CALIFORNIA - The attorney representing the family of Oscar Grant and five men who were with him when he was shot dead on a BART platform last year angrily accused the transit agency of leaking to the media information that has undercut his federal civil rights lawsuits against BART and endangered the five men.

"Obviously BART is doing something to help their criminal case," attorney John Burris said Friday at a news conference near his Oakland office, flanked by 20 of Grant's family members and friends.

"Am I angry? I am."

The Chronicle and other news outlets have reported that some of the men told officials that they did not hear BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle use racial slurs before he shot Grant, and that Mehserle warned Grant he was going to use a Taser on him.

Grant and many of those on the BART platform were African American. Defense attorneys say Mehserle, who is white, intended to use his Taser on Grant but fired his gun by mistake.

Burris said the media accounts could undercut his civil and criminal cases against BART and several employees, including Mehserle, who is accused of murdering Grant.

The reports have also led some people to view the five men as snitches, Burris said, "and you know that in a black community, being called a snitch is dangerous."