Bernie Goetz: 25th Anniversary
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Archibald Nixon
anti-life coach
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
Archibald Nixon
anti-life coach
Check for sharpened screwdrivers in your stockings tomorrow!
jack
The Legendary Troll Kingdom
Barry Allen, 19; Troy Canty, 19; James Ramseur, 18; and Darrell Cabey, 19
They'd all be in their 40's now.
jack
The Legendary Troll Kingdom
When the train arrived at the 14th Street station in Manhattan, 15 to 20 other passengers remained with them in subway car 7657,[6][7] the seventh car of the ten-car train.[8][9] [edit] Encounter
At the 14th Street station, Goetz entered the car through the rearmost door, crossed the aisle and took a seat on the long bench across from the door. Canty was across the aisle from him, lying on the long bench just to the right of the door. Allen was seated to Canty's left, on the short seat on the other side of the door. Ramseur and Cabey were seated across from the door and to Goetz's right, on the short seat by the conductor's cab.[8][7] According to Goetz's statement to the police, approximately ten seconds later Canty asked him, "How are you?" Goetz responded, "Fine". According to Goetz, the four men gave signals to each other, and shortly thereafter Canty and Barry Allen rose from their seats and moved over to the left of Goetz, blocking Goetz off from the other passengers in the car. Canty then said to Goetz, "Give me five dollars". Canty testified at the criminal trial that he was panhandling, although eyewitness testimony generally agreed that the four men were aggressive and threatening. Goetz told police that he thought from the smile on Canty's face that they wanted to "play with me", and he decided on a "pattern of fire" that he would use to shoot them. Goetz, pretending not to hear, asked Canty, "What did you say?" Canty repeated, "Give me five dollars".
[edit] Shooting
After the second solicitation for money, Goetz stood up, and from beneath his blue windbreaker drew a .38 Special five-shot Smith & Wesson revolver. Goetz, who had prior firearms and target shooting experience, fired five shots, striking each of the four men.[10] All four survived, though Cabey was permanently paralyzed and suffered brain damage as a result of a bullet that severed his spinal cord.
In a telephone call made to a neighbor before he surrendered, and taped without his knowledge, Goetz described his physiological state at the time:[11]
"Myra, in a situation like this, your mind, you're in a combat situation. Your mind is functioning. You're not thinking in a normal way. Your memory isn't even working normally. You are so hyped up. Your vision actually changes. Your field of view changes. Your capabilities change. What you are capable of changes. You are under adrenaline, a drug called adrenaline. And you respond very quickly, and you think very quickly. That's all. [...] You think! You think, you analyze, and you act. And in any situation, you just have to think more quickly than your opposition. That's all. You know. Speed is very important." [edit] Sequence of shots
Sources differ in reporting the sequence of shots fired, and whether Cabey was shot once or twice. Following are three versions from significant or reliable sources describing the sequence of shots:
[edit] Sequence of shots with Cabey shot on the fourth and fifth shots
Prior to the criminal trial the media reported that Cabey had been shot on the fourth shot and then again on the fifth shot, with Goetz saying, "You don't look too bad, here's another." or "You seem all right, here's another."[12] This sequence of shots was discredited at the criminal trial when it was revealed that Cabey was shot once in the left side, however some media still reported[13] this sequence long after the criminal trial.
[edit] Sequence of shots with Cabey shot on the fifth shot
"Speed is everything", Goetz said in a videotaped statement made after he surrendered nine days later.[8] He told police that while still seated, he planned a "pattern of fire" from left to right. He then stood, stepped clear of Canty, drew his gun, turned back to Canty and fired four shots, one at each man, then fired a fifth shot.[8] At the civil trial years later he said, "I was trying to get as many of them as I could."[14] Other sources repeated Goetz's statements to NH police as to the sequence of shots: Canty was shot first, then Allen, then Ramseur, then Cabey.[9][8] In the related proceeding People v. Goetz, the New York Court of Appeals summarized the incident:
[edit] Cabey and the "here's another" issue
Cabey ended up slumped in the short seat in the corner of the car next to the conductor's cab,[7] a lateral bullet wound in the rear of his left side and his spinal cord severed. Whether Cabey was struck by the fourth shot or by the fifth was critical to Goetz's claim of self defense; this issue was fiercely contested at trial.[9] Medical testimony said that such an injury would render the lower half of Cabey's body instantly useless. According to the prosecution, the fourth shot missed; then Goetz shot a seated Cabey at point-blank range with the fifth. The defense theory of how Cabey ended up in the seat was that he was standing when hit by the fourth shot, then collapsed into the seat due to the lurching and swaying of the train; with the fifth shot being the shot that missed.[8]
A summary of Goetz's statements to the police had become public two months after the incident, drawing intense media coverage. Probably most damaging to Goetz's public support and to his claim of acting in self-defense was his statement that he had said "You don't look so bad, here's another" before firing at Cabey a second time. Media concentration on the summary's more damning portions created a public mindset that a wounded Cabey was shot a second time, with the second shot taken in a premeditated and deliberate way — an impression that stood uncorrected until the criminal trial two years later.[12] Eleven years later, at least one city newspaper was still reporting as fact that Cabey was shot twice.[17]
At trial, one witness testified that Goetz approached to within "two to three feet" of a seated Cabey, then demonstrated how Goetz stood directly in front of Cabey and fired downward, a description that matched Goetz's published statements.[9][8] Eight other independent witnesses testified that all shots came in "rapid succession";[9] one of these said the firing lasted "about a second".[8] None of the eight heard a pause before the final shot, and none saw Goetz standing in front of Cabey.[8]
Whether Goetz actually said the words "You don't look so bad, here's another" aloud, or only thought them, is still a matter of dispute. He has subsequently denied on several occasions making the statement.[19] In his closing summation to the jury, prosecutor Gregory Waples conceded:
At The Bronx civil trial Goetz testified the first shot was Canty, Allen second, the third shot missed, Cabey fourth, and Ramseur fifth. The following similar shooting sequence is from the Bio & letters page of Bernie Goetz's website[20]:
"I decided to shoot as many as I could as quickly as I could. I did a fast draw, and shot with one hand (my right), pulling the trigger prior to the gun being aligned on the targets. All actual shots plus my draw time occurred easily within 1.6 seconds or less. This is not as difficult to do as some might think, and occasionally I give a description of the technique along with a re-enactment.
The first shot hit Canty in the center of the chest. After the first shot my vision changed and I lost my sense of hearing. The second shot hit lightning fast Barry Allen in the upper rear shoulder as he was ducking (later the bullet was removed from his arm). The third shot hit the subway wall just in front of Cabey; the fourth shot hit Cabey in the left side (severing his spinal cord and rendering him paraplegic). The fifth shot hit Ramseur's arm on the way into his left side. I immediately looked at the first two to make sure they were "taken care of", and then attempted to shoot Cabey again in the stomach, but the gun was empty. I thought Cabey was shot twice after reading a media account no shots missed; I had lost count of the shots and while under adrenaline I didn't even hear the shots or feel the kick of the gun. "You don't look too bad, here's another" is a phrase I came up with later when trying to explain the shooting while I was under the impression that Cabey was shot twice. Cabey, who was briefly standing prior to the shooting, was sitting on the subway bench during all attempted shots. The others were standing. Shortly after the shooting my vision and hearing returned to normal."
[edit] Flight and surrender
The terrified passengers ran to the other end and out of the car, leaving behind the two women who had been closest to the shooting, fallen or knocked down by the exodus, and immobilized by fear. Goetz talked to them to make sure they were not injured, then was approached by the conductor of the train. Goetz stated "They tried to rob me."[8] The conductor asked whether Goetz was a police officer, receiving the reply "No." Some time after a brief conversation in which he refused to hand over the gun,[8] Goetz jumped to the tracks and ran south through the tunnel to the Chambers Street station, where he exited the system.[9]
He went home to gather some belongings, then rented a car and drove north to Bennington, Vermont, where he burned his blue jacket and dismantled the gun, scattering the pieces in the woods north of town. He drove around New England for several days, registering at motels under various names and paying in cash. On December 26, an anonymous hotline caller told New York City police that Goetz matched the gunman's description, had a gun, and had been mugged four years earlier.[21][22] In a December 29 telephone call to a neighbor, Goetz learned that police had come by his apartment looking for him, and had left notes asking to be contacted as soon as possible.[11]
Goetz returned to New York on December 30, turned in the car, picked up some clothing and business papers at his apartment, rented another car and drove back to New England. Shortly after noon the next day, he walked into the Concord, New Hampshire police headquarters and told the officer on duty, "I am the person they are seeking in New York."[22]
[edit] Statements to police
Once the officer realized that Goetz was a genuine suspect, Goetz was given a Miranda warning and waived his right to have an attorney present. After an interview that lasted over an hour, a Concord detective asked Goetz to consent to making an audiotaped statement. Goetz agreed, and a rambling two-hour statement was recorded. That evening, New York City detectives and an assistant district attorney arrived in Concord, and Goetz submitted to a two-hour videotaped interview. Both interviews were eventually played back for the grand juries, the criminal trial, and a civil trial years later. When the audiotape was first played in open court, Goetz was described by The New York Times as "confused and emotional, alternately horrified by and defensive about his actions, and obsessed with justifying them."[23]
In his statements, Goetz described a past violent mugging in which he was injured and the only assailant arrested went unpunished. He called New York City "lawless" and expressed contempt for its justice system, calling it a "joke", a "sham", and "a disgrace".[citation needed] Goetz said that when the four men he shot surrounded him on the train, he feared being "beaten to a pulp" as well as being robbed.[24] He denied any premeditation for the shooting, something that had been speculated on by the press.[8]
Asked what his intentions were when he drew his revolver, Goetz replied, "my intention was to murder them, to hurt them, to make them suffer as much as possible."[16] Later in the tape, Goetz said, "If I had more bullets, I would have shot 'em all again and again. My problem was I ran out of bullets". He added, "I was gonna, I was gonna gouge one of the guy's [Canty's] eyes out with my keys afterwards", but said he stopped when he saw the fear in his eyes.[25] At the criminal trial, Goetz's defense attorneys, Barry Slotnick and Mark Baker, argued that this and other extreme statements by Goetz were the product of emotion and an overactive imagination.
Goetz was brought back to Manhattan on January 3, 1985 and arraigned on four charges of attempted murder, with bail set at $50,000. He was held in protective custody at the Rikers Island prison hospital.[26] Refusing offers of bail assistance from the public and from his family, he posted bail with his own funds and was released on bond January 8.[27]
[edit] Background
This incident occurred during the 1980s, a time of unprecedented high crime rates in New York City. By mid-decade, the city had a reported crime rate over 70% higher than the rest of the U.S. In 1984, there were 2 homicides, 18 violent crimes, and 65 property thefts reported per 10,000 people. On average, 38 crimes were reported in the subway system each day; the subway became a symbol of the city's inability to control crime.[28] In a survey of New York City residents taken the month after the shootings, more than half of those surveyed said crime was the worst thing about living in the city; about a quarter said they or a family member had been a victim of crime in the last year; and two-thirds said they would be willing to pay for private security for their building or block.[29]
While transporting electronic equipment in 1981, Goetz was attacked in the Canal Street subway station by three youths who tried to steal the equipment and his sheepskin jacket.[30] They smashed him into a plate-glass door and threw him to the ground, causing chest and knee injuries. Goetz assisted an off-duty officer in arresting one of them, but was angered when his attacker spent less time in the police station than he did, then was further angered when his attacker was charged only with criminal mischief, for ripping the jacket.[10] Goetz applied for a permit to carry a handgun, on the basis of routinely carrying valuable equipment and large sums of cash. His application was denied for insufficient need, as are most such applications in New York City. Goetz bought a five-shot, alloy J-frame Smith and Wesson "Airweight" revolver with a shrouded hammer[31] on his next trip to visit family in Florida.[10] He began carrying it regularly and had brandished it twice to frighten away would-be robbers before using it to shoot the four men who confronted him on the subway.
At the time of the incident all four men had criminal records, with a total of fourteen criminal bench warrants, although only Cabey had been charged with a felony, armed robbery. All of them were either 18 or 19, and had reached the legal age of majority.
[edit] Early reports
Because of the loudness of the shots inside the confined space of the subway car, there were initial witness reports that suggested the gun involved was a .357 Magnum revolver. Goetz alluded to these reports in a December 2004 interview on the Opie and Anthony radio show, saying that the first shot he fired that afternoon had been unusually loud in part because it was the first shot fired by the small-frame .38 caliber revolver after the factory tests, which "cleaned the barrel".
After the incident, rumors spread that Goetz had been threatened with sharpened screwdrivers.[32] This rumor was published as fact by some newspapers including the New York Times;[2][33] however, neither Goetz nor the men made any such claim. During his subsequent statement to the police Goetz expressed a belief that none of the young men had been armed.[34] Paramedics and police did find a total of three screwdrivers on two of the men; when Canty testified at Goetz's criminal trial he said they were to be used to break into video arcade change boxes and not as weapons.[2]
[edit] Public reaction
"The subway vigilante", as Goetz was labeled by New York City media, was front-page news for months, partly owing to the repressed passions the incident unleashed in New York and other cities. Public opinion tended to fall into one of three camps: Those in the first camp tended to believe Goetz's version of the incident, that he was aggressively accosted and surrounded by the four men and feared he was about to be beaten and robbed. Those in the second camp tended to believe the version told by the four men, that they were merely panhandling to get some money to play video games. A third camp believed that Goetz had indeed been threatened, but viewed the shooting as an unjustified overreaction.
[edit] Supporters
Supporters viewed the soft-spoken Goetz as a hero for standing up to his attackers and defending himself in an environment where the police were increasingly viewed as ineffective in combating crime.[35]
The Guardian Angels, a volunteer patrol group of mostly black and Hispanic teenagers,[36] collected thousands of dollars from subway riders toward a legal defense fund for Goetz.[37] The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a civil rights organization, supported Goetz.[38] Its director Roy Innis offered to raise defense money, saying Goetz was "the avenger for all of us", and calling for a volunteer force of armed civilians to patrol the streets.[37] The prior criminal convictions of the four men (and the published accounts of such) prevented them from gaining sympathy from many people. A special hotline set up by police to seek information was swamped by calls supporting the shooter and calling him a hero.[33][37] Harvard Professor of Government James Q. Wilson explained the broad sentiment by saying, "It may simply indicate that there are no more liberals on the crime and law-and-order issue in New York, because they've all been mugged".[37]
At the 14th Street station, Goetz entered the car through the rearmost door, crossed the aisle and took a seat on the long bench across from the door. Canty was across the aisle from him, lying on the long bench just to the right of the door. Allen was seated to Canty's left, on the short seat on the other side of the door. Ramseur and Cabey were seated across from the door and to Goetz's right, on the short seat by the conductor's cab.[8][7] According to Goetz's statement to the police, approximately ten seconds later Canty asked him, "How are you?" Goetz responded, "Fine". According to Goetz, the four men gave signals to each other, and shortly thereafter Canty and Barry Allen rose from their seats and moved over to the left of Goetz, blocking Goetz off from the other passengers in the car. Canty then said to Goetz, "Give me five dollars". Canty testified at the criminal trial that he was panhandling, although eyewitness testimony generally agreed that the four men were aggressive and threatening. Goetz told police that he thought from the smile on Canty's face that they wanted to "play with me", and he decided on a "pattern of fire" that he would use to shoot them. Goetz, pretending not to hear, asked Canty, "What did you say?" Canty repeated, "Give me five dollars".
[edit] Shooting
After the second solicitation for money, Goetz stood up, and from beneath his blue windbreaker drew a .38 Special five-shot Smith & Wesson revolver. Goetz, who had prior firearms and target shooting experience, fired five shots, striking each of the four men.[10] All four survived, though Cabey was permanently paralyzed and suffered brain damage as a result of a bullet that severed his spinal cord.
In a telephone call made to a neighbor before he surrendered, and taped without his knowledge, Goetz described his physiological state at the time:[11]
"Myra, in a situation like this, your mind, you're in a combat situation. Your mind is functioning. You're not thinking in a normal way. Your memory isn't even working normally. You are so hyped up. Your vision actually changes. Your field of view changes. Your capabilities change. What you are capable of changes. You are under adrenaline, a drug called adrenaline. And you respond very quickly, and you think very quickly. That's all. [...] You think! You think, you analyze, and you act. And in any situation, you just have to think more quickly than your opposition. That's all. You know. Speed is very important." [edit] Sequence of shots
Sources differ in reporting the sequence of shots fired, and whether Cabey was shot once or twice. Following are three versions from significant or reliable sources describing the sequence of shots:
[edit] Sequence of shots with Cabey shot on the fourth and fifth shots
Prior to the criminal trial the media reported that Cabey had been shot on the fourth shot and then again on the fifth shot, with Goetz saying, "You don't look too bad, here's another." or "You seem all right, here's another."[12] This sequence of shots was discredited at the criminal trial when it was revealed that Cabey was shot once in the left side, however some media still reported[13] this sequence long after the criminal trial.
[edit] Sequence of shots with Cabey shot on the fifth shot
"Speed is everything", Goetz said in a videotaped statement made after he surrendered nine days later.[8] He told police that while still seated, he planned a "pattern of fire" from left to right. He then stood, stepped clear of Canty, drew his gun, turned back to Canty and fired four shots, one at each man, then fired a fifth shot.[8] At the civil trial years later he said, "I was trying to get as many of them as I could."[14] Other sources repeated Goetz's statements to NH police as to the sequence of shots: Canty was shot first, then Allen, then Ramseur, then Cabey.[9][8] In the related proceeding People v. Goetz, the New York Court of Appeals summarized the incident:
It appears from the evidence before the Grand Jury that Canty approached Goetz, possibly with Allen beside him, and stated "give me five dollars". Neither Canty nor any of the other youths displayed a weapon. Goetz responded by standing up, pulling out his handgun and firing four shots in rapid succession. The first shot hit Canty in the chest; the second struck Allen in the back; the third went through Ramseur's arm and into his left side; the fourth was fired at Cabey, who apparently was then standing in the corner of the car, but missed, deflecting instead off of a wall of the conductor's cab. After Goetz briefly surveyed the scene around him, he fired another shot at Cabey, who then was sitting on the end bench of the car. The bullet entered the rear of Cabey's side and severed his spinal cord.[15]
According to his statements to police, Goetz checked the first two men to make sure that they had been "taken care of", then, seeing that the fourth man was now sitting down and seemed unhurt, said "You seem to be all right, here's another" and fired at him again.[16] That the fourth man, Cabey, was shot only once[8][13][17][9][18] was a fact not made known to Goetz or his attorneys until shortly before the trial. One bullet missed, fragmenting on the steel cab wall behind Cabey. (The missed shot would also be the basis of a charge of reckless endangerment of other passengers.)[18]
[edit] Cabey and the "here's another" issue
Cabey ended up slumped in the short seat in the corner of the car next to the conductor's cab,[7] a lateral bullet wound in the rear of his left side and his spinal cord severed. Whether Cabey was struck by the fourth shot or by the fifth was critical to Goetz's claim of self defense; this issue was fiercely contested at trial.[9] Medical testimony said that such an injury would render the lower half of Cabey's body instantly useless. According to the prosecution, the fourth shot missed; then Goetz shot a seated Cabey at point-blank range with the fifth. The defense theory of how Cabey ended up in the seat was that he was standing when hit by the fourth shot, then collapsed into the seat due to the lurching and swaying of the train; with the fifth shot being the shot that missed.[8]
A summary of Goetz's statements to the police had become public two months after the incident, drawing intense media coverage. Probably most damaging to Goetz's public support and to his claim of acting in self-defense was his statement that he had said "You don't look so bad, here's another" before firing at Cabey a second time. Media concentration on the summary's more damning portions created a public mindset that a wounded Cabey was shot a second time, with the second shot taken in a premeditated and deliberate way — an impression that stood uncorrected until the criminal trial two years later.[12] Eleven years later, at least one city newspaper was still reporting as fact that Cabey was shot twice.[17]
At trial, one witness testified that Goetz approached to within "two to three feet" of a seated Cabey, then demonstrated how Goetz stood directly in front of Cabey and fired downward, a description that matched Goetz's published statements.[9][8] Eight other independent witnesses testified that all shots came in "rapid succession";[9] one of these said the firing lasted "about a second".[8] None of the eight heard a pause before the final shot, and none saw Goetz standing in front of Cabey.[8]
Whether Goetz actually said the words "You don't look so bad, here's another" aloud, or only thought them, is still a matter of dispute. He has subsequently denied on several occasions making the statement.[19] In his closing summation to the jury, prosecutor Gregory Waples conceded:
In all probability, the defendant uttered these words only to himself and probably not even mouthing the words, but just saying them in his own mind as he squeezed the trigger that fifth time.[9]
[edit] Sequence of shots with Cabey shot on the fourth shot
At The Bronx civil trial Goetz testified the first shot was Canty, Allen second, the third shot missed, Cabey fourth, and Ramseur fifth. The following similar shooting sequence is from the Bio & letters page of Bernie Goetz's website[20]:
"I decided to shoot as many as I could as quickly as I could. I did a fast draw, and shot with one hand (my right), pulling the trigger prior to the gun being aligned on the targets. All actual shots plus my draw time occurred easily within 1.6 seconds or less. This is not as difficult to do as some might think, and occasionally I give a description of the technique along with a re-enactment.
The first shot hit Canty in the center of the chest. After the first shot my vision changed and I lost my sense of hearing. The second shot hit lightning fast Barry Allen in the upper rear shoulder as he was ducking (later the bullet was removed from his arm). The third shot hit the subway wall just in front of Cabey; the fourth shot hit Cabey in the left side (severing his spinal cord and rendering him paraplegic). The fifth shot hit Ramseur's arm on the way into his left side. I immediately looked at the first two to make sure they were "taken care of", and then attempted to shoot Cabey again in the stomach, but the gun was empty. I thought Cabey was shot twice after reading a media account no shots missed; I had lost count of the shots and while under adrenaline I didn't even hear the shots or feel the kick of the gun. "You don't look too bad, here's another" is a phrase I came up with later when trying to explain the shooting while I was under the impression that Cabey was shot twice. Cabey, who was briefly standing prior to the shooting, was sitting on the subway bench during all attempted shots. The others were standing. Shortly after the shooting my vision and hearing returned to normal."
[edit] Flight and surrender
The terrified passengers ran to the other end and out of the car, leaving behind the two women who had been closest to the shooting, fallen or knocked down by the exodus, and immobilized by fear. Goetz talked to them to make sure they were not injured, then was approached by the conductor of the train. Goetz stated "They tried to rob me."[8] The conductor asked whether Goetz was a police officer, receiving the reply "No." Some time after a brief conversation in which he refused to hand over the gun,[8] Goetz jumped to the tracks and ran south through the tunnel to the Chambers Street station, where he exited the system.[9]
He went home to gather some belongings, then rented a car and drove north to Bennington, Vermont, where he burned his blue jacket and dismantled the gun, scattering the pieces in the woods north of town. He drove around New England for several days, registering at motels under various names and paying in cash. On December 26, an anonymous hotline caller told New York City police that Goetz matched the gunman's description, had a gun, and had been mugged four years earlier.[21][22] In a December 29 telephone call to a neighbor, Goetz learned that police had come by his apartment looking for him, and had left notes asking to be contacted as soon as possible.[11]
Goetz returned to New York on December 30, turned in the car, picked up some clothing and business papers at his apartment, rented another car and drove back to New England. Shortly after noon the next day, he walked into the Concord, New Hampshire police headquarters and told the officer on duty, "I am the person they are seeking in New York."[22]
[edit] Statements to police
Once the officer realized that Goetz was a genuine suspect, Goetz was given a Miranda warning and waived his right to have an attorney present. After an interview that lasted over an hour, a Concord detective asked Goetz to consent to making an audiotaped statement. Goetz agreed, and a rambling two-hour statement was recorded. That evening, New York City detectives and an assistant district attorney arrived in Concord, and Goetz submitted to a two-hour videotaped interview. Both interviews were eventually played back for the grand juries, the criminal trial, and a civil trial years later. When the audiotape was first played in open court, Goetz was described by The New York Times as "confused and emotional, alternately horrified by and defensive about his actions, and obsessed with justifying them."[23]
In his statements, Goetz described a past violent mugging in which he was injured and the only assailant arrested went unpunished. He called New York City "lawless" and expressed contempt for its justice system, calling it a "joke", a "sham", and "a disgrace".[citation needed] Goetz said that when the four men he shot surrounded him on the train, he feared being "beaten to a pulp" as well as being robbed.[24] He denied any premeditation for the shooting, something that had been speculated on by the press.[8]
Asked what his intentions were when he drew his revolver, Goetz replied, "my intention was to murder them, to hurt them, to make them suffer as much as possible."[16] Later in the tape, Goetz said, "If I had more bullets, I would have shot 'em all again and again. My problem was I ran out of bullets". He added, "I was gonna, I was gonna gouge one of the guy's [Canty's] eyes out with my keys afterwards", but said he stopped when he saw the fear in his eyes.[25] At the criminal trial, Goetz's defense attorneys, Barry Slotnick and Mark Baker, argued that this and other extreme statements by Goetz were the product of emotion and an overactive imagination.
Goetz was brought back to Manhattan on January 3, 1985 and arraigned on four charges of attempted murder, with bail set at $50,000. He was held in protective custody at the Rikers Island prison hospital.[26] Refusing offers of bail assistance from the public and from his family, he posted bail with his own funds and was released on bond January 8.[27]
[edit] Background
This incident occurred during the 1980s, a time of unprecedented high crime rates in New York City. By mid-decade, the city had a reported crime rate over 70% higher than the rest of the U.S. In 1984, there were 2 homicides, 18 violent crimes, and 65 property thefts reported per 10,000 people. On average, 38 crimes were reported in the subway system each day; the subway became a symbol of the city's inability to control crime.[28] In a survey of New York City residents taken the month after the shootings, more than half of those surveyed said crime was the worst thing about living in the city; about a quarter said they or a family member had been a victim of crime in the last year; and two-thirds said they would be willing to pay for private security for their building or block.[29]
While transporting electronic equipment in 1981, Goetz was attacked in the Canal Street subway station by three youths who tried to steal the equipment and his sheepskin jacket.[30] They smashed him into a plate-glass door and threw him to the ground, causing chest and knee injuries. Goetz assisted an off-duty officer in arresting one of them, but was angered when his attacker spent less time in the police station than he did, then was further angered when his attacker was charged only with criminal mischief, for ripping the jacket.[10] Goetz applied for a permit to carry a handgun, on the basis of routinely carrying valuable equipment and large sums of cash. His application was denied for insufficient need, as are most such applications in New York City. Goetz bought a five-shot, alloy J-frame Smith and Wesson "Airweight" revolver with a shrouded hammer[31] on his next trip to visit family in Florida.[10] He began carrying it regularly and had brandished it twice to frighten away would-be robbers before using it to shoot the four men who confronted him on the subway.
At the time of the incident all four men had criminal records, with a total of fourteen criminal bench warrants, although only Cabey had been charged with a felony, armed robbery. All of them were either 18 or 19, and had reached the legal age of majority.
[edit] Early reports
Because of the loudness of the shots inside the confined space of the subway car, there were initial witness reports that suggested the gun involved was a .357 Magnum revolver. Goetz alluded to these reports in a December 2004 interview on the Opie and Anthony radio show, saying that the first shot he fired that afternoon had been unusually loud in part because it was the first shot fired by the small-frame .38 caliber revolver after the factory tests, which "cleaned the barrel".
After the incident, rumors spread that Goetz had been threatened with sharpened screwdrivers.[32] This rumor was published as fact by some newspapers including the New York Times;[2][33] however, neither Goetz nor the men made any such claim. During his subsequent statement to the police Goetz expressed a belief that none of the young men had been armed.[34] Paramedics and police did find a total of three screwdrivers on two of the men; when Canty testified at Goetz's criminal trial he said they were to be used to break into video arcade change boxes and not as weapons.[2]
[edit] Public reaction
"The subway vigilante", as Goetz was labeled by New York City media, was front-page news for months, partly owing to the repressed passions the incident unleashed in New York and other cities. Public opinion tended to fall into one of three camps: Those in the first camp tended to believe Goetz's version of the incident, that he was aggressively accosted and surrounded by the four men and feared he was about to be beaten and robbed. Those in the second camp tended to believe the version told by the four men, that they were merely panhandling to get some money to play video games. A third camp believed that Goetz had indeed been threatened, but viewed the shooting as an unjustified overreaction.
[edit] Supporters
Supporters viewed the soft-spoken Goetz as a hero for standing up to his attackers and defending himself in an environment where the police were increasingly viewed as ineffective in combating crime.[35]
The Guardian Angels, a volunteer patrol group of mostly black and Hispanic teenagers,[36] collected thousands of dollars from subway riders toward a legal defense fund for Goetz.[37] The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a civil rights organization, supported Goetz.[38] Its director Roy Innis offered to raise defense money, saying Goetz was "the avenger for all of us", and calling for a volunteer force of armed civilians to patrol the streets.[37] The prior criminal convictions of the four men (and the published accounts of such) prevented them from gaining sympathy from many people. A special hotline set up by police to seek information was swamped by calls supporting the shooter and calling him a hero.[33][37] Harvard Professor of Government James Q. Wilson explained the broad sentiment by saying, "It may simply indicate that there are no more liberals on the crime and law-and-order issue in New York, because they've all been mugged".[37]