Amadou Bailo Diallo
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Amadou Bailo Diallo (September 2, 1975 - February 4, 1999), a Guinean living in New York City, was killed under controversial circumstances by four police officers in the New York City Police Department's Street Crime Unit, at 1157 Wheeler Avenue in the Soundview section of the Bronx. Because Diallo was black and all four policemen were white, the killing caused outrage among citizens in New York and elsewhere, who viewed it as another incident of police brutality, similar to the case of Abner Louima.
Diallo had come to New York City to study computer science, but had not yet enrolled in school. He reportedly sold videotapes and socks on the street during the day and studied in the evenings.
He had gone out to eat and returned home early on the morning of February 4. While he was walking near his building, police officers Edward McMellon, Sean Carroll, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy, in plainclothes but wearing their NYPD shields, approached him for questioning after noting that Diallo fit the description of a since-captured serial rapist.
The officers claim to have loudly identified themselves as NYPD officers. At their approach, they reported Diallo ran up the outside steps toward his apartment house doorway, turned from the officers, and ignored their orders to stop and "show his hands." He then reached into his jacket. Believing Diallo was drawing a firearm, Officer Carroll yelled "Gun!" to alert his colleagues. The officers opened fire. While backing away, Officer McMellon fell down the steps, appearing to be shot. The four officers fired 41 shots, hitting Diallo 19 times. Investigation found no weapons on Diallo's body, and that he had pulled out of his jacket and held in his hand his wallet, not a gun. McMellon had not been shot, had merely tripped while backing down the stairs. The four officers had shot and killed an unarmed man.
On March 25 a Bronx grand jury indicted the officers on charges of second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. On December 16 a New York appellate court ordered a change of venue (http://wiktionary.org/wiki/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 deliberations, a jury acquitted the officers of all charges.
Aftermath
Diallo's death, the change of venue, and the verdict each sparked massive demonstrations against police brutality and racial profiling, resulting in more than 1700 arrests. Charges against the protestors were later dropped. In 2001 the Justice Department announced that it would not charge the officers with having violated Diallo's civil rights.
On April 18, 2000, Diallo's parents filed an $81 million lawsuit against the City of New York and the officers, charging gross negligence, wrongful death, racial profiling, and other violations of Diallo's civil rights. In March, 2004, they accepted a $3 million settlement.
The shooting death of Diallo also highlighted the presence and plight of West African immigrants (about 50,000 as of 1999) living in New York City. Many are single males who work as street peddlers (as did Diallo) or as employees in wholesale and retail establishments.
At a show in Atlanta, Georgia on June 4, 2000, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band debuted a protest song titled "American Skin (41 Shots)". Although the lyrics do not explicitly mention Diallo, they refer to 41 shots, confusing a wallet with a gun, and suspects being shot for reasons of race. Shortly thereafter, the New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association called for a boycott of Springsteen's concerts in the city.
In April of 2002, as a result of the killing of Diallo and other controversial actions, the Street Crime Unit was disbanded.
Jazz trumpeter Roy Campbell, and guitarist Elliott Sharp have both performed instrumental songs titled Amadou Diallo and Diallo Blues on the Albums Ethnic Stew and Brew and Blues for Next. Wyclef Jean's The Ecleftic features a song entitled Diallo, Diallo. Rappers Mos Def and Talib Kweli (of the duo Black Star) started the Hip Hop for Respect project which created the Hip Hop for Respect album speaking out against police brutality. In 2002, Lauryn Hill released the song I Find It Hard To Say (Rebel) on her second album MTV Unplugged 2.0. Hill (on the intro of the song): "I've written it about the whole Amadou Diallo situation, it was such a hot time in the city at that point, I was afraid that if I put the record out, people would misunderstand what I meant by 'Rebel' and they just take it to the streets".
In 2003, Amadou Diallo's mother Kadiatou published a memoir, My Heart Will Cross This Ocean: My Story, My Son, Amadou (ISBN 0345456009).
Diallo's death has become an issue in the 2005 mayoral election in New York City. Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer, who had protested the circumstances of Diallo's death at the time, more recently told a meeting of police officers that he thought it was a "tragedy" but "not a crime." Ferrer, a candidate for mayor, has been strongly criticized by Diallo's family and others for these remarks.
See Also
Diallo was briefly mentioned in Dave Eggers' novel "You Shall Know Our Velocity!" on page 86 of the paperback edition:
We drove on. Hand and Abass were talking about something that prompted, from Hand, many expressions of surprise. He turned to me.
"I think he just said his father was the ambassador to Zaire." "Tell him congratulations," I said, wondering why the son of an ambassador was in our car riding to Saly. Hand and Abass exchanged words. "He's dead ten years," Hand explained.
We expressed our condolences. I Handed Abass a choloate chip energy bar. He pointed out the front window, at a French army truck passng us going the other way.
"Ask him his last name," I said. Hand asked. "Diallo," Abass said. "Really?" Hand said. Another French troop truck. "Tell him," I said, "we have a very famous Diallo in America." Hand told him. Abass was very interested. "Abass wants to know," Hand said, "what our Diallo did to become famous." We drove in silence for a second. I knew we'd never be able to explain it, and we didn't want to spoil the mood. "Tell him he's a singer," I said.
External links
- Many details about the case are available at http://www.courttv.com/trials/diallo/