Family of man fatally shot by Oakland BART officer wants to file charges

Lyanne Melendez Image
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Family of man fatally shot by Oakland BART officer wants to file charges
Sahleem Tindle was killed on January 3 by a BART officer. The family has reviewed the body cam of the officer and are now asking the District Attorney to file criminal charges against the officer.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The mother of a man fatally shot outside a BART station in Oakland is speaking out Monday.

Sahleem Tindle was killed on January 3 by a BART officer. The family has reviewed the body cam of the officer and are now asking the District Attorney to file criminal charges against the officer.

"He was a worthy son, he was worthy," cried Yolanda Banks-Reed, Tindle's mother.

RELATED: Man shot dead near West Oakland BART identified

She was shown the body cam video of BART officer Joseph Mateu before and after her son, 28-year-old Tindle, was shot and killed.

Initially Oakland police reported that Tindle was believed to have had a weapon in his hand, but the video seems to show otherwise.

"Actually he was unarmed and he was shot three times. He was shot while he was still on the ground with his hands up," she told ABC7 News.

The video also shows that Tindle was shot in the back.

"Just horrifying that if we weren't able to view the video, we would have been left with that and no closure, " said his older brother Karim Mayfield, who has also seen the video.

RELATED: 1 dead, 1 injured in officer-involved shooting near West Oakland BART

The incident occurred on January 3 at around 4:40 p.m. The BART officer reported hearing a gunshot outside of the West Oakland station. When he ran across the street, he saw two men fighting on the ground. One of them had been shot in the leg.

After the officer yelled for them to stop fighting, he fired at Tindle. A gun was recovered at the scene, but it's not clear who it belonged to.

The family has contacted civil rights attorney John Burris, who has also seen the body cam video.

"I didn't see anything drop from his hands, that's for sure, and also tells me police could not have seen anything in his hands at the time the shooting took place," explained Burris.

On Tuesday, the family is planning a protest outside of the West Oakland BART station at 10:30 a.m. to demand that the District Attorney file charges against the BART officer.

Meanwhile, the Oakland Police Department, which is investigating the incident, refused to comment on Monday.