“It’s another piece of my life that’s been fulfilled, having my son’s property,” Johnson said. “And that’s all families want, is to be able to have their loved ones’ property because it gives you a sense [they’re] still there with you. Even though Oscar’s not here, I still have his property, and it does my heart glad.”
Grant was fatally shot in the back by former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, as a second officer held the unarmed 22-year-old man face down on the Fruitvale BART Station platform in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2009.
The killing, captured on cellphone video, sparked major protests in the Bay Area against police violence and inspired the 2013 movie Fruitvale Station, starring Michael B. Jordan, about Grant’s final 24 hours before the incident.
Mehserle, who argued he had mistakenly grabbed and fired his gun instead of his Taser, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and served just 11 months of a two-year sentence.
His partner, Anthony Pirone, who was captured on video punching Grant in the face and kneeing him in the head, was never charged.
Johnson said that former DA Nancy O’Malley’s staff repeatedly told her that Grant’s phones had been inadvertently mixed up in a large bag with other seized electronic devices and that they could not identify the ones that belonged to Grant.