![]() ![]() A graduate of of the USC School for Cinematic Arts, Coogler felt he was the right person to humanize Grant through cinema-rather than allow parts of the media to keep painting Grant as a criminal, Coogler wanted to find out more about who Grant really was: a son, a father, a friend. And now, over four years after Grant's untimely death, there's an award-winning film about it, Fruitvale Station, that's on the verge of becoming a major awards season contender.įruitvale Station (opening in limited theatrical release tomorrow before expanding nationwide) is the feature film debut of writer-director Ryan Coogler, 27, an Oakland native who was one of Oscar Grant's peers at the time of his passing. In July 2010, Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years behind bars (he was released from prison after 11 months, however). Angry citizens violently rioted throughout Oakland, prefacing a peaceful protest on January 7. The video footage circulated to millions of viewers online. And it was all captured via several camera phones and mobile recording devices. Mehserle, like everyone else present, was stunned at what he'd done. Whatever the case, though, Officer Johannes Mehserle, in the midst of the heated commotion, shot Grant once in the back. After the fact, the cops said he began resisting the arrest Grant's friends said he did nothing of the sort. Grant, specifically, was told to lie on the ground, on his stomach. ![]() Grant and a few of his boys were pulled to the side, told to sit against a wall. They were stopped at the Fruitvale Station of the BART, or the Bay Area Rapid Transit, by police officers. Oscar Grant-a 22-year-old black ex-con from San Francisco's Bay Area-was on his way home from celebrating New Year's with his girlfriend, Sophina, and their closest friends. It was an all too familiar, entirely senseless American tragedy. ![]()
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