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Many Bay Area residents will happily herald the passing of 2009, a year heavy on crime and punishment, killings and kidnappings, anger and uproar, with a few twists and turns (the Bay Bridge S-curve) and the occasional high point (the heroics of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger) thrown in along the way.

As in decades past, what happened in the Bay Area didn’t stay in the Bay Area. Nearly all our notable news, for better or worse, ended up on the national stage. It was reported, analyzed and dissected almost as thoroughly as celebrity indiscretions and health care bills. Though we look with hope to the future, we will take time today to relive some of the year’s poignant events, many of which will resonate in 2010 and beyond.

Jan. 1: A violent beginning

Just two hours into 2009, an event took place that sparked outrage in the Bay Area and beyond, its fallout sure to haunt the halls of justice in months to come.

Oscar Grant III, an unarmed 22-year-old Hayward man, was shot in the back by BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, on Oakland’s Fruitvale station platform about 2 a.m. New Year’s Day after being pulled from a Dublin-bound train with a group of people suspected of fighting. Grant died several hours later at a hospital.

Dozens of holiday revelers on the train recorded the event on cell-phone cameras and posted it online, making it a sensation

on the Internet and TV news. In the following weeks, frustrated by missteps in the investigation, hundreds of people rioted, venting their anger in downtown Oakland, smashing windows and setting cars ablaze.

Mehserle was eventually charged with murder. His lawyers say he intended to stun Grant with a Taser, but pulled his gun by mistake. Mehserle’s trial has been relocated to Los Angeles after an Alameda County judge ruled the case garnered too much publicity in the region to provide Mehserle with a fair trial. His next hearing will be in a Los Angeles courtroom Jan. 8.

Jan. 15: A splash, a savior

On Jan. 15, the commercial jet flown by US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, a Danville resident, became part of aviation history when it splashed to safety on New York’s Hudson River minutes after a bird strike disabled both engines. Sullenberger is credited with saving the lives of all 155 passengers and crew aboard Flight 1549.

Months of accolades, T-shirts with Sullenberger’s image, highway billboards and public appearances followed, honoring the Bay Area pilot nicknamed “The Hero of the Hudson.” In addition to giving countless talk-show interviews, Sullenberger attended President Barack Obama’s inauguration, was a guest of honor at the Super Bowl and has been invited to lead the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Nearly a year after the dramatic event, Sully continues to land in headlines, most recently when one of his autographed pilot caps sold on eBay for $5,800. The money is being donated to three East Bay schools.

March 21: Police blood, tears

What began as a traffic stop ended as the deadliest day in the history of the Oakland Police Department, with four veteran officers — and their killer — dead.

About 1 p.m. March 21, the Oakland police motorcycle team of Sgt. Mark Dunakin, of Tracy, and Officer John Hege, of Concord, pulled over a car driven by 27-year-old parolee Lovelle Mixon in the 7400 block of MacArthur Boulevard, possibly to check his expired tags. They were unaware Mixon was involved in two sexual assaults just hours before, and that he likely feared capture.

Mixon opened fire on the officers with a semi-automatic pistol. Witnesses said Dunakin and Hege fell to the pavement and Mixon got out of the car, stood over them and shot them again before running about a half-block to hide in an apartment on 74th Avenue.

About two hours later, Oakland SWAT officers stormed the apartment, unaware Mixon had armed himself with an assault rifle. During the ensuing gunfight, Sgt. Dan Sakai, of Castro Valley, and Sgt. Erv Romans, of Danville, were killed. Mixon was also killed. Dunakin died that day and Hege died March 23. In an emotional farewell, more than 20,000 citizens and law-enforcement officials from across the country attended a public funeral for the four officers March 28 at Oracle Arena. A report on the incident that’s expected to be critical of SWAT commanders at the scene was conducted by an outside consulting firm and will be made public in January.

March 27: An ‘angel’ lost

Sandra Cantu, a perky 8-year-old girl dubbed “Tracy’s Angel,” was last seen alive March 27, skipping through the Orchard Estates Mobile Home Park in Tracy where she lived. She never made it home. After an intense search by police and volunteers, the child’s body was found April 6 in a black suitcase dumped in an irrigation pond. The community was stunned, and thousands mourned the girl’s death.

Then, another shock. On April 10, police arrested 28-year-old Melissa Huckaby, a neighbor, former Sunday school teacher and the mother of one of Sandra’s friends. A grand jury indicted Huckaby in July on murder charges with special circumstances — kidnapping, lewd and lascivious acts on a child and rape with a foreign object. She pleaded not guilty, but faces the death penalty if convicted. Her trial is set for Oct. 18.

April 29: Bey IV indicted

Nearly 21 months after the August 2007 shotgun slaying of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, an Alameda County grand jury indicted the former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey IV, on charges that he ordered the editor killed. Former bakery worker Antoine Mackey was also indicted in the killing.

Key to their indictments was the testimony of Devaughndre Broussard, who said he killed Bailey on Bey IV’s order and that Mackey helped him carry out the crime.

Bailey had been working on a story about financial problems at the now-defunct bakery before he was killed. The indictments of Bey IV and Mackey followed extensive reporting by The Chauncey Bailey Project, a consortium of Bay Area journalists, that raised questions about whether Broussard had acted alone.

Broussard pleaded guilty in May to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and will be sentenced to 25 years in prison if he continues to cooperate with prosecutors.

Aug. 10: Where is Hasanni?

The smile of 5-year-old Hasanni Campbell, a Fremont boy with cerebral palsy, can still be found on missing child posters in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, where his foster parents reported him missing Aug. 10.

Not long after the boy’s disappearance and futile searches by police and volunteers, suspicion swirled around Hasanni’s foster parents, Louis Ross, 38, and Jennifer Campbell, 30, Hasanni’s biological aunt.

The two were active in searching for the child, yet Ross was forced to defend himself when word leaked he failed a polygraph test and the content of a damaging text message about the children went public.

Though Hasanni’s body had not been found, Oakland police declared the case a homicide investigation Aug. 28 and arrested Ross and Campbell on suspicion of murder, but soon released them citing a lack of evidence. Hasanni’s whereabouts remain a mystery.

Aug. 11: Toll booth tragedy

Traffic ground to a halt on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on Aug. 11 when a man with a shotgun killed a toll-taker and her friend in full view of the afternoon commute.

Authorities say 46-year-old Nathaniel Burris stalked his former girlfriend, Deborah Ross, 51, after she arrived at her toll-taker job in a pickup borrowed from her friend Ersie Everette. Burris watched from a hillside when Everette, 58, arrived at the toll plaza to pick up the truck. Burris had slashed the tires, prosecutors say, and while Everette waited for road service, Burris emerged and shot him dead. He then trotted through lanes of traffic to Ross’ booth and repeatedly fired inside, killing her.

Police arrested him on the road hours later. After begging to plead guilty to capital charges during his first court hearing, he has since pleaded not guilty.

Aug. 24: A Columbine averted

Alex Youshock walked into Hillsdale High School in San Mateo on Aug. 24 armed with 10 pipe bombs, a chain saw and a sword, intending to kill as many people as he could, police said. The 17-year-old former student’s “coldblooded plan of execution” was aimed at teachers, staff members and classmates as retribution for perceived wrongs, police said.

But minutes into the attack, after Youshock set off two bombs that didn’t injure anyone, he was tackled by English language teacher Kennet Santana and later arrested. The community was stunned by the incident’s lethal aim, but heaved a collective sigh of relief that no one was hurt.

Youshock is being tried as an adult in San Mateo County and could face life in prison if convicted.

Aug. 26: The Jaycee Dugard saga

The eyes of the world tuned to a rural street near Antioch on Aug. 26 with the news that Jaycee Dugard was discovered alive and well, 18 years after her abduction at age 11 from her South Lake Tahoe street.

Then came the additional stunner: Authorities said convicted rapist Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, had held Dugard and later her two daughters — fathered by Garrido — in a cleverly hidden backyard warren of tents and sheds.

Each day brought more salacious details. Garrido had served just 11 years of a 50-year sentence for the 1976 kidnapping of a woman he raped. Federal and state parole agents assigned to supervise him missed every chance to rescue Dugard, and Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren Rupf apologized for a deputy’s weak response to a 911 call in 2006.

Only the instincts of two UC Berkeley officers, and Garrido’s own eagerness to spread his zealous religious views on the college campus, revealed the mystery.

Dugard, now 29, and her two girls, ages 11 and 15, are back with her family, while the Garridos sit in a Placerville jail, charged with 29 felony counts.

Sept. 3: A bridge too flawed

A metal beam on the Bay Bridge known as an eyebar became a household word and a symbol of frustration for commuters when it lengthened a planned closure of the span Labor Day weekend and caused an emergency six-day shutdown in the fall.

During a scheduled closure the weekend of Sept. 5 to remove a section of the roadway and install an “S-curve” bypass as part of the eastern span project, Caltrans inspectors discovered a crack in the now-notorious eyebar. A brace was installed to protect the cracked metal beam, allowing the bridge to reopen — albeit about two hours late — after the holiday weekend.

But the brace failed Oct. 27, sending heavy metal parts crashing into traffic lanes, embarrassing Caltrans and barely averting serious injuries to motorists. The bridge was closed until Nov. 2 to strengthen the brace. Not satisfied, Caltrans on Dec. 13 began a $14 million project to replace the cracked eyebar section.

In addition, the new S-curve bypass confused and frightened motorists. After a surge in minor crashes on the stretch, a truck driver failed to negotiate the curve and plunged to his death Nov. 9. In response, the state expanded warning signs and stepped up speed enforcement.

Oct. 24: Richmond gang rape

On the night of Oct. 24, a 16-year-old girl left early from her homecoming dance at Richmond High School, but never made it home. A group of young people drinking in a shadowy corner of campus lured her over, plied her with alcohol, and took turns raping her as she lolled, incapacitated, police say.

The assault continued for nearly two hours. Young people came and went. Some laughed; some even joined in, authorities say. Not until news reached a house a few blocks away did anyone call police.

The victim survived, though a helicopter took her to an emergency room in critical condition. Authorities charged six men, ranging in age from 15 to 21. They have all pleaded not guilty in a case that could land five of them life sentences.

Nov. 20: UC student rebellion

Anger over a 32 percent fee increase at the University of California boiled over into several days of protests in November, including the daylong occupation of a classroom building at UC Berkeley.

Forty-one students were arrested Nov. 20 after they barricaded themselves inside Wheeler Hall. Similar demonstrations occurred at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz.

UC Berkeley police were dogged by complaints of brutality for their handling of the protests.

Then, on Dec. 11, a group of protesters attacked the campus residence of UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, throwing heavy flower pots and lighted torches at the building where Birgeneau and his wife were sleeping. Police arrested eight people, only two of whom were UC Berkeley students.

Staff writers Jeanine Benca, Denis Cuff, Karl Fischer, Sophia Kazmi, Matt Krupnick, Joshua Melvin, Paul Rosynsky and John Simerman contributed to this story.