Hill Shooting witness Melyssa Jo Kelly interviewed at "Anonymous" BART protest - August 15, 2011

On July 3rd, BART Police Officer James A. Crowell shot and killed Charles Hill, a 45-year-old homeless man while he was holding a 4-inch knife. Using the same tactic that the San Francisco Bay Area activist community had previously employed following the shooting of Oscar Grant, protestors gathered on the BART platform on July 11th to board the trains en masse in an effort to slow down the system. The action led to the closure of several BART stations.

On July 16 — less than a week after the protest — SFPD officers Matthew Lopez and Richard Hastings shot at Kenneth Harding Jr. while he was running from police. When officers stopped Harding at the 3rd and Oakdale MUNI Platform and asked him to produce a transfer he bolted. The official story is that while he was running away, Harding pulled out a gun and fired at least one shot at police before they returned fire. Police say the shot that killed him pierced his neck on the right side and was fired from his own gun. But some witnesses say that Harding didn't have a gun, and many people in the community still have doubts about what happened.

On August 11, when the media relations department at BART learned of another possible protest, the government agency preemptively cut cell service in the BART tunnels in an effort to stymie the organizers plans. But as very few people were even aware of the protest, the cell interruption was noticed most by the media and regular patrons on BART.

News of the move, which reminded many of the actions that former President Hosni Mubarak took to clamp down on the Egyptian revolution, prompted an inter national outcry. From the ACLU to CNN to Al Jazeera, BART's decision to shutter its cell service for the duration of the protest may have garnered as much press as the shooting itself.

Someone — or perhaps some people — put forward a call for further protest under the banner of Anonymous, a free association "group" with no leaders or any decision-making process. And when the media got hold of the news that "Anonymous" was calling for Monday's protest, they too reported the news of the August 15th protest as well.

It's difficult to estimate how many people were at the event, but among them was Melyssa Jo Kelly who witnessed Hill's death. In this video, clips from the protest are interwoven with Kelly's account of Hill's killing.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Sanfrancisco
• bay
• bart
• opBART
• anonymous
• protest
• charleshill
• jamescrowell
• policeshooting
• police
• cop
• copwatch
• OscarGrant
• Mehserle

[candigirl128]

This happens more than we know. Did anyone see what happened to Kelly Thomas in Fullerton, CA?

[frvfilms]

this women is a leader, give her a bull horn!!

[SONIC29210]

people are so stupid i swear.

[clark4926]

@sniperjosh55 I have had my run ins with the cops abusing their power more then once and I did nothing to warrant such action and I witnessed 4 cops cars pulling people over in a small town in Arizona where I lived for no reason and I was pulled over and asked what was with the loop de loop when I was driving back to bar to warn people and no I was not drinking, I just got off work. I never heard of a law about loop de loops. Have you? So stop thinking people ask for it.

[sniperjosh55]

What a bunch of babies! Do not brake the law and you will not have any trouble.

[josiahho1]

crazy ol' lady.

[unknownshmo]

That old lady is fucking nuts. No lady, it WONT happen to "any of us". It will happen to the dumbfuck that throws a knife at a police officer. What do you not get about that?

[carolndoug2007]

POWERFUL!!!!!!!!

[Loopisduner1234]

I'm only 15 and this makes me want to go there. It also strengthens my reasoning to why I want to work for Internal Affairs.

[wtfamos]

When you shoot a cop they have green blood. Just a video game.

[Burnbrook]

It gets tiresome listening to crazy rants. "The police love to kill homeless people". What a stupid statement. Too bad people like that don't get a chance to live in truly free society, where any misfit can do whatever they want to you or your family. It's pretty easy to mouth off when you are all warm and safe and don't need to worry about repercussions for what you say.

Isn't it?