30 2010:

Judge has taken 1st degree murder off the table. Jury will choose from 2nd degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter… Closing arguments will start tomorrow…Mehserle’s lawyer wanted jury to choose either murder 1 or acquital. Many speculated getting murder1 would be difficult.

As the historic Oscar Grant trial comes to a close in Los Angeles we wanted to share a crucial update as to what is going on in the trial. For those who are unaware, for the first time in the history of the state of California, a police officer (Johannes Mehserle) was brought to trail and charged with murder after shooting and killing someone while on duty.

An unarmed, completely subdued Grant was shot in the back as he lay face down on New Year’s morning ’09 in front of hundreds of people on a BART subway station in Oakland. Mehserle claims he thought he reached for his taser instead of his gun. It’s a story the community wasn’t and has never brought especially when it was revealed that Mehserle was heard shouting “I thought he had a gun’.

If he had a gun, then why reach for your taser?

The community became even more enraged when it was discovered that moments before Grant was killed, Mehserle’s  partner Tony Pirone who was recently fired had called Grant a ‘bitch ass nigger’ before he was shot.

The community was even more enraged when it was discovered that Mehserle just six weeks earlier in an unprovoked attacked had severely beaten a 41-year-old Black man named Kenneth Carrethers after he was overheard complaining about how inefficient the police were at stopping crime…

We caught up with Minister of Information-JR who is the associate editor of the SF Bayview and heads up the Block Report Radio. He’s been down in LA covering the trial even after he and several other Black men under 40 were kicked out of court for a variety of un-related reasons. In our podcast JR explains why this has been going on in what many are saying is a highly biased court.

Expert witness Greg Meyers said there was no excessive use of force during the Rodney King trail. Of course he is defending Johannes Mehserle

In this interview JR talks about some of the ‘expert’ witness that have come forward in defense of Mehserle including a former LA police captain Greg Meyer who claimed that Grant when shot was resisting arrest. It’s an outlandish conclusion considering Grant was shown completely restrained with the larger Mehserle sitting on his back. however one should not be surprised, considering it was Meyer who sat on the witness stand during the Rodney King trail and claimed there was no excessive use of force.  I guess the estimated 30 thousand dollars paid to Meyer didn’t hurt when giving his testimony.

We also spoke to JR about the media blackout on the case especially in the LA area and offer up some reasons why this is happening.

In the latest update another expert witness is claiming that Mehserle was so stressed out that he became temporarily blind which is why he shot Grant. What’s taking place at this trial is unbelievable.

Today June 30th the judge will be meeting with lawyers to discuss what the options are for jurors. Mehserle’s high-priced lawyer Michael Rain is pushing for an all or nothing ruling. In short either convict him of murder or acquit him. The prosecutor wants the jury to have options so Mehserle doesn’t walk.

Sadly the judge on the trial Robert Perry has history of siding with the police as was evidence during the infamous Rampart Scandal in LA when he let the cops off the hook.

Also as we speak Oakland police have been planting seeds of fear in the community by warning people of impending riots. Last night KRON 4 reported that as much as 21 thousand national guards are on alert and ready to move in on Oakland. All off vacationing officers have been called back into the city with police as far away as Oregon ready to join in.

Why Are Police Beating Our Kids-What Should We be Doing?

In pt 2 of our podcast we sat down with community activist and former Seattle mayoral candidate Wyking Allah and  Paradise Gray of X-Clan and One Hood out in Pittsburgh to talk about the recent rash of police brutality incidents where children as young as 7 have been the victims.

Wyking does an excellent job putting things in historical context and offering solid solution for communities to follow. He noted that much of what he suggested were key tenets on his platform for mayor.

Paradise Gray updates us on two key cases in Pittsburgh. One involves the beatings that took place last fall when officers stormed the University of Pittsburgh campaus looking for anarchists. Unsuspecting students were tear-gased, beaten and arrested. There was major investigation with the police being found in the wrong.. The other incident involves honor student Jordan Miles who was beaten and had his dread locks ripped out his head by a rogue group of martial art expert police dubbed the ‘Jump Out Boys‘.

Gray also speaks about the incident of Pamela Lawton who had a police officer stick his gun in the face of her crying 7 year old after she was pulled over for a traffic violation.

Like Wyking, Paradise lays out a number of solutions for us and our communities to follow.

Click HERE to listen to Breakdown FM Podcast

Click Here: http://bit.ly/d27VNG

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White Cop Calls Oscar Grant a ‘Bitch Ass Nigger’ -Moments Before He was Shot

June 30, 2009 By

daveydbanner

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Oscargrantgreen-225(06-28) 17:20 PDT — Overlooked in the court hearing that ended in former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle being ordered tried for murder in the slaying of Oscar Grant was testimony about another officer’s explosive outburst just 30 seconds before Grant was shot.

One of the videos made by riders at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland early New Year’s Day caught Officer Tony Pirone standing over the prone Grant and yelling, “Bitch-ass n-.”

Pirone and his attorney say he was parroting an epithet that Grant first hurled at him – though Grant’s voice is not audible on the tape.

The sound-enhanced tape shows Pirone delivering a shoulder chop to Grant and bringing him to the ground. Pirone can be heard saying twice, “Bitch-ass n-, right?”

Prosecutors showed the tape in court on the last day of Mehserle’s preliminary hearing, but the headlines went to the judge’s decree hours later that there was enough evidence to send Mehserle to trial for murder.

Under questioning from Mehserle’s attorney Michael Rains, Pirone insisted it was Grant who had first “called me a bitch-ass n-.”

Asked if he had repeated the slur to Grant, Pirone testified: “I don’t remember, but it very well may have happened.”

“Is that something you would have initiated on your own, calling him names?” Rains asked.

“No, I don’t talk like that,” Pirone said.

Oakland attorney John Burris, who is representing Grant’s family in a lawsuit against BART, called Pirone’s words “shocking and disturbing.”

“Pirone was out of control,” Burris said, “assaulting Oscar Grant and taunting him with racial slurs, and none of the other officers seemed to put him in check.”

Pirone’s attorney, William Rapoport, dismissed Burris’ assertion – reiterating that Pirone, who is white, was simply reacting in surprise to being called the “N” word himself.

Mehserle, who is white, was not accused by prosecutors or Grant’s family of a racial motive in the shooting of Grant, a 22-year-old African American whom BART officers pulled off a train after receiving reports of an onboard fight.

A spokesman for the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training in Sacramento declined to weigh in on whether Pirone’s comments would be cause for discipline or even firing, citing an internal BART probe of the shooting.

Peter Keane, a Golden Gate University law professor and former San Francisco police commissioner, said that determining whether Pirone’s comments were grounds for discipline depends on whether he was intending to use a racial epithet or just echoing Grant in a “sense of incredulity.”

But without Grant’s voice on the tape, Keane said, “the burden of proof moves heavily to Pirone.”

The race is on: State Attorney General Jerry Brown bests San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom by 20 points in a new, two-way poll for next year’s Democratic gubernatorial contest.

The poll by JMM Research of 525 Democratic and decline-to-state voters is the first snapshot since Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced last week that he wasn’t running.

With Villaraigosa in the lineup, the numbers read:

— Brown, 33 percent.

— Newsom, 20 percent.

— Villaraigosa, 17 percent.

Take the L.A. mayor out, and it’s:

— Brown, 46 percent.

— Newsom, 26 percent.

Brown does best with the voters over 40, who tend to turn out in bigger numbers on election day. Newsom thrives with the younger crowd, which he hopes to turn out big time, a la Barack Obama.

 Geographically, Brown beats Newsom everywhere but the Bay Area.

Whichever candidate they support, the one thing Democrats overwhelmingly agree on is the sad state of the state, with 73 percent saying California is headed in the wrong direction.

Budget bingo: Publicly, San Francisco’s budget battle is being pitched as a fight with Mayor Gavin Newsom, cops and firefighters on one side, and the Board of Supervisors and advocates of social programs on the other.

But behind the scenes, the fight is also between two major labor groups: the Service Employees International Union, which represents most of the city’s health and social workers, and the police and fire unions.

Service worker unions have helped elect a number of the supervisors. The police and firefighter unions are big backers of the mayor, and opposed many of the supervisors.

The first round went to the service workers when the supervisors voted to cut $82.9 million from the police, fire and sheriff’s departments and use it for health and social services.

But now, it’s dawning on everyone that the city will probably need even more money to keep everyone happy, which means going to the ballot in November with some kind of tax hike. And any kind of tax hike is going to need police and firefighter support to pass.

Which may explain why the service and firefighters unions have been meeting on the QT in the hopes of working out a compromise.

And if they do – City Hall will follow.

Banmiller bows: After taking a good, hard look at the numbers, business newscaster Brian Banmiller has decided to stay out of the race to replace outgoing East Bay Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher.

 “They weren’t kidding around when they redistricted the 10th,” the Republican said of the district, which includes portions of Solano and Contra Costa counties. “They said they were going to make it safe for Democrats, and it is.”

EXTRA! Catch our blog at www.sfgate.com/matierandross.

Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Phil can be seen on the KPIX morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or e-mail matierandross@sfchronicle.com.

source: http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/matierandross/

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