Jury selection begins in BART cop trial

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Jury selection began in San Francisco in a federal civil rights trial of a former transit officer that may reveal past use-of-force abuses, prosecutors said.

At issue is whether former Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Officer Johannes Mehserle and four other BART officers used excessive force on Kenneth Carrethers, 43, who is seeking damages, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday. Mehersle, 29, served 11 months of a two-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter for the shooting death of unarmed train rider Oscar Grant Jan. 1, 2009.

Opening statements may begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court, in a case that led to reporting and procedural changes on the part of BART officers, the newspaper said.

Carrethers, whose car previously had been burglarized, alleges late in the evening Nov. 15, 2008, outside the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART Station, he berated the officers as being useless, the Chronicle said.

Carrethers' attorney, Christopher Dolan, wrote in a court filing that Mehserle grabbed Carrethers from behind and took him to the ground with a leg sweep, and that the officers punched and kicked Carrethers and fastened his arms and legs together and carried him off "by the strap of the hog tie."

As Mehserle and another officer transported Carrethers to the hospital, Mehserle allegedly turned around and said, "Well, have you learned not to mess with police officers?"

Dale Allen, a BART attorney representing Mehserle and officers Robert Haney, Douglas Horner, Frederick Guanzon and Keith Smith who still work for the agency, said in court papers Carrethers' account "relates a version of events materially different from that of the five officers and two station agents" at the scene. BART alleges Carrethers shouted a stream of profanities and threats at officers and refused to leave -- and then advancing toward Guanzon with clenched fists.