Shooting of Amadou Diallo

Killing of Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo
Date February 4, 1999 (1999-02-04)
Time 12:40 AM EST
Location Soundview, Bronx, New York City
Participants Edward McMellon
Sean Carroll
Kenneth Boss
Richard Murphy
Deaths 1 (Amadou Diallo)
Charges Second-degree murder
Reckless endangerment
Verdict All not guilty
Convictions None
Litigation Lawsuit filed against city and officers for $61 million, settled for $3 million
Daniels, et al. v. the City of New York (class-action lawsuit)

The shooting of Amadou Diallo occurred on February 4, 1999, when Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, was shot and killed by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed officers—Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon and Kenneth Boss—after they mistook him for a rape suspect from one year earlier. The officers fired a combined total of 41 shots, 19 of which struck Diallo, outside his apartment at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of The Bronx. The four were part of the now-defunct Street Crimes Unit. All four officers were charged with second-degree murder and acquitted at trial in Albany, New York.[1]

Diallo was unarmed, and a firestorm of controversy erupted subsequent to the event as the circumstances of the shooting prompted outrage both within and outside New York City. Issues such as police brutality, racial profiling, and contagious shooting were central to the ensuing controversy.

Early life and career

One of four children of Saikou and Kadijatou Diallo, Amadou's family is part of an old Fulbe trading family in Guinea. He was born in Sinoe County, Liberia, on September 2, 1975[2] while his father was working there, and grew up following his family to Togo, Bangkok and Singapore, attending schools in Thailand, and later in Guinea. In September 1996, he came to New York City where other family members had immigrated. He and a cousin started a business. He had reportedly come to New York City to study but had not enrolled in any school. According to his family's lawyer, Kyle B. Watters, he sought to remain in the United States by filing an application for political asylum under false pretenses, saying that he was from Mauritania and that his parents had been killed in fighting to buttress his claim that he had credible fear of going back to his country.[3] He worked as a street peddler, selling videotapes, gloves and socks from the sidewalk along 14th Street during the day. [4]

Events surrounding death

In the early morning of February 4, 1999, Diallo was standing near his building after returning from a meal. At about 12:40 a.m., police officers Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy, who were all in street clothes, passed by in a Ford Taurus. Caroll later testified that Diallo matched the general description of a serial rapist who had struck a year earlier, or that he might have been a "lookout".[5][6][7]

The officers testified that they loudly identified themselves as NYPD officers, but a witness, Schrrie Elliott, testified that they started shooting without any warnings.[6] Diallo ran up the outside steps toward his apartment house doorway at their approach, ignoring their orders to stop and "show his hands". The porch lightbulb was out and Diallo was backlit by the inside vestibule light, showing only a silhouette. Diallo then reached into his jacket and withdrew his wallet. Seeing the man holding a small square object, Carroll yelled "Gun!" to alert his colleagues. The officers opened fire on Diallo, claiming that they believed he was holding a gun. During the shooting, lead officer McMellon tripped backward off the front stairs, causing the other officers to believe he had been shot. The four officers fired 41 shots[8] with semi-automatic weapons,[9] more than half of which went astray as Diallo was hit 19 times.[1][10]

The post-shooting investigation found no weapons on Diallo's body; the item he had pulled out of his jacket was not a gun, but a rectangular black wallet. The internal NYPD investigation ruled the officers had acted within policy, based on what a reasonable police officer would have done in the same circumstances with the information they had. The Diallo shooting led to a review of police training policy and the use of full metal jacket (FMJ) bullets. On March 25, 1999, a Bronx grand jury indicted the four officers on charges of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. All four officers' bail were set at $100,000.[11] On December 16, an appellate court ordered a change of venue to Albany, New York, stating that pretrial publicity had made a fair trial in New York City impossible. On February 25, 2000, after two days of deliberation, a jury in Albany acquitted the officers of all charges. Officer Kenneth Boss had been previously involved in an incident where an unarmed man was shot. Another black man, 22-year-old Patrick Bailey, died after Boss shot him on October 31, 1997.[12] As of 2012, Boss is the only remaining officer working for the NYPD. After his acquittal, Boss was disarmed and reassigned to desk duty. In October 2012, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly restored Boss' ability to carry a firearm against the protests of Diallo's family.[13] On December 17, 2015, Kenneth Boss, received a promotion to the rank of sergeant despite objections from the victim’s mother and civil rights activists. Boss was promoted in accordance to police policy, which is not subject to review by top department officials.[14]

Aftermath

On April 18, 2000, Diallo's mother, Kadijatou, and his father Saikou Diallo, filed a US$61,000,000 ($20m plus $1m for each shot fired) lawsuit against the city and the officers, charging gross negligence, wrongful death, racial profiling, and other violations of Diallo's civil rights. In March 2004, they accepted a US$3,000,000 settlement. The much lower final settlement was still reportedly one of the largest in the City of New York for a single man with no dependents under New York State's "wrongful death law", which limits damages to pecuniary loss by the deceased person's next of kin.[15]

Anthony H. Gair, lead counsel for the Diallo family, argued that Federal common law should apply, pursuant to Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act. In April 2002, as a result of the killing of Diallo and other controversial actions, the Street Crime Unit was disbanded. In 2003, Diallo's mother, Kadiatou Diallo, published a memoir, My Heart Will Cross This Ocean: My Story, My Son, Amadou ( ISBN 0-345-45600-9), with the help of author Craig Wolff. Diallo's death became an issue in the 2005 mayoral election in New York City. Bronx borough president, and mayoral candidate, Fernando Ferrer, who had protested the circumstances of the killing at the time, later told a meeting of police sergeants that although the shooting had certainly been a tragedy, there was subsequently a move to "over-indict" the officers involved, which led to criticism of Ferrer by the Diallo family and many others following the case.[16]

The event spurred subsequent social psychology research. A number of experiments have been conducted with both undergraduate volunteers and police officers playing a computer game where they must choose whether to shoot or not to shoot a target who may be white or black, on the basis of whether or not they are armed. Such studies find that participants made slower and less accurate decisions on whether to shoot an unarmed black target than an unarmed white target, and were quicker and more likely to correctly decide to shoot an armed black target than an armed white target. The authors of one study wrote that the shooting studies "provide powerful evidence that racial stereotypes create associations and expectations that play a role in the sort of split-second decisions that may literally be a matter of life or death." However, no correlations have been found between participants' indicated levels of racial bias, and their performance in the games.[17]

On March 13, 2015, Capital New York and other news organizations reported that 50 of the 15,000 IP addresses belonging to the NYPD were associated with edits, dating back to 2006, to English Wikipedia articles, including this article on the Amadou Diallo shooting. These IP addresses geolocate to NYPD headquarters at 1 Police Plaza. Detective Cheryl Crispin, a NYPD spokeswoman, said that "the matter is under internal review."[18][19][20][21]

Amadou Diallo is buried in the village of Hollande Bourou in the Fouta Djallon region of Guinea, West Africa, where his extended family resides.[22][23]

Cultural references to Diallo

Music

The Diallo shooting has been referenced in the music of rapper 88-Keys;[24] Bruce Springsteen's song "American Skin (41 Shots)";[25] the Ziggy Marley song "I Know You Don't Care About Me"; the Trivium song "Contempt Breeds Contamination"; The Spooks song "Things I've Seen"; the song "What Would You Do?" by Paris; the Blitz the Ambassador song "Uhuru"; "Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed By Cops)" by Mike Ladd; the song "Diallo" by Wyclef Jean;[26] and the song "Lament For The Late AD" by Terry Callier.[27] Lauryn Hill's song "I Find It Hard to Say (Rebel)" on her album MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 was a response to Diallo's killing. Robotrash mentions Diallo on their track "Just Talkin' To My Mirror". The Public Enemy album There's a Poison Goin' On features a song titled "41:19" based on the number of rounds fired at and striking Diallo and contains lyrics concerning police harassment and violence. Pharoahe Monch's cover of the Public Enemy song "Welcome to the Terrordome" includes a reference to Diallo as well as Sean Bell and Timothy Stansbury in the introduction.

Electro pop band Le Tigre, formed by Kathleen Hanna (formerly of Bikini Kill), lamented the Diallo shooting in their song "Bang! Bang!", which ends with a vocal chorus counting numbers that ends with 41, the number of shots fired.[28] In his song "The Other White Meat", which deals with police brutality and racism, New York rapper Immortal Technique tells the police "I got 41 reasons to tell you to suck a dick" and "Guns don't look like wallets", clearly referencing the shooting and counting every bullet fired as a reason.[29] It was also referenced in the song, "So You Wanna Be a Cop" by the Crack Rocksteady 7, in the lyric: "and after 41 shots, you're grinning in the donut shop". "One Dead Cop", by the related band Leftöver Crack, references the incident in the lyric "Bragging how you blasted gunshot 41." The incident was briefly mentioned by rapper Heems in his song "WOYY": "Diallo got shot when he said the block was hot."[30]

The piece "Amadou Diallo", included in the album Ethnic Stew and Brew by jazz trumpeter Roy Campbell, Jr., was inspired by the shooting, ending with a rapid burst of notes replicating the 41 gunshots.[31] The incident also served as the basis for Erykah Badu's track "A.D. 2000" (the abbreviation standing for Diallo's initials), from the album Mama's Gun. Rather than singing a condemnation of the NYPD, as had most other artists who were incensed by the event, Badu chose to sing an elegy which, while noting the tragedy of Diallo's killing, also observes the furor over the circumstances, which she viewed as likely to be temporary: "No you won't be namin' no buildings after me/To go down dilapidated ooh/No you won't be namin' no buildings after me/My name will be misstated, surely". In his album The Beautiful Struggle, Talib Kweli speaks of "Brother Amadou as [...] a modern day martyr."[32] Kweli makes further reference to the shooting in his song "The Proud": "It's in they job description to terminate the threat/So 41 shots to the body is what he can expect".[33]

Hip-hop group M.O.P.'s song "Ante Up" references Diallo in its opening segment with a shout of "Amadou!" This was later sampled by Tha Trademarc for the song "My Time is Now" used as professional wrestler John Cena's entrance theme.

Folk Punk outfit Mischief Brew wrote "Thanks Bastards" which references the Diallo shooting in the lyrics "41 bullets, there's 41,000 thorns in your side" "Found a wallet, not a gun, and mothers wiping tears from her eyes."

Late Brooklyn MC Sean Price also referenced the shooting in the song "Lighters In The Air (Funeral Song)". "Wop babaloo bop-da-wop bam-boom, cops got a few glocks and popped Amadou! Put'cha lighters up..."

Hip Hop duo, Dead Prez, referenced the shooting in the song "That's War" on the mixtape "Turn off the Radio Vol. 1"

Roni Size's song "Centre Of the Storm" (featuring Zach de la Rocha) has verses that reference Diallo.

The rap songs "Invincible" by CNN and "What If" by Fredro Starr also reference the shooting, mentioning Diallo by name in each.

In a March 2018 Vulture interview, Julian Casablancas of The Strokes revealed that "New York City Cops" off The Strokes' debut album Is This It was a political song influenced by the shooting of Amadou Diallo.[34]

Fiction

Amadou Diallo appears as a character in Alfredo Vea's novel The Mexican Flyboy (U Oklahoma Press, 2016).

Amadou Diallo is referenced in Claudia Rankine's American Lyric 'Don't Let Me Be Lonely' (Graywolf Press, 2004).

Amadou Diallo is referenced in Don Wilson's The Force (HarperCollins Publishers, 2017).

Amadou Diallo is referenced in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Back Bay Books, Little, Brown, 2005).

Film

In 2000, a group of human rights organizations completed "The Day After Diallo", a short video about police violence against people of color in the context of the killing of Amadou Diallo. The video was co-produced by WITNESS, New York City PoliceWatch and The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.[35][36]

Theater

In 2002, Playwright Rhonda Robbins wrote and produced "The Fourth of February, a Play?" that explored the cultural ramifications of the Diallo shooting.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Angelica Medaglia. "Amadou Diallo". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ Ginger Thompson; Garry Pierre-Pierre (February 12, 1999). "Portrait of Slain Immigrant: Big Dreams and a Big Heart". New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  3. ↑ Amy Waldman (March 17, 1999). "His Lawyer Says Diallo Lied on Request for Political Asylum". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  4. ↑ Michael Cooper (February 5, 1999). "Officers in Bronx Fire 41 Shots, And an Unarmed Man Is Killed". New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  5. ↑ Juan Forero (August 2, 2000). "Serial Rapist Gets 155 Years; Judge Suggests His Crimes Contributed to Diallo Shooting". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Jane Fritsch (February 26, 2000). "The Diallo Verdict: The Overview; 4 Officers In Diallo Shooting Are Acquitted Of All Charges". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  7. ↑ Bob Kappstatter; Rafael A. Olmeda; Dave Goldiner (April 8, 1999). "Bronx Suspect Confesses To 5-year Rape Spree". Daily News. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  8. ↑ Michael Cooper (February 5, 1999). "Officers in Bronx Fire 41 Shots, And an Unarmed Man Is Killed". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  9. ↑ Sha Be Allah (February 4, 2015). "Today In Black History: An Unarmed Amadou Diallo Is Shot 41 Times By NYPD 16 Years Ago". The Source. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  10. ↑ Malcolm Gladwell. How We Think Without Thinking: Malcolm Gladwell on Great Decision Makers (2005).
  11. ↑ "New York Officers Charged With Murder". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. April 1, 1999. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  12. ↑ Amy Goodman; Juan González, (February 14, 2000). "One of Four Police Officers on Trial for the Murder of Amadou Diallo Killed Before". Democracy Now! Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  13. ↑ Wendy Rzuderman; J. David Goodman (October 2, 2012). "Diallo's Mother Asks Why Officer Who Shot at Her Son Will Get Gun Back". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  14. ↑ Aaron Morrison (December 17, 2015). "Do Black Lives Matter? NYPD Officer Kenneth Boss Promoted To Sergeant 16 Years After Killing Unarmed Amadou Diallo". International Business Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  15. ↑ Moses, Ray. "Opening Statements: The Amadou Diallo Killing". Center for Criminal Justice Advocacy. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  16. ↑ Diane Cardwell (March 18, 2005). "For Ferrer and the Police, a Shifting Relationship". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  17. ↑ Borgida Eugene; Fiske; Susan T. (2007). Beyond Common Sense: Psychological Science in the Courtroom. p. 7. ISBN 1-4051-4573-0.
  18. ↑ Kelly Weill (March 13, 2015). "Edits to Wikipedia pages on Bell, Garner, Diallo traced to 1 Police Plaza". Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  19. ↑ Inae Oh (March 13, 2015). "The NYPD Is Editing the Wikipedia Pages of Eric Garner, Sean Bell". Mother Jones. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  20. ↑ David Kravets (March 13, 2015). "NYPD caught red-handed sanitizing police brutality Wikipedia entries". Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Edits of Wikipedia Pages for Eric Garner, Stop-and-Frisk Were Made From NYPD Headquarters". March 13, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  22. ↑ Susan Sachs (February 18, 1999). "Wanderings Over, a Son Is Laid to Rest". New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  23. ↑ Frankie Edozien (February 18, 1999). "Amadou Is Buried In Ancestral Village". New York Post. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  24. ↑ Hip Hop For Respect EP, "A Tree Never Grown", Verse 1
  25. ↑ Susman, Gary (April 23, 2003). "American Skin". Entertainment Weekly.
  26. ↑ Ed Thompson, (October 12, 2006). "Trivium - The Crusade". IGN. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  27. ↑ Denise Benson. "Terry Callier Alive". exclaim.ca. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  28. ↑ Chris Nelson (April 2, 2001). "Springsteen, Public Enemy, Le Tigre Fire Back At Diallo Shooting". Retrieved August 22, 2017. , MTV. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  29. ↑ "Immortal Technique – The Other White Meat Lyrics", genius.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Heems - WOYY Lyrics", genius.com. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  31. ↑ Hendrickson, Tad. Ethnic Stew and Brew, Original Liner Notes.
  32. ↑ Talib Kweli feat. John Legend. "Around My Way", In The Beautiful Struggle, 2004.
  33. ↑ Talib Kweli "The Proud", Quality
  34. ↑ David Marchese (March 12, 2018). "Julian Casablancas on His Album, the Strokes, and How Money Ruined Modern Pop". Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  35. ↑ "The Day After Diallo". The Hub / WITNESS Media Archive. May 13, 2008. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  36. ↑ NYC Policewatch/Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (2000). "The Day After Diallo". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  • Amadou Diallo Foundation
  • Kadi Diallo's Trial, TedConover.coom
  • "The Day After Diallo" (Short film)
  • Sachs, Susan (17 February 1999). "Slain Man's Mother Is Center of Attention in Guinea". The New York Times. Conakry, Guinea.
  • "Shooting of Amadou Diallo". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  • Kadiatou Diallo at Library of Congress Authorities, with 1 catalog records
  • Works by or about Kadiatou Diallo in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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