Oscar Grant's uncle talks to the media outside the courthouse.

A defense attorney accused Oscar Grant's friend of abandoning him as he lay dying on a BART station platform, and another officer testfied about kicking Grant during the eighth day of the People v. Mesherle trial.

Two and a half years before Oscar J. Grant III was fatally shot in the back by a Bay Area Rapid Transit Police Department officer, he was hit with a Taser in the back and kicked in the rib cage by officers from the San Leandro Police Department.

Alex Hidas of the San Leandro Police Department, a witness for the defense, testified in court Tuesday that he was blinded by a car that passed him in the opposite direction in 2006. The driver didn't turn his high beams off, Hidas explained.  "I had to pull over temporarily to allow my vision to recover,” Hidas said.  He then pulled the car with the high beams over and called for backup when he saw that it was carrying three people.  Oscar Grant was sitting in the back seat.

Hidas said he noticed Grant was not wearing his seatbelt, so he asked to see his ID card. Then, “I noticed that [Grant] brushed the left side of his jacket away from his body,” revealing an "item of contraband" in his left pant pocket. He was not allowed to specify to the jury what the item was.

As a result, Hidas said he then asked all the passengers to put their arms in front of them.  Grant complied initially, Hidas said, but soon after opened the car door. He then lead Hidas and the back-up police officer on a foot chase. 

The other officer caught up to Grant and hit him in the back with a Taser. The effects of the Taser made Grant fall on a parked car, and then to the ground, Hidas said.

When Grant was on the ground, Hidas said, the officers asked him to put his hands up.  Hidas said he kicked Grant in the rib cage until he finally followed orders. 

“I believed he may have been armed." 

During cross-examination, Alameda County Prosecutor David R. Stein questioned Hidas extensively on the debilitating effects a Taser can have on a person.

“Did you have these things in mind when you began kicking Mr. Grant in the side?” Stein asked.

 “I did, sure."

Jackie Bryson, a 23-year-old friend of the victim who was detained with him the night of the shooting, also testified Tuesday at Mehserle's trial. He remembered Grant as being cooperative with police officers shortly before he died. 

Bryson said that officers threatened to use a Taser on Grant as he was lying on his back. So Grant said "I quit," and rolled over onto his stomach, Bryson said. Another policeman, former BART Police Department officer Anthony Pirone then knelt on the back of Grant's neck, Bryson said. 

"Oscar kept telling him, 'I can't breath.'"

When Grant was on his stomach, Mehserle shot him. 

"Didn't he say, when he was on his stomach, 'Don't tase me?"" Defense Attorney Michael L. Rains asked.

The defense's theory is that Mehserle intended to grab his taser, but used his gun by accident.  Rains has tried to portray Grant, who witnesses say was involved in a fight on a BART train before the police came, as ignoring orders and being threatening to the officers. 

After the shooting, Bryson said he saw blood pour out of Grant's mouth, and so he yelled at his friend to stay awake.  

"His eyes are open but he ain't there."   

But Pirone asked him to be quiet, Bryson said. 

"His exact words were, 'When you shut the fuck up, we'll call the ambulance.'"

Rains then played a video for the court, showing Bryson in handcuffs walking toward the BART train. The video took place after Grant was shot.

An officer then pushed him back.

"What got you that distance, that close to the train?" Rains asked.

Bryson said he wasn't trying to abandon his friend. He said he was simply in shock and had no idea what he was doing.  

"You understand somebody just got shot in front of me for no reason by somebody that is here to protect us?" Bryson said. "He's supposed to be the good one. He came up and shot us. You want to make us look bad?"

Bryson said he was kept alone in a cell for over four hours after the shooting. He was wearing handcuffs the whole time, he said, causing numbness in his hands. But he said none of the officers would take them off. Bryson even alleged that at one point, Pirone sat in front of his cell with his feet up and a smirk on his face.

Bryson's said his handcuffs weren't removed until just moments before detectives first questioned him about the shooting.

During cross-examination, Stein played a recording from the beginning of Bryson's first interview with detectives. In the recording, a detective reassures Bryson multiple times that he is not being charged for anything.  She says that, if he were being charged, then she would have to read him his Miranda Rights.

But she then proceeds to read him his Miranda Rights, anyway.  Afterward, she reminds him again that he is not being charged.

The detective left Bryson confused, he said. 

"I wanted to hurry up and get to the hospital," where Bryson believed Grant was staying. 

Rains questioned Bryson heavily about inconsistencies in his testimonies with detectives throughout the years.  For instance, Bryson at first did not tell detectives about the fight Grant was involved in on the train. The fight was the reason the officers were called down in the first place.   

Bryson said he felt distrustful of police officers, even the ones who were prosecuting Mehserle, after seeing his friend shot  to death in front of him. 

"I look," Bryson said, "and you see smoke coming out of his back."