What really happened in Fruitvale Station?
Ten years after BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle killed Oscar Grant, and six years after the shooting was depicted in the film “ Fruitvale Station ,” the incident is recalled by many observers as the most seismic moment for police accountability since the 1991 beating of Rodney King, which also was caught on video.
Is Fruitvale Station a good movie?
The critical consensus states: "Passionate and powerfully acted, Fruitvale Station serves as a celebration of life, a condemnation of death, and a triumph for star Michael B. Jordan."
Did Fruitvale Station sell out screenings in Oakland?
" ' Fruitvale Station' sells out screenings in Oakland". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 20, 2013. ^ Knegt, Peter (July 14, 2013). "Specialty Box Office: 'Fruitvale Station' Huge In Limited Debut; 'Way, Way Back' Expands Strong".
Who are the actors in Fruitvale Station?
Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly and Octavia Spencer also star. Fruitvale Station debuted under its original title Fruitvale at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film.
Does Oscar survive in Fruitvale Station?
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — 13 years have passed since Oscar Grant was shot and killed by a former BART police officer at Oakland's Fruitvale station and on New Year's Day 2009. A vigil was held in Oakland in Grant's honor.
How was Oscar Grant murdered?
Grant, a 24-year-old Black man, had no weapons and was being held down on his stomach on a Fruitvale BART station platform when transit cop Johannes Mehserle fired a fatal shot into his back. The incident led to massive protests and murder charges for Mehserle.
Why did Oscar Grant get shot?
Mehserle attempted to handcuff Grant as Pirone held Grant down with his knee. When he could not get Grant's hands, Mehserle pulled out his gun. Within seven minutes of Pirone arriving on the platform, Oscar Grant was fatally shot. "Nothing happened to him and that's what's so disheartening and so upsetting to me.
How much time did Oscar Grant's killer get?
Nearly 80 people were eventually arrested. On November 5, 2010, Mehserle was sentenced to two years, minus time served. He served his time in Los Angeles County Jail protective custody, held in a private cell for his safety. On June 13, 2011, Mehserle was released under parole after serving 11 months.
What happened to the police that killed Oscar?
Johannes Mehserle, the officer who shot Grant, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in July 2010 and served 11 months in county jail. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release that the state's justice department will conduct a review into Anthony Pirone's involvement in the shooting.
What happened Trayvon Martin?
On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American boy.
Where is Oscar Grant buried?
Hayward cemeteryThey were inseparable in life. Now, they're inseparable in death. Buried shoulder-to-shoulder in a Hayward cemetery, their tombstones arranged in a neat row, Oscar Grant III, Johntue Caldwell and Kristofer Raffety's lives all were cut short by a bullet.
Does Tatiana Grant have an Instagram?
Tatiana Grant (@tatianadgrant) • Instagram photos and videos.
Is Fruitvale station based on a true story?
It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland.
Who is Eric Garner?
Eric Garner (September 15, 1970 – July 17, 2014) was an African-American man. He was a horticulturist at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation before quitting for health reasons.
Where is the Fruitvale station located?
3401 East 12th Street, Oakland, CaliforniaFruitvale station is a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located in the Fruitvale District of Oakland, California, United States. The elevated station has two side platforms....Fruitvale station.FruitvaleLocation3401 East 12th Street, Oakland, CaliforniaCoordinates37.7748°N 122.2241°WLine(s)BART A-LinePlatforms2 side platforms20 more rows
Who killed Oscar Grant?
Ten years after BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle killed Oscar Grant, and six years after the shooting was depicted in the film “ Fruitvale Station ,” the incident is recalled by many observers as the most seismic moment for police accountability since the 1991 beating of Rodney King, which also was caught on video.
When was Oscar Grant shot?
This composite image, made from a cell phone video released by attorney John Burris, shows the moments before and immediately after Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant on the Fruitvale BART station platform on Jan. 1, 2009. (Top left) BART police officers talk to Oscar Grant as he sits against the wall at the Fruitvale station platform.
Why did Judge Perry say that Mehserle would have been justified in using the Taser?
In comments during sentencing that elated the defense and outraged Grant’s family, Judge Perry said Mehserle would have been justified in using the Taser because Grant was resisting the attempts to handcuff him. Mehserle’s “weapons confusion” was owed in part to BART’s poor training of its officers and to “near-riot” conditions at the train station, Perry said. Mehserle, he added, was deeply remorseful.
What hand did Pirone hold on Grant?
Pirone’s left hand was pressing Grant’s head into the platform, and Pirone’s right hand was holding Grant’s right arm — the same one Mehserle said he had struggled with — behind his back.
Why did Pirone arrest Grant?
After Pirone and Grant shouted profanities at each other, Pirone told Mehserle — who had arrived after driving to the station in a patrol car — to arrest Grant for resisting, announcing that “this motherf—er is going to jail.”
How old was Mehserle when he was shot?
Mehserle grew up in Napa and was a 27-year-old Lafayette resident, working as a BART police officer at the time of the shooting. He testified during his trial that he got into law enforcement in 2006 in part based on the recommendation of a friend who had joined the Stockton police force. He wanted to help people, it sounded exciting and the pay was good, Mehserle said. He joined BART in March 2007.
How long is Mehserle in jail?
Jurors were given the option of convicting Mehserle of second-degree murder (punishable by a sentence of 15 years to life in prison), voluntary manslaughter (three to 11 years), involuntary manslaughter (two to four years) or nothing at all. For each of the three possible crimes, Judge Robert Perry gave jurors two theories under which they could convict.
Who is the actress who plays Fruitvale Station?
Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly and Octavia Spencer also star. Fruitvale Station debuted under its original title Fruitvale at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won ...
How much did Fruitvale Station make?
A week after its debut, Fruitvale Station expanded to 35 theaters and garnered $742,272 for a $21,832 per-screen average. The film opened nationwide on July 26 in more than 1,000 locations. It ranked #10 at the box office, earning $4.59 million. The film has grossed $16,101,339 in the United States and $1,284,491 elsewhere, for a worldwide total of $17,385,830.
What is the rating of Fruitvale Station?
Fruitvale Station has a 94% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.10/10, based on 213 reviews. The critical consensus states: "Passionate and powerfully acted, Fruitvale Station serves as a celebration of life, a condemnation of death, and a triumph for star Michael B. Jordan." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 85, based on 46 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". CinemaScore reported that audiences gave an "A" average grade.
Where was Fruitvale Station filmed?
Filming. Fruitvale Station was shot in Oakland, California, for 20 days in July 2012. Scenes were shot at and around the Bay Area Rapid Transit platform where Grant was killed. BART agreed to let the crew film at the Fruitvale BART station for three four-hour nights.
When was Oscar Grant killed?
The film depicts the last day of the life of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of January 1, 2009. The movie begins with the actual footage of Grant and his friends being detained by BART Police at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on January 1, 2009, at 2:15 a.m., right before the shooting.
Who composed the music for Fruitvale Station?
Soundtrack. The musical score to Fruitvale Station was composed by Coogler's fellow USC graduate Ludwig Göransson, who said of the scoring process: "Ryan and I talked a lot about how sound design was going to have a huge role in the movie and very early on I got sent the actual sound recordings of the Bart [sic] Train.
Who killed Oscar Grant?
It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man who was killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland .
How old is Oscar Grant in Fruitvale Station?
Fruitvale Station opens with real cameraphone footage of the events of 1 January 2009, then flashes back to explore the final day in the life of 22-year-old Oscar Grant (played with superb realism by Michael B Jordan, previously seen in The Wire and Friday Night Lights). Though dramatic licence has been used in the reconstruction of these events, the facts are straight. Grant had recently been fired from his supermarket job; he had a girlfriend (played by Melonie Diaz, also excellent) and daughter; his past included selling drugs and spending time in prison. Accusations that the film makes him simplistically heroic are absurd. Grant is shown to be a complicated character, whose thoughtfulness and kindness are balanced by a too quick and sometimes uncontrollable temper (taken out on his mother and his ex-boss) and a tendency to lie (he has cheated on his girlfriend, and pretends he hasn't lost his job).
What is the story of Fruitvale Station?
Many historical films deal with grand events, like wars or revolutions. Fruitvale Station is a quiet, unassuming story about the shooting of one ordinary man. In context, though, it is part of a significant historical story. It is estimated that one in three black men in the US today will be incarcerated at some point in their lifetimes; a report by one activist organisation has claimed that a black man was killed by police, security guards or self-appointed vigilantes every 28 hours in 2012. Fruitvale Station was released in July 2013 – coincidentally, just as George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Who intervened in the drama at Fruitvale Station?
Police intervene in the drama at Fruitvale Station. Photograph: Everett Collection/Rex
Who plays Daniel Cale in Fruitvale Station?
Advertisement. In Fruitvale Station, the Horowitch character, called Daniel Cale (Joey Oglesby), is introduced briefly in the flashback scene of Oscar in jail; during his mother’s visit, the two get into a shouting match after Cale makes a disparaging remark, setting the stage for their later scuffle on the train.
Who was the officer that killed Oscar Grant?
Fruitvale Station, directed by Ryan Coogler, portrays the last day in the life of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer named Johannes Mehserle in Oakland early on New Year’s Day in 2009. The film eschews the incident’s considerable aftermath—protests, trials, ...
What was the charge against Mehserle?
Correction, July 12, 2013: This post originally stated that Mehserle was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Mehserle was charged with murder.
How much did Grant's family get paid for his death?
Grant’s family filed a wrongful death suit for $50 million; in 2010, his daughter, Tatiana, received a settlement of $1.5 million to be paid out to her until her 30 th birthday. The following year, a settlement was reached with Grant’s mother, who received $1.3 million.
Who is Oscar Grant's mother?
Wanda Johnson, the mother of Oscar Grant, points to his picture on her shirt, outside a pretrial hearing for the BART officer who killed him. Mark Ralston/Getty Images. Advertisement. New Year’s Eve. Much of the action in Fruitvale Station surrounds Oscar’s mother’s birthday, which may seem like a dramatic contrivance.
Was Oscar a saint?
Coogler, himself an Oakland native, has said that during the trial that followed the shooting, “Oscar was either cast as a saint who had never done anything wrong in his life, or he was painted as a monster who got what he deserved that night,” and that he hopes the film will restore Grant’s “humanity.”.
Who was the man on the train that knew Grant?
In court documents filed by the Superior Court in August 2009, one witness on the train claimed that Grant and another man—later identified as David Horowitch, who knew Grant when they were both inmates in jail—were in “ nothing more than a wrestling match ” after someone made a comment about Horowitch’s son.
Who played the character in Fruitvale Station?
Hoping to stir the public, though, the film dances around the facts. Its first problem is how to handle its 22-year-old subject (played by Michael B. Jordan ), who was a small-time criminal who cheated on his girlfriend and had been fired from a job at a grocery store. All of these flaws are depicted in the film, but nevertheless “Fruitvale Station,” a debut effort from young filmmaker Ryan Coogler, tries to fit a halo on its subject, seemingly to play up the audience’s sympathies.
What was Mehserle's defense in Fruitvale Station?
Mehserle’s defense was that he thought he was reaching for his Taser instead of his pistol, a claim that is presented as faintly absurd in the closing titles of the film. But in reality one of Grant’s friends in Fruitvale Station, Jackie Bryson, said he heard Mehserle say he was going to use his Taser on Grant “a couple of seconds” before he did so. Mehserle stepped back (a move consistent with operating a Taser) and after firing the fatal pistol shot immediately displayed a look of anguish and horror, many witnesses said.
What did Grant throw away in the movie?
Coogler also fabricated a scene in which Grant, a convicted drug dealer, throws away a bag of marijuana to indicate to the audience that he will be a changed man with the new year: The first few hours of Jan. 1, 2009 would be his last spent alive.
Who shot Grant?
Activists call the slaying an “execution.” But there is simply no reason to think Johannes Mehserle, the then-cop who shot Grant and was the first California police officer to be charged with murder in the course of making an arrest, did so out of depraved indifference or racial animus. Even if Mehserle had been a horrible racist who had gotten out of bed that morning vowing to kill an unarmed black person, why would he have done so in front of dozens of people, many of them filming the incident from a distance of a few yards on a well-lit transit platform?
Did Grant get punched in the face?
Nor is there any compelling evidence that one of the police officers arresting a group of young men, including Grant after a scuffle on a BART train, punched Grant in the face. Nor did Grant participate in a joyous, life-affirming group dance on the train in the final moments of 2008. As Variety’s review noted, “Even if every word of Coogler’s account of the last day in Grant’s life held up under close scrutiny, the film would still ring false in its relentlessly positive portrayal of its subject.”
Was Oscar Grant tasered?
Moreover Grant (unmentioned in the film) had already fled from, and eventually been Tasered by, a cop after a 2006 traffic stop. The death of Oscar Grant, then, was not a vicious or depraved attack of the kind that should spark rallies and riots and federal charges.
Overview
Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid Transit train returning from San Francisco, BART Police officers detained Grant and several other passengers on the platform at the Fruitvale BART Station. BART officer Anthony Pirone kneed Grant in the head and forced Gra…
Involved parties
Oscar Juliuss Grant III (February 27, 1986 – January 1, 2009) lived in Hayward, California. He worked as a butcher at Farmer Joe's Marketplace in Oakland's Dimond District after jobs at several Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets. He had attended both San Lorenzo and Mount Eden high schools in San Lorenzo and Hayward, respectively, until the 10th grade and eventually earned his GED. Grant was on parole at the time of his death, having been released from prison following a sixteen-mo…
Incident
Oscar Grant had been celebrating with his friends at The Embarcadero in San Francisco on New Year's Eve. He and about eight friends returned to East Bay in the lead car of a BART train bound for Fruitvale, a station in Oakland. BART offered extended service and a special "Flash Pass" for the New Year's Eve holiday.
At approximately 2:00 a.m. PST, BART Police responded to reports of a physical altercation invol…
Video evidence
Direct evidence of the shooting was documented by video cameras held by passengers on the train idling next to the platform, as police detained Grant and a number of other men suspected of being involved in the disturbance. Several witnesses testified during the preliminary hearing for Mehserle's trial that they began recording because they believed BART officers were acting too aggressively. They gave the videos to television news, which broadcast them; others posted vide…
BART review and investigation process
After the 2009 shooting, Mehserle submitted to drug and alcohol testing per BART's standard operating procedure. The results showed no drugs or alcohol in his system. He retained a criminal defense attorney and refused to speak to the authorities, invoking the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (California Government Code section 3300–3313) and the Fifth Amendment, claiming potential self-incrimination.
Aftermath
The shooting and the subsequent uprisings were covered in regional, national, and international news. Video images of the shooting were widely broadcast and streamed online in the days following Grant's death. Several hundred thousand viewed the videos in the first few days after the incident. Widespread dissemination of the direct evidence of the shooting led to public outrage and protests and fueled riots.
Criminal trial
On January 12, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff filed a complaint for murder and an Alameda County Superior Court Judge signed a fugitive arrest warrant, as Mehserle had left the city. He was arrested January 13 at a friend's home in the Zephyr Cove, Nevada, area near Lake Tahoe. His attorney said Mehserle had gone after receiving death threats in the Bay Area. Mehserle waived extradition, and was held in protective custody at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Cal…
Sentencing
Mehserle was originally scheduled to be sentenced on August 6, 2010. Sentencing was rescheduled for November 5 at the defense's request.
On November 5, 2010, Mehserle was sentenced to two years with double credit for time already served, reducing his term by 292 days for the 146 days he has already spent in jail. The judge overturned the gun enhancement, which could have added an additional 3 to 10 years to the sen…
Overview
Fruitvale Station is a 2013 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ryan Coogler. It is Coogler's feature directorial debut and is based on the events leading to the death of Oscar Grant, a young man killed in 2009 by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland.
The film stars Michael B. Jordan as Grant, with Kevin Durand and Chad Michael Murray playing the …
Plot
The film depicts the last day of the life of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old from Hayward, California, before he was fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning hours of January 1, 2009. The movie begins with the actual footage of Grant and his friends being detained by BART Police at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on January 1, 2009, at 2:15 a.m., right before the shooting.
Grant and his girlfriend Sophina argue about Grant's recent infidelity. He unsuccessfully attempt…
Cast
• Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant III
• Melonie Diaz as Sophina Mesa
• Kevin Durand as Officer Caruso (based on Tony Pirone)
• Chad Michael Murray as Officer Ingram (based on Johannes Mehserle)
Production
Ryan Coogler was a graduate student at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts when Grant was shot on January 1, 2009. Coogler expressed his desire to make a film about Grant's last day: "I wanted the audience to get to know this guy, to get attached, so that when the situation that happens to him happens, it's not just like you read it in the paper, you know what I mean? When you know somebody as a human being, you know that life means something." Coo…
Promotion
The Weinstein Company commissioned three murals to be painted in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco by street artists Ron English, Lydia Emily and LNY in anticipation of the film.
Some people questioned having a poster for the film in Fruitvale Station, but a BART spokeswoman said about this decision:
There was no debate whether to allow Fruitvale Station [advertisements] on BART. None whatso…
Release
Fruitvale Station premiered on January 19, 2013, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was listed as Fruitvale before undergoing a title change. After premiering at Sundance, it was at the center of a distribution bidding war. The Weinstein Company acquired the film rights for about $2 million. In May 2013, Fruitvale Station appeared in the Un Certain Regard, an award section recognizi…
See also
• List of African American films of the 2010s