Oscar Grant Abuse Power

When it comes to Police, most people have many mixed opinions about them. Some view them as honest defenders of society that uphold the law while others view them as rotten & corrupt people that abuse power. Even when you have done nothing but get pulled over, a sense of anxiety kicks in, not because you have done something, but because you know the possibilities of what could happen. There have been many cases of police abusing their power in situations, whether it is in fiction such as Khalil being shot dead for a traffic stop, or in real life such as Oscar Grant being shot while on the ground because he was supposedly “resisting” arrest. This is known as Police Brutality, in which officers abuse their authority and perform brutal actions,

Oscar Grant was a 22-year-old male who was heading home on a train in Oakland, California. A fight broke out, and when officers arrived, they detained Grant, believing he was one of the passengers that were involved in the fight and they detained him. Once he was on the ground and restrained, Officer Merserle, the one who arrested Grant, pulled out his pistol and shot him in the back, causing the bullet to enter through the back, ricochet off the ground, and back into his lung. Oscar Grant died 7 hours later in the Hospital. Later on, Officer Merserle was charged with multiple charges such as involuntary manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter, & second-degree murder. He was only charged with involuntary manslaughter and served 14 months in prison. While he took away the years of someone who had a long life ahead of them, officer Merserle only had 14 months taken away from him and got back out to live his

When it comes to situations like these, the officer has to ensure that the person being arrested is in good hands and makes it out in 1 piece alive. Therefore, officers should be held accountable for their actions if it results in the injury or death of the person being arrested if it could have been prevented. If an officer has to pull out his weapon to defend himself from an armed man with a gun, then arresting wouldn’t be much of the priority, but pacification should take priority instead in this case. As for a normal routine traffic stop, the officer should focus on writing out the check or arresting the person for the crime they have committed, especially if the person has shown no signs of violent or hostile behavior. In this case, Officers should be charged and held accountable if the use of deadly force was considered unnecessary and the death or injury of the defendant could have been prevented. If the use of force was considered necessary in the given situation, then that would be an example of when officers should use deadly force. If they abuse that force given their status or use it unnecessarily, they should have their status of a cop removed and forced to take classes on how to handle situations better, as well as be charged reasonably for the crime that they committed, even if it was an accident. If it