US News reports
Obviously this boy would have had a chance at a good life if Goetz hadn't blasted holes in him back in '84. In fact, Goetz is probably partly to blame for the rape committed two years later. (ha-ha, gotcha, only kidding)James Ramseur, one of four then-teenagers wounded in the notorious 1984 incident, was discovered dead in a Bronx motel room on Thursday, with two empty prescription pill bottles next to the bed.
His death is being investigated as an apparent overdose and as a possible suicide, sources told The Daily News. They said Ramseur, 45, checked into the motel Tuesday and was scheduled to check out Thursday morning.
His body was found by the motel manager who went into his room after he didn't return the keys Thursday. No note was left.
Ramseur was freed from prison last year after serving 25 years for a rape, according to NBCNewYork.com. He was one of four black teens shot by Goetz on a train on Dec. 22, 1984, in a shooting that earned Goetz the nickname of "subway vigilante" by city newspapers.
The thing is Goetz earned his handle honestly. The New York vigilante was exactly that, a vigilante. Every day people are accosted by threatening-looking youths without deciding they need to be shot. What Goetz did was a perfect example of a false DGU.
The irony is he was acquitted of the wrongful shooting. This highly publicized case may have done more harm to the country than we can count. It set the tone for these kinds of actions, justifying taking the law into one's own hands.
Wikipedia: "The incident has been cited as a contributing factor to the groundswell movement against urban crime and disorder, and successful National Rifle Association campaigns to loosen restrictions on the concealed carrying of firearms."
Untold damage.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
"The incident has been cited as a contributing factor to the groundswell movement against urban crime and disorder..."
ReplyDeleteHow terrible!
Given the behavior of Goetz's "victim" in the years that followed, it appears that Goetz made the right decision.
ReplyDelete"Given the behavior of Goetz's "victim" in the years that followed, it appears that Goetz made the right decision.
ReplyDeleteDecember 24, 2011 4:01 PM"
A lot of people cheered when Goetz got away (basically because of "Jury nullification") with armed assault and attempted murder. Oddly, many if not most, of the same people were not quite so thrilled when "Jury nullification" allowed that famous, black, ex-athlete to be turned loose.
Bernard Goetz would probably view himself in about the same way as you do. I wonder if he's got any photos of himself on his website.
This link:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0412/17/lkl.01.html
will get you the transcript of an interview with Goetz and the vile excresence who calls herself "Nancy Grace".
It turns out that Ol' Bernie not only committed a felony in carrying a weapon--a revolver--concealed or otherwise, without a permit, in NYC. He also discharged the firearm, five times, five more felony counts. He fired his gun in a crowded subway car and admits that one of the slugs ricocheted after striking a bulkhead and hit either him or the woman that was near him.
This:
"Goetz then established "a pattern of fire," deciding specifically to fire from left to right. His stated intention at that point was to "murder [the four youths], to hurt them, to make them suffer as much as possible". When Canty again requested money, Goetz stood up, drew his weapon, and began firing, aiming for the center of the body of each of the four. Goetz recalled that the first two he shot "tried to run through the crowd [but] they had nowhere to run". Goetz then turned to his right to "go after the other two". One of these two "tried to run through the wall of the train, but * * * he had [*102] nowhere to go". The other youth (Cabey) "tried pretending that he wasn't with [the others]" by standing still, holding on to one of the subway hand straps, and not looking at Goetz. Goetz nonetheless fired his fourth shot at him. He then ran back to the first two youths to make sure they had been "taken care of". Seeing that they had both been shot, he spun back to check on the latter two. Goetz noticed that the youth who had been standing still was now sitting on a bench and seemed unhurt. As Goetz told the police, "I said ' [y]ou seem to be all right, here's another' ", and he then fired the shot which severed Cabey's spinal cord. Goetz added that "if I was a little more under self-control * * * I would have put the barrel against his forehead and fired." He also admitted that "if I had had more [bullets], I would have shot them again, and again, and again."
is from here (http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/archives/p_goetz.htm)
Yeah, you and Goetz both seem like eminently reasonable gunzloonz.