Tag Archives: spurred-several

(CNN) — A former police officer who is white was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Thursday in the killing of an unarmed black man in Oakland, California. Johannes Mehserle, who was a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer at the time of the incident, was convicted in the shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant on a California train platform on January 1, 2009. Mehserle, who was on duty at the time, said at the trial that he intended to draw and fire his Taser rather than his gun, CNN affiliate KTVU reported. The shooting was captured on a bystander's cell-phone video camera. The video was widely circulated, and it spurred several protests and riots in and around Oakland. added by: TimALoftis