Segment from KTVU showing Officer Tony Pirone striking Grant without cause along with analysis.

Another officer attacked Grant before he was killed

The District Attorney says he isn't prosecuting

It wasn't just one cop attacking Oscar Grant on New Year's Eve. A new video shows that before Grant was killed, officer Tony Pirone punched him in the face without cause. Experts have called it criminal. So why has the District Attorney said he's not pursuing charges?

It took two weeks and thousands of people speaking out before the DA charged Oscar Grant's killer with murder. Clearly, it will take continued public pressure to see that justice is served throughout this case.

Please join us in publicly confronting District Attorney Tom Orloff, as well as calling on California's Attorney General to keep an eye on Orloff's handling of the case. And please ask your friends and family to do the same.

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Read the e-mail message that we originally sent to our members about this petition.

Here is the text of the petitions we'll present to District Attorney Orloff and to California Attorney General Jerry Brown unless you create your own statement.

-- Click here for letter to Orloff, the DA --
Dear Attorney General Brown:
I am asking you to return an observer from your office to monitor the work of the Alameda County District Attorney's office in pursuit of justice in the Oscar Grant case.
Footage has circulated online for weeks showing a second officer, Tony Pirone, viciously punching Grant without any physical provocation, and later kneeling on the back of Grant's neck in the moments before Mehserle murdered Grant.
Upon viewing the video, U.C. Hastings law professor Peter Keane stated "That punch was totally unjustified ... That officer is committing a crime ... If the district attorney is saying he's not going to charge any officer except Mehserle, in my opinion he's not doing his job."
But District Attorney Orloff has said he is not pursuing charges against any of the other officers present when Grant was killed.
This is an outrage that further calls into question District Attorney Orloff's commitment to justice in this case. Given Alameda County's poor record of prosecuting police abuses, as well as the District Attorney's silence regarding Pirone, we cannot simply trust that his office has the will to pursue justice wherever it leads.
I'm urging you to redeploy an observer at the very minimum, and to make it clear that the California Department of Justice is watching this case closely.
Sincerely,
[Your name]

-- Click here for letter to CA Attorney General --
Dear District Attorney Orloff:
I demand an explanation as to why you are not pursuing charges against Officer Tony Pirone given his role in the New Years' Day assault and murder of Oscar Grant.
For weeks, footage has circulated online showing that Pirone viciously punched Grant without any physical provocation, moments before Mehserle murdered Grant. Upon seeing the video U.C. Hastings law professor Peter Keane stated "That punch was totally unjustified ... That officer is committing a crime ... If the district attorney is saying he's not going to charge any officer except Mehserle, in my opinion he's not doing his job." Yet that's been the case up until now--you've said that you are not pursuing charges against any of the other officers present when Grant was killed.
Pirone appears to have committed a serious crime. How can ignoring it possibly be in the interest of justice? For the sake of the Grant family, the trust of the citizens of the Bay Area and the state of California, it is important that you answer clearly and immediately. Many of us have wondered why it took two weeks to charge Mehserle. Similarly, this most recent development further calls into question your commitment to pursuing justice in the murder of Oscar Grant.
Sincerely,
[Your name]