Johannes Mehserle Arrested in Nevada For Murder of Oscar Grant

SF Chronicle Reports:

Johannes Mehserle, 27, of Lafayette was taken into custody in Douglas County, Nev., said Deputy Steve Velez of the Douglas County sheriff’s office. The arrest was also confirmed by David Chai, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.

Mehserle was arrested in the New Year’s Day shootin iin Ng of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old supermarket worker from Hayward who was lying facedown after being pulled off a BART train by police investigating a fight. An Alameda County judge signed an arrest warrant alleging murder, and Mehserle surrendered without incident, authorities said

ources said Mehserle was in Nevada because he feared for his safety after death threats were made against him. Douglas County is 15 miles south of Carson City in northwestern Nevada and includes part of Lake Tahoe…

Mehserle’s attorney, Christopher W. Miller of Sacramento, confirmed early today that his client was arrested on suspicion of murder. He said he would not comment further until a news conference today…

Alameda County District Attorney and the BART Police Chief had this to say [from LA Now]

“At this point, what I feel the evidence indicates that is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act and as for the evidence, we have nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder,” Orloff said at the news conference in Oakland. “That doesn’t mean that evidence could not develop in the future.”

When BART Police Chief Gary Gee, who also attended the news conference, was asked if race was a factor in the incident, he said: “I can tell you from the first 12, 13 days of this investigation, we have not found any nexus to race that provoked this to happen.”

UPDATE:  San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Mehserle sent another BART passenger to the hospital six weeks before the shooting:

The incident ended with Mehserle and three other officers grabbing Oakland resident Kenneth Carrethers, binding his arms and legs and taking him to a Pleasanton hospital. There, he was treated for face and chest bruises before being booked into county jail for resisting arrest.

“I got beat up,” Carrethers said today in his attorney’s office in San Francisco, where he told the story of his Nov. 15, 2008, confrontation at BART’s Coliseum Station.

“He had a really cocky, you-can’t-touch me attitude,” Carrethers said. “He figured he was better than everybody else and that they better do what he wanted them to do.”

Carrethers said he was on his way home from work and leaving the station with another passenger when, according to Carrethers and Mehserle’s BART police report, Mehserle and other officers overheard him making disparaging remarks about police officers.