I saw the video and there is no question that the guy was not posing a threat to the officer. It was pretty disturbing footage.

However, there is still the possibility that this was an accident. An accident involving the officer doing a series of dumb things that go against protocol but manslaughter at worst if it turns out it happened this way:

1) A shell was in the chamber (we know that this mistake was made since the officer doesn't cock the gun before it goes off but you shouldn't have one in the chamber).

2) The safety was off (can't tell from the video if the officer turned off the safety or had negligently left it off beforehand)

3) Pulled out the gun when it wasn't necessary without intending to shoot (no way to tell why the officer decided to pull out their gun. Considering everyone was subdued and cooperating it was clearly a bad idea)

4) In the excitement of the moment the hair trigger was pressed on accident discharging a round and killing the victim.

So did the BART officer just show bad judgment leaving their safety off and pulling out their gun for no good reason? Or was this a crazy person that decided to execute someone just because?

Either way the poor guy is dead :( But its possible this wasn't murder.

Some of the mechanics where I work and I think he was going for his taser which is in the shape of a gun. There is one guy who told me there is no way he could have made this mistake depending on his experience. He says you should know the feel of both and be able to tell them apart.

The Taser is much lighter than his sidearm. I'm glad they arrested this goon.

All good points. However, his refusal to explain exactly what happened makes me AWFULLY suspicious. Don't you think?

I don't really buy that excuse either. Wouldn't the tazer be holstered somewhere else? Wouldn't the tazer's handle and trigger feel differently (also the weight someone else mentioned)? And even so, the guy wasn't resisting so a tazer (also potentially lethal) doesn't seem warranted.

That's what I was thinking. If this was an accident resulting in bad judgement, he should explain himself. As of now, his refusal to provide that explanation either means he's moronic enough to continue digging that hole of his, or he's guilty of murder.

I'm pretty sure no police officer is stupid enough to intentionally kill someone with a cr*pload of bystanders looking in on the ordeal, especially not in these times when you can be sure someone, or several ones..., film it.
But this still feels like an execution to me.

As far as I see it, his head got momentarily screwed, and he did kill the guy.

He probably wishes he could turn it back now, but sure as hell not as bad as the family of the other guy is wishing that. So to me that means time to pay for the consequences.

Great, one guy dead, lots of people who's lifes got screwed up....and I'm still waiting for a "feel good" article, seriously...