A former police officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of an unarmed man on an Oakland train station platform was sentenced Friday to two years in prison, sparking outrage from relatives and supporters of the victim who denounced the punishment as too lenient.Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry said evidence in the racially charged case showed that the shooting was an accident caused when Johannes Mehserle mistakenly reached for a firearm instead of an electric Taser weapon he meant to use.As Perry spoke, the victim's mother rushed from the courtroom with other relatives and supporters. "Nothing, he got nothing!" she told reporters after she exited.The sentencing followed a tearful apology from Mehserle, who, handcuffed to a waist chain over his orange jail scrubs, insisted that the shooting was unintentional."I want to say how deeply sorry I am," said Mehserle, 28. "Nothing I could ever say or do could heal the wound I created."Grainy video footage of the New Year's Day 2009 shooting was captured by several witnesses and shows Mehserle, who is white, firing one round into the back of Oscar J. Grant III, who was black. Grant, 22, was lying face-down on the Fruitvale Station platform when he was shot.The shooting triggered rioting days later and again in July, when a Los Angeles jury rejected murder and voluntary manslaughter charges but found that the officer acted with gross negligence.A four-hour peaceful demonstration at Oakland City Hall moved into the surrounding streets and took on a more aggressive tone Friday evening with marchers smashing windshields, making obscene gestures at surrounding police and noisily shouting slogans.Police in riot gear allowed several hundred marchers to move through the streets for about an hour before encircling a smaller number near 6th Avenue and East 17th Street. Demonstrators left a trail of broken windshields as they moved down 17th Street, angering some residents.Police moved in after one officer was injured when struck by a car and another's gun was grabbed by a protester. By late Friday, police had arrested more than 100 demonstrators.The criminal case against Mehserle was moved to downtown Los Angeles amid concern about the extensive media coverage of the killing in the Bay Area.The former Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer faced up to 14 years in prison. But the judge sharply reduced the maximum possible sentence by dismissing a finding by jurors that Mehserle intentionally used a gun. Among the reasons Perry cited was that he failed to provide jurors with clear instructions on the gun allegation and that the evidence was insufficient to show that the officer used his firearm deliberately.The judge had the option of releasing Mehserle on probation but sentenced him to the minimum possible prison term.Perry signaled that he might dismiss the gun allegation early on in the emotional hearing, prompting the victim's uncle to confront the judge when given a chance to talk about the impact of Grant's death."We want justice," Cephus Johnson told Perry in a shaking voice. "We should not lose this case because of you."Grant's mother, Wanda Johnson, told the judge that Mehserle's explanation for the shooting was a "fabrication." She said anything less than the maximum punishment would show that police officers are above the law."He must be held accountable," she said through sobs.But Perry cited a long list of factors that he said showed the killing was unintentional. Among them was testimony from two people, including a friend of Grant, who said they heard the officer say he intended to use his Taser shortly before the shooting. Video footage, the judge said, also showed Mehserle putting his hands to his head in "shock and dismay."Perry said Grant did nothing to justify being shot, but he said the evidence showed that Mehserle was not influenced by race and that Grant was resisting arrest before his death. ||||| OAKLAND -- A day of peaceful protests over the sentencing of BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle ended in an angry march that led to a confrontation between protesters and police and 152 arrests. One officer had his holster ripped from his gun belt and another was hit by a car; his condition was unknown Friday evening. 
 
 But the scale of violence and destruction that marked previous protests did not manifest itself Friday night, although City Hall closed early as did several stores near 14th Street and Broadway. 
 
 A handful of retailers also boarded up their storefront windows and restaurants reported reservation cancellations. Still, people crowded into galleries and restaurants in downtown Oakland for the First Friday-Art Murmur gallery crawl. 
 
 The rally began at 2 p.m. outside City Hall. The crowds chanted and hoisted signs but remained peaceful while police from as far as Monterey County, San Mateo and Sunnyvale lined the streets. 
 
 "People are feeling a lot of anger," said Judith Katz, a peacekeeper from the Bay Area Nonviolent Communication organization deployed to the rally in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza. "People want to feel that Oscar Grant's life mattered." 
 
 The rally, which had as many as 400 people at its height, ended at 6:30 p.m. -- about a half-hour later than was planned. But it ended without an incident despite the anger that has pervaded the shooting of Oscar Grant III and the subsequent trial of Mehserle. 
 
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 "It's truly a tragedy. It's a shame," Chester Byrd, 64, of San Francisco, said about the two-year sentence given to Mehserle. 
 
 Kiwi Illafonte, 36, said he was glad to see the community come together. "But for me, personally, I don't think that it's helping to heal or make use of my anger." 
 
 Organizers were supposed to move the rally from downtown to deFremery Park in West Oakland. Instead, a crowd of about 100 headed toward Lake Merritt. They marched to East 17th Street and Sixth Avenue. Some smashed the window of an AC Transit bus and tore through a construction site along the way. Shards of glass lay outside a sign store on Second Avenue. 
 
 The group intended to march to the Fruitvale BART station, where Mehserle shot Grant on Jan. 1, 2009. But they were met by a line of police in riot gear near Fifth Avenue. Police began inching toward protesters, pushing them toward officers lined up on Sixth Avenue. About 8 p.m., police announced that the gathering was an unlawful assembly and that anyone inside would be arrested. 
 
 Police said 152 arrests were made by the end of the night. Most of the arrests were for disturbing the peace and unlawful assembly. 
 
 "We bent over backwards" to allow for a peaceful protest, but some people chose to march through the city and tear it up, Oakland police Chief Anthony Batts said. Rocks and bottles were thrown at officers; fences were ripped down. 
 
 Batts said that usually after police declare unlawful assembly, they give people time to leave the area. He said, however, that police were not going to allow a repeat of what happened in July after the verdict was read. 
 
 The arrests were made "to show that you can't do this in the city of Oakland," Batts said. Police will protect people's right to protest "but not to tear this city up. This has to stop." 
 
 Batts said police thought that after the downtown demonstration, protesters would march to deFremery Park for another peaceful demonstration. 
 
 Police had tried to prevent the unrest. Officers from various agencies introduced themselves to about 16 people who caused the most trouble in July after the verdict in the Mehserle trial was announced. Batts said they told them, "It's a pleasure to see you, and we are aware of you." 
 
 Batts said officers would use a "very light hand" and allow the assemblage at City Hall unless people were "doing something that is outrageous" or disrupting traffic. 
 
 Even Grant's grandfather called for calm. 
 
 "Don't riot," Oscar Grant Sr. said. "Life didn't stop when my grandson was killed. We have to live here. They could give him 100 years (in prison), and it won't bring my grandson back." 
 
 Grant Sr. did, however, say he is bitter about the sentence. 
 
 "(Law enforcement) protect their own," he said. "I was in Vietnam. I was in a uniform. If I did something stupid, I'd be in Leavenworth (prison), but these guys are protecting their own." 
 
 Protesters echoed the anger. Rachael Jackson, an organizer of the group New Year's Movement for Justice, said, "We are out here to protest our disgust that Mehserle got two years for killing Oscar Grant. "... For shooting him in the back." 
 
 Staff writers Kristin Bender, Angela Hill, Thomas Peele, Katie Murphy, Josh Richman, Jackie Torres, Angela De Claro, Angela Woodall, Matt O'Brien, Nick Sucharski and Harry Harris contributed to this story.
– Oakland police racked up 152 arrests last night of demonstrators angry that a transit cop got a 2-year-sentence for shooting an unarmed black man to death. Protesters took to the streets after a judge gave Johannes Mehserle the minimum prison sentence for killing Oscar Grant last year, reports the LA Times. Mehserle maintains that he mistook his gun for a Taser. Demonstrators staged a largely peaceful 4-hour rally in downtown Oakland, but police moved in when things turned aggressive after it broke up. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct or unlawful assembly, and the protest was far tamer than previous ones over the shooting, notes the Oakland Tribune.