On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz shot four suspected robbers on Manhattan's New York City Subway train. He fired five shots, injuring four people.
Goetz surrendered to the police nine days after the shootings and was eventually accused of attempted murder, assault, desperate abuse, and multiple firearms offenses. A jury found him innocent of all charges except one charge of carrying unlicensed firearms, for which he underwent an eight-month sentence of one year. In 1996, one of the gunned men, Darrel Cabey, who had been paralyzed and his brain damaged by his injuries, obtained a $ 43 million civil judgment against Goetz.
The incident sparked a national debate about race and crime in major cities, the limits of self-defense law, and the extent to which citizens can rely on police to secure their safety. Goetz, dubbed "Subway Vigilante" by the New York City press, came to symbolize New York's frustrations with high crime rates in the 1980s. He is equally praised and maligned in the media and public opinion. This incident has also been cited as a factor contributing to the widespread movement against crime and urban disruption, and a successful National Arms campaign to loosen restrictions on firearms concealed.
Video 1984 New York City Subway shooting
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Goetz alleged that when transporting electronic equipment in 1981, he was attacked at a Canal Street subway station by three youths in a robbery attempt. They smash it into the glass door and throw it to the ground, permanently injuring his chest and knees. Goetz assists an officer who is not in charge of catching one of them; two other attackers escaped. Goetz was furious when the captured attacker spent less than half the time in the police station spent by Goetz himself, and he was angry again when the assailant was only accused of a criminal offense, for tearing down Goetz's jacket. Goetz then applied for permission to carry a hidden pistol, on the basis of routine carrying valuable equipment and large sums of cash, but the application was rejected for insufficient. He bought a 5-shot caliber revolver for a trip to Florida.
Maps 1984 New York City Subway shooting
Incident
On the afternoon of Saturday, December 22, 1984, four African American men from the Bronx - Barry Allen, Troy Canty, and Darrell Cabey, all 19; and James Ramseur, 18, took a train in downtown 2 (Broadway-Seventh Avenue express) carrying a screwdriver, apparently on a mission to steal money from an arcade video machine in Manhattan. When the train arrives at 14th Street station in Manhattan, another 15 to 20 passengers stay with them on the R22 7657 subway, the seventh car of a ten-car train.
At the 14th Street station, Goetz enters the car through the back door, cross the hall and sits on a bench across the door. Canty was across the aisle, lying on a bench just to the right of the door. Allen sat on Canty's left, on a short chair on the other side of the door. Ramseur and Cabey sat opposite the door and into Goetz, on a short chair by the conductor taxi. According to Goetz's statement to the police, about ten seconds later Canty asked him, "How are you?" Goetz replied, "Fine." According to Goetz, the four men signaled each other, and soon Canty and Allen got up from their seats and moved to the left of Goetz, blocking Goetz out of the other passengers in the car. By Goetz account, Canty then said, "Give me five dollars." Canty and Ramseur testified at a criminal trial that they were nagging, and just asking for money, did not demand it. Cabey did not testify and Allen took the Fifth Amendment.
Shooting sequence
Different sources in reporting the order of shots, and whether Cabey was shot once or twice. The following are four versions of a significant or reliable source that describes the sequence of shots:
Cabey took the fourth and fifth photos
Before the criminal trial, the media reported that Cabey was shot in the fourth shot and again on the fifth shot, with Goetz saying, "You do not look too bad, here's another," or, "You look fine, here's another. "The order of these shots was discredited in criminal trials when it was revealed that Cabey was shot once on the left side; However, some media still report this sequence long after a criminal trial.
Cabey fired on the fifth shot
"Speed ​​is everything," Goetz said in a video statement made after he surrendered nine days later. He told the police that while still sitting, he planned the "pattern of fire" from left to right. He then stood up, stepped out of Canty, pulled his pistol, returned to Canty, and fired four shots, one in each man, then fired the fifth shot. In civil courts years later he said, "I'm trying to get as much as I can." Other sources repeated Goetz's statement to the New York City police about the firing order: Canty shot first, then Allen, then Ramseur, then Cabey. In the related process People v. Goetz , the New York Court of Appeal summarized the incident:
It seems from evidence before the Grand Jury that Canty approached Goetz, maybe with Allen beside him, and stated "Give me five dollars." Neither Canty nor the other youngsters show off weapons. Goetz responded by standing up, pulling out his gun, and releasing four shots in quick succession. The first shot hit Canty in the chest; the second hit Allen in the back; the third passed through Ramseur's arm and to his left; the fourth was fired in Cabey, who apparently then stood in the corner of the car, but missed, deflecting instead of the conductor cabin wall. After Goetz briefly surveyed the train scene around him, he fired another shot at Cabey, who then sat in the back seat of the car. The bullet enters the back of Cabey's side and cuts off the spinal cord.
According to his statement to the police, Goetz checked the first two people to ensure that they had been "taken care of," then, seeing that the fourth man was now sitting and looking unharmed, said, "You seem to be fine, here's another," and shoot him again. That the fourth man, Cabey, shot just once was a fact that Goetz did not know or his lawyer had until a moment before the trial. One bullet slipped, split on the steel cabin wall behind Cabey. (The missed shot will also be the basis of another desperate passenger sacrifice.)
Cabey fired on the fourth shot
In the Bronx civil court, Goetz testified that the first shot was Canty, second Allen, the third lost shot, fourth Cabey, and the fifth Ramseur. The following same shooting sequence is from the Goetz website:
I decided to shoot as much as I could as fast as I could. I did a quick sweepstakes, and fired with one hand (my right), pulling the trigger before the gun was aligned on the target. All actual photos plus my sweepstakes take place easily within 1.6 seconds or less. It's not as difficult as some people do, and sometimes I give a description of the technique along with the re-show. The first shot hit Canty in the middle of the chest. After the first shot, my vision changed and I lost my sense of hearing. The second shot hit Barry Allen quickly on the top shoulder as he ducked (then the bullet was ejected from his arm). The third shot hit the subway wall right in front of Cabey; the fourth shot hits Cabey on the left side (breaks the spinal cord and makes it paralyzed). The fifth shot hit Ramseur's arm on the way to his left side. I immediately saw the first two to make sure they were "taken care of," and then tried to shoot Cabey again in the stomach, but the gun was empty. I think Cabey was shot twice after reading media accounts, no shots were missed; I have lost the number of shots and while under adrenaline I do not even hear a shot or feel a pistol kick. 'You do not look too bad, this is the other', is the phrase I put forward later when trying to explain the shootings when I get the impression that Cabey was shot twice. Cabey, who briefly stood before the shooting, sat on the subway bench during all the shooting attempts. The others stood up. Shortly after the shoot, my sight and hearing returned to normal.
Goetz did a shooting demonstration (five shots in 1.0 seconds) in the Channel Biography event Aftermath with William Shatner .
Time magazine's theory (April 8, 1985)
Goetz says one of the "boys" movements that might signal he has a gun. Goetz gets up and partially unzips his jacket where the gun is hidden, and plots his "fire pattern" to shoot them. He asks Canty what he says, and he repeats his statement. At this moment, Goetz unzips his jacket, pulls his gun, takes the position of a fighter holding the revolver with both hands, and shoots Canty through his center. He then turned to shoot Allen who tried to escape, hit him in the back, and then shot Ramseur, injuring him in the chest and arms. He then fired again, in Cabey, but may have missed. According to Goetz he then approached Cabey and shot him on the ground; However, another witness denied that Goetz shot Cabey a second time.
Cabey and this "other" problem
Cabey finally collapsed on a short chair in the corner of the car next to the conductor cab. Whether Cabey was struck by the fourth shot or by the fifth is crucial for Goetz's claim of self-defense; the issue was fought fiercely in court. Medical testimony says that such an injury would make the bottom of Cabey's body useless. According to the prosecutor, the fourth shot failed; then Goetz shoots Cabey who sits at close range with the fifth. The defense theory of how Cabey ended up in a chair was that he stood up when hit by a fourth shot, then fell into a chair with a wobble and waggle of the train; with a fifth shot into a missed shot.
The summary of Goetz's statements to the police had been public two months after the incident, which attracted intense media coverage. Perhaps the most destructive of Goetz's public support and his claim to act in self-defense was his statement that he said, "You do not look so bad, this is the other," before firing at Cabey a second time. Media concentration on the more damning sections creates a public mindset that the wounded Cabey is shot for the second time, with a second shot taken in a planned and deliberate manner - an imprint that is not corrected until a criminal trial two years later. The idea that Cabey was shot twice still occasionally appeared in major sources more than a decade later, as happened in the 1996 editorial New York Times .
In the trial, a witness testified that Goetz was closer to the "two to three legs" of the sitting Cabey, then demonstrated how Goetz stood right in front of Cabey and shot down, a description that fit Goetz's published statement. Eight other independent witnesses testified that all shots came in "rapid succession"; one of them said the shot was "about a second". None of the eight people heard the pause before the last shot, and no one saw Goetz standing in front of Cabey.
Did Goetz really say aloud the words "You do not look so bad, this is the other" or just think that it's still a matter of dispute. He later denied several times making the statement. One source said, "Most likely, the defendant said these words only to himself and probably did not even say words, but only said it in his own mind as he pressed the trigger for the fifth time."
Flight and give up
The frightened passengers ran to the other end and got out of the car, leaving the two women closest to the shootings, falling or bumped by the exodus, and unable to move in fear. Goetz talked with them to make sure they were not injured, then approached by a train conductor. Goetz stated, "They tried to rob me." The conductor asked if Goetz was a police officer, received a reply, "No." Sometime after a brief conversation in which he refused to hand over his revolver, Goetz jumped onto the track and ran south through the tunnel to Chambers Street station, where he was out of the system. He went home to collect some things, then rented a car and headed north to Bennington, Vermont, where he burned his blue jacket and unpacked it, scattering the pieces in the woods north of the city. She toured New England for a few days, signing up at a motel with names and paying in cash.
On December 26, an anonymous caller hotline told the New York City police that Goetz matched the description of the gunman, possessed a gun, and had been robbed before. On December 29, Goetz called his neighbor Myra Friedman, who told him that the police came to his apartment looking for him, and left a note asking to be contacted as soon as possible. He gave his story to Friedman, and described his current psychological condition:
Myra, in a situation like this, your mind, you're in a battle situation. Your mind is functioning. You do not think the usual way. Your memories do not even work normally. You are highly hyped up. Your eyesight has really changed. Your field of view changed. Your ability to change. What you are capable of changing. You are under adrenaline, a drug called adrenaline. And you respond very quickly, and you think very quickly. That is all. [...] You think! You think, you analyze, and you act. And in any situation, you just have to think faster than your opponent. That is all. You know. Speed ​​is very important.
Goetz returned to New York City on December 30, started the car, picked up some clothes and business letters in his apartment, rented another car and returned to New England. Shortly after noon the next day, he walked to Concord, New Hampshire, the police headquarters and told the officer on duty, "I'm the person they're looking for in New York."
Statement to the police
Once the officer realized that Goetz was an original suspect, Goetz was warned Miranda and he waived his right to have a lawyer present. After an interview that lasted more than an hour, a Detective detective asked Goetz to agree to make the statement recorded. Goetz agreed, and a two-hour statement was recorded. That night, New York City detective and district attorney's assistant arrived at Concord, and Goetz filed a two-hour interview recorded. Both interviews were eventually played back for grand juries, criminal trials, and civil courts a few years later. When the audiotape was first played in open court, Goetz was described by The New York Times as "confused and emotional, alternately cringing and defensive about his actions, and obsessed with their justification."
In his statement, Goetz described his loot in the past, where he was injured and the only captured attacker was not punished. He called New York City "lawless" and expressed contempt for his judicial system, calling it "joke," "fake," and "disgrace". Goetz said that when the four men he shot around him on the train, he was afraid of being "beaten to death" and robbed. He denied any plans for the shootings, something that has been speculated by the press. Asked what his intentions were when he withdrew his revolver, Goetz replied, "My intention is to kill them, hurt them, make them suffer as much as possible." Later in the recording, Goetz said, "If I had more bullets, I would shoot them again and again, my problem is I'm running out of bullets." She added, "I will, I will gouge one of the [Silly] men's eyes with my key afterwards", but says he stopped when he saw the fear in his eyes. In criminal trials, defense lawyers Goetz, Barry Slotnick and Mark M. Baker, argue that this and other extreme statements by Goetz are the result of overactive emotion and imagination.
Goetz was brought back to Manhattan on January 3, 1985 and dragged on four counts of attempted murder, with a $ 50,000 bail. He was held in a protective custody at Rikers Island prison hospital. Rejecting the offer of guaranteed assistance from the public and from his family, he sent a guarantee with his own funds and was released on 8 January bonds.
Initial report
Due to the loudness of gunshots inside the subway-covered rooms, there is an initial witness report suggesting that the gun involved was a.357 Magnum revolver. Goetz alluded to these reports in an interview in December 2004 on the radio show Opie and Anthony, saying that the first shot he fired that afternoon was unbelievably hard partly because it was the first shot fired by the little guy. -frame.38 caliber revolver after the factory test, which "cleans the barrel."
After the incident, rumors spread that Goetz had been threatened with a sharp screwdriver. These rumors were published as facts by several newspapers including The New York Times ; however, neither Goetz nor men make such claims. During the subsequent remarks to the police, Goetz expressed confidence that no young man was armed. Paramedics and police found a total of three screwdrivers on two men; when Canty testifies in Goetz criminal court, he says they will be used to enter the arcade video change box and not as a weapon.
Shooter
Bernhard Goetz was born on November 7, 1947, at Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City, the son of Gertrude (Karlsberg) and Bernhard Willard Goetz, Sr. His parents were German-born immigrants who had met in the United States; Goetz's father was Lutheran; his mother, a Jewish convert, turned into her husband's confidence.
As he grew older, Goetz lived with his parents and three brothers to the north, where his father ran a dairy farm and a book binding business. At the age of 12, he was sent to Switzerland, where he and his sister attended a boarding school. Goetz returned to the United States in 1965 for college, and obtained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and nuclear engineering from New York University. By this time, the family has moved to Orlando, Florida; Goetz joined them and worked in his father's housing development business. She was married briefly, and after her divorce moved to New York City, where she started her electronics business from her apartment in Greenwich Village.
Public reaction
"The Subway Vigilante," because Goetz is labeled by the New York City media, is front page news for months, partly because of the oppressed lust of incidents being released in New York and other cities. Public opinion tends to fall into one of three camps: Those in the first camp tend to believe the Goetz version incident, that he was aggressively accosted and surrounded by the four men and worried that he would be beaten and robbed. Those in the second camp tend to believe the versions told by the four men, that they just nag to get money to play video games. The third faction believes that Goetz is indeed threatened, but sees the shooting as an unjustified overreaction.
Supporters
Proponents view Goetz as a hero for defending his assailants and defending themselves in an environment where police are increasingly deemed ineffective in the fight against crime. The Guardian Angels, a volunteer patrol group of mostly black and Hispanic teens, collected thousands of dollars from a subway rider to a legal defense fund for Goetz. The Race Equality Congress (CORE), a civil rights organization, supports Goetz. Its director Roy Innis, a member of the board of the National Rifle Association, offered to raise money for the defense, saying Goetz was a "avenger for all of us," and called for volunteers of armed civilians to patrol the streets. The previous criminal convictions of three of the four men (and such published accounts) prevented them from winning the sympathy of many. A special hotline set up by police to search for information is flooded with calls in favor of the shooter and calling him a hero. Harvard Professor of the Government James Q. Wilson explains broad sentiments by saying, "This may simply indicate that there are no more liberals in the matter of crime and law and order in New York City, because they have all been robbed."
Another viewpoint
Some people believe the version of the incident as told by the four men - that they are only nagging without intimidation or threat of violence. This view was later discredited when Cabey admitted in a newspaper interview that his friends did intend to rob Goetz, who looked like an "easy bait". Some saw the incident as racial (with Goetz being white and four black boys), and the jury's verdict as a blow to race relations. Benjamin Hooks, director of the NAACP, said: "The jury's verdict is unforgivable. [...] It was proven - according to his own statement - that Goetz did the shooting and went far beyond the self-defense territory.No provocation for what he did." Floyd Flake agrees, saying, "I think if a black man shoots four white people, the death sentence will almost be automatic." Co-advice to Cabey C. Vernon Mason, a prospective district attorney who was later dismissed, said Goetz's actions were racist, as did Reverend Al Sharpton. The organized demonstrators accused Goetz of committing genocide. Goetz's racial language about criminal activity on 14th Street, allegedly made at a community meeting 18 months before the shooting - "The only way we will clear this path is to get rid of spik and negro" - offered as evidence of racial motivation for filming. Black political and religious leaders twice called for a Federal civil rights investigation. The investigation by US Attorney General Rudolph Giuliani's office determined that the impetus for the shootings was fear, not race. In an interview with Stone Phillips of NBC's Dateline, Goetz later admitted that his fears were enhanced due to the fact that the suspected black mugger.
Grand jury
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has asked the jury to accuse Goetz of four counts of attempted murder, four attacks, four from a desperate threat, and one of the criminal weapons. Because they must be given immunity from prosecution, both Goetz and the four men he shot were summoned to testify. The 23 jurors heard the witnesses, considered the police report of the shootings, and studied the transcripts and recording of the sometimes contradictory statements that Goetz made to the police in New Hampshire. The jury refused to indict Goetz on a more serious charge, casting an indictment only for possession of unauthorized weapons - a count of possession of third-party weapons criminals, for carrying publicly unlicensed pistols used in underground shooting, and two counts of ownership at the fourth level, for storing two unlicensed pistols in his home. This case was assigned to Judge Stephen Crane.
The shooting initially attracted widespread support from a frightened public and frustrated with the increasing crime rate and state of the criminal justice system. A month after the grand jury's decision, a report summarizing Goetz's statements made to the police became public, showing that he had fired one shot to each of the four men, then examined their condition, and saw no blood on the fourth, saying, You do not look very bad, this is the other "and fired again. The media is now writing about changes in the public mood and demanding Goetz to stand trial for attempted murder and alleged assaults while suggesting an approach that would allow Morgenthau to hold a new grand jury. Public figures including New York Governor Mario Cuomo asked questions based on a police summary. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania called for a special attorney.
Stating that he had a new witness, Morgenthau obtained Judge Derek's permission to hold a second grand jury, who heard testimony by Canty and Ramseur and sued Goetz for attempted murder, assault, frivolous extermination and possession of weapons. Judge Crane then gave a motion by Goetz to cancel the new charges, based on alleged mistakes in the prosecutor's instructions to the jury regarding Goetz's defense of justification for the use of lethal force. The second factor in the dismissal was the opinion of the judge that the testimony by Canty and Ramseur "very visible" has been sworn falsely, based on later public statements by Canty and Ramseur that they intended to rob Goetz, and in newspaper interviews in which Cabey declared. that the other members of the group were planning to scare and rob Goetz because he "looked like an easy bait". The judge allows possession of arms and dangerous dangerous costs to stand up.
New York Appellate Court, in People v. Goetz, overturned Judge Crane's dismissal, confirmed the prosecutor's allegations to the grand jury that the subjective belief of the defendant that he was in danger did not in itself justify the use of lethal force. The Court agrees with the prosecutor that an objective belief, to be shared by a reasonable hypothetical person, is also required. The appeals court further argues that Judge Crane's opinion that Canty and Ramseur's testimony is false is speculative and inappropriate. All charges are recovered, and the case is sent to court.
Trial
Criminal Trial
The case was defended by Barry Slotnick and Mark M. Baker. Slotnick argues that Goetz's actions fall under the New York state's self-defense law. Under Section 35.15, "One should not use lethal physical force on others... except... He is quite sure that the other person is doing or trying to commit [one of the predicate offenses, including robbery]."
Goetz was tried before a Manhattan jury containing 10 white men and 2 blacks, six of whom were victims of street crime. He was released from attempted murder and first-degree allegations of assault and convicted of possessing third-rate criminal weapons - carrying loaded weapons, not licensed in public places. He was sentenced to six months in prison, one year of psychiatric care, a five-year probation, 200 hours of community service, and a $ 5,000 fine. The appellate court confirmed the conviction and changed the sentence to one year in prison without trial. The appellate court order is affirmed because the court is not wrong in instructing the jury that, if found that the People have proved each element of crime beyond reasonable doubt, "should" find the defendant guilty. This is not a direct verdict. Goetz served eight months.
Civil trial
A month after the shootings, Cabey lawyers William Kunstler and Ron Kuby filed a civil suit against Goetz. The case was tried in 1996, more than eleven years later, in the Bronx, with race as the dominant theme. During the jury election, Kuby asked the white non-white candidate jurors whether they have ever been discriminated against. Goetz recognized the previous use of racial language and smoking PCP-laced marijuana during the 1980s. Kuby described Goetz as a racist aggressor; Goetz's defense is when surrounded, he reacts for fear of being robbed and beaten again. Newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin testified that in a 1985 interview, Cabey denied his involvement in the robbery attempt, but said that Canty, Allen, and Ramseur intend to rob Goetz.
The jury found that Goetz had acted recklessly and deliberately put emotional pressure on Cabey. The jury claimed that Goetz shot Cabey twice was a key factor in their decision. The jury gave Cabey $ 43 million - $ 18 million for pain and suffering and $ 25 million in damages.
Goetz then filed for bankruptcy, saying that legal fees have made it almost without a dime. A US Bankruptcy Court judge ruled that a $ 43 million jury could not be released by bankruptcy. Asked in 2004 whether he made a payment on the verdict, Goetz replied, "I do not think I have paid a dime for it", and refer all questions about it to his lawyer.
Aftermath
New York State's legal standards for justifying self-defense using lethal force shifted after the verdict in the case. New York jury members are now told to consider the background of the defendant and to consider whether a reasonable hypothetical person will feel threatened if the reasonable person is a defendant.
After reaching its highest peak in 1990, crime in New York City dropped dramatically throughout the rest of the 1990s. In 2006, New York City was statistically one of the safest major cities in the US, with crime rates being 194th of 210 American cities with a population of over 100,000. The crime rate of New York City in 2014 is comparable to the early years of the 1960s.
Goetz and others have interpreted the significance of his actions in subway incidents as a supporting factor that accelerated the movement against crime in subsequent years. While the claim was impossible to verify, Goetz achieved celebrity status as a popular cultural symbol of a public disgust with urban crime and turmoil.
Goetz occasionally provides media interviews about the 1984 subway incident that brought him to the public eye. In 2001 he was unable to run the mayor of New York City. In 2004, Goetz was interviewed by Nancy Grace on Larry King Live, where he declared his actions good for New York City and forced the city to deal with crime. In 2010 he was interviewed and performed a shooting demonstration on the premiere episode of The Biography Channel Aftermath with William Shatner.
This incident inspired Law & amp; Message episode "Subterranean Homeboy Blues".
See also
- Joe Horn shoots controversy
- Tony Martin (farmer)
References
Source
External links
- Bernhard Goetz about IMDb
- Goetz private site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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