Commuters watch as police officer shoots young father dead
Horrified commuters watched on as a US police officer shot dead an unarmed young father on a crowded train platform as another officer pinned him face down to the ground.
Dramatic mobile phone footage posted online shows the death of Oscar Grant, 22, after he was shot in the back by a transit police officer at an Oakland station.
Hundreds of thousands of people have now viewed the footage on YouTube and on local TV stations, fuelling a furious reaction as the officer, Johannes Mehserle, remains uncharged with any offence.
Mehserle has also refused to speak with internal police investigators about the incident, amid suggestions he may have believed he was firing his Taser instead of a gun.
The shooting occurred in the early hours of New Year's Day, in front of dozens of train passengers returning home after New Year's Eve celebrations.
According to local media, Grant and a number of others were pulled off the train by police after reports of a fight.
Footage taken by a commuter shows Grant and others on the ground on the platform as other commuters yell angrily at police.
As two officers, including Mehserle, hold Grant face down on the ground, Mehserle suddenly stands up, draws his gun and fatally shoots Grant in the back.
The bullet went through Grant's body, but rebounded back off the pavement, piercing his lung and killing him, AP reported.
Seconds earlier, Grant had "made a valiant effort ... by appealing to the officer's sense of humanity, [telling him] he had a four-year-old daughter", claims lodged by a lawyer say, according to the LA Times.
Grant was handcuffed after being shot dead, the claims said.
Grant worked as a local butcher and was considered a "peacemaker" by his friends, local media reported.
His death has provoked outrage, particularly as no action has been taken against Mehserle.
Mehserle, 27, was to meet internal police investigators last week to explain why he shot Grant, but did not show up. Instead, his lawyer and union representative turned up and announced he was resigning from the police force.
Now that Mehserle is no longer employed by police, he can exercise his constitutional right not to speak with investigators. He has also refused to speak publicly.
Grant's family has filed a $US25 million wrongful-death claim against the rail system and want Mehserle to be criminally charged.