Ex-Bay Area transit officer received stun gun training a month before fatal Oakland shooting

Witness: Ex-BART officer had stun gun training

LOS ANGELES — A defense witness has testified that a former Bay Area transit police officer received a six-hour training course on the use of a stun gun, a month before the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.

Stewart Lehman, an officer with Bay Area Rapid Transit, testified Wednesday that Johannes Mehserle took the class in December 2008. Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to murdering Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009.

Mehserle’s attorney has argued that his client, who resigned from BART shortly after the shooting, mistakenly pulled his handgun instead of his Taser stun gun when he shot Grant in the back on an Oakland train platform.

Prosecutors believe Mehserle intended to shoot Grant, and that Mehserle used his weapon because officers were losing control of the situation.