Trost said the settlement closes the case for a “considerably smaller amount compared to what would have been a long and costly trial if allowed to move forward.”
The five men were forcibly detained on BART’s Fruitvale Station platform in Oakland along with Oscar Grant, who was publicly executed by then-BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.
The New Year’s Day 2009 murder was recorded by bystanders and within hours posted online showing Mehserle, who is White, firing a bullet into the back of Grant, who was Black, as he lay face-down after being pulled off a train falsely for fighting.
Johannes Mehserle tearfully testified he meant to use his stun gun instead of his .40-caliber pistol. But the shooting sparked debate, racial tensions and protests that occasionally turned violent.