1984 New York City Subway shooting

On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz (/ˈɡɛts/^[1]) shot four young black men on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan after they allegedly tried to rob him.^[2][3][4][5]

1984 New York City Subway shooting
Part of mass shootings in the United States
Location	New York City, New York, U.S.
Date	December 22, 1984; 38 years ago (1984-12-22)
Attack type	Shooting
Weapon	Smith & Wesson Model 38
Deaths	0
Injured	4 (Barry Allen, Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey, James Ramseur)
Motive	Self-defense (disputed)
Convicted	Bernhard Hugo Goetz
Verdict	Guilty of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon Not guilty on remaining charges
Charges	Attempted murder (4 counts) Assault (4 counts) Reckless endangerment Third-degree criminal possession of a weapon Fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon (3 counts)
Litigation	Goetz ordered to pay $43 million to Cabey in civil trial for reckless and deliberate infliction of emotional distress
Sentence	1 year in jail (released after 8.5 months)

Goetz surrendered to police nine days later and was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and several firearms offenses. Initially, Goetz received widespread public recognition and support. A grand jury indicted Goetz only on a criminal-gun-possession charge, declining to return an indictment on the more serious charges. However, public opinion about Goetz wavered due to statements and alleged damaging details of the incident released by the prosecution.^[6] Weeks later, prosecutors were granted permission to re-submit the dismissed charges to a second grand jury, which indicted Goetz for the attempted murder of the four victims in addition to several other charges.^[7] A jury subsequently found Goetz guilty of one count of carrying an unlicensed firearm and acquitted him of the remaining charges; for the firearm offense, he served eight months of a one-year sentence. In 1996, Darrell Cabey, one of the men Goetz shot, who was left paraplegic and brain damaged as a result of his injuries, obtained a civil judgment of $43 million against Goetz.^[8]

The incident sparked a nationwide debate on crime in major U.S. cities, the legal limits of self-defense, and the extent to which the citizenry could rely on the police to secure their safety.^[4] Goetz, dubbed the "Subway Vigilante" by the New York City press, came to symbolize New Yorkers' frustrations with the high crime rates of the 1980s. Goetz was both praised and vilified in the media and public opinion, and the New York criminal-justice system came under increased public scrutiny. The incident has been cited as a contributing factor to a groundswell movement against urban crime^[9] and successful National Rifle Association campaigns to loosen restrictions for concealed carrying of firearms.^[10]

Incident

 

The shooting occurred on a 2 train

In the early afternoon of Saturday, December 22, 1984, four young men from the Bronx, 19-year-olds Barry Allen, Troy Canty, and Darrell Cabey, and 18-year-old James Ramseur, boarded a downtown 2 train (a Broadway–Seventh Avenue express). The teenagers, each of whom had previously been arrested and convicted at least once, stated they were on their way to rob a video arcade in Manhattan.^[3][11] When the train arrived at the 14th Street station in Manhattan at about 1:30PM, fifteen to twenty other passengers remained with them in the R22 subway car,^[12][13] the seventh car of the ten-car train.^{[14]: 23 [15]}

In a statement to the Concord, New Hampshire police department, Goetz stated that, several seconds after he boarded the train, Canty asked him, "How are you doing?", and Goetz responded, "Fine." Goetz said the group gave signals to each other, and, shortly thereafter, Canty and Allen rose from their seats and moved over to Goetz, blocking Goetz off from the other passengers in the car. Canty then said, "Give me five dollars." Goetz subsequently pulled a handgun and fired five shots at the four, wounding them all. Goetz initially told police that, after firing four shots, he walked over to an injured Cabey and said, "You don't look so bad, here's another," before shooting him again; he later retracted this statement.^[16][17] Cabey's spine was severed, resulting in brain damage and partial paralysis.

Shooter

Bernhard Hugo Goetz was born in the Kew Gardens neighborhood of New York City's Queens borough on November 7, 1947,^[18] the son of Gertrude (née Karlsberg) and Bernhard Willard Goetz, Sr. His parents were German immigrants who met in the U.S.^[19][20] His father was Lutheran; his mother, who was Jewish, converted to Lutheranism.^{[21][22][15]: 10 [23]} While growing up, Goetz lived with his parents and three older siblings in Upstate New York, where his father ran a dairy farm and a bookbinding business.^[24] At the age of 12, he was sent to Switzerland, where he and his sister attended boarding schools.^[25] Goetz returned to the United States in 1965 for college, and earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and nuclear engineering from New York University.^[24] By this time, the family had relocated to Orlando, Florida; Goetz joined them and worked at his father's residential development business. He was briefly married. After his divorce, he moved back to New York City, where he started an electronics business out of his Greenwich Village apartment.^[24]

Goetz's flight and surrender

After the shooting, Goetz asked two frightened passengers if they had been injured, and both said they were not.^{[citation needed]} He then went towards the south end of the car, briefly looked around, and sat down with his head in his hands covering his eyes, occasionally looking around.^{[citation needed]} Shortly afterwards, the train conductor entered the car and loudly exclaimed, "What's going on?" He approached Goetz, still seated, and asked what happened. Goetz pointed to the north end of the car and then told him, "I don't know ... they tried to rob me and I shot them."^[14]: 102 The conductor then went to the passengers to check if they were injured before returning to Goetz and asked if he was a police officer, which Goetz denied, and he then asked Goetz for the gun, which Goetz refused to turn over.^[14]: 102

Some time later, the train slowed down, continued at a slow rate and then stopped before the next station. Goetz remained seated for 15–30 seconds and then exited the south end of the car. He climbed down to the tracks, ran north a few steps, and then reversed direction and ran south through the tunnel to the Chambers Street station, where he climbed onto the empty end of the passenger platform and then exited the station via the stairs.^[15] He took a cab back to his 14th Street home and then rented a car, driving north to Bennington, Vermont, where he burned the blue jacket he had been wearing and dismantled the revolver, scattering the pieces in the woods north of town.^{[citation needed]} He drove around New England for several days, registering at motels under various names and paying in cash.^{[citation needed]}

On December 26, an anonymous hotline caller told New York City police that Goetz matched the gunman's description, owned a gun, and had been mugged previously.^[26][27] On December 29, Goetz called his neighbor, Myra Friedman, who told him that police had come by his apartment looking for him, and had left notes asking to be contacted as soon as possible.^[28] He gave his side of the story to Friedman and described his psychological state at the time:^[28]

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.

Goetz returned to New York City 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."^[27]

Goetz's statements to police

Once the officer realized that Goetz was a genuine suspect, Goetz was given a Miranda warning, and he 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 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."^[29]

Goetz told police that he felt that he was being robbed and was at risk of violence, and he explained he had been both mugged once before and nearly mugged several times:^[30] "I’ve been situations where I’ve shown the gun. . . . The threat, when I was surrounded, at at that point, showing the gun would have been enough, but when I saw this one fellow [(Canty)], when I saw the gleam in his eye and the smile on his face and and they say it’s a joke and lot of them say it’s a joke."^[30][31]

But when I saw his eyes, up to that point my state of mind changed and you go through a different state of mind where reality totally totally changes. . . . You just, you don’t think, just act. Speed is everything, speed is everything. . . . When he said, “Give me five dollars,” I pulled out the piece I just started firing. Now its...its...its on point to look at what your firing at. You just target images in your mind. . . . You do what you have do as quickly as possible. You don’t think. . . . That was number one, I got rid of number one. . . .

Got rid of number two. They say I shot him in the back. That doesn’t even matter. I wasn’t even aiming for the back. You aim for the center. One of the fellows looked like he was trying . . . I don’t know. I don’t know if he was facing from the front or the back, whatever. But it seemed as if he was trying to get through the steel wall of the subway car. But he couldn’t. I let him have it, and I let off the other guys have it. The one who that was pretending he wasn’t with them, and I ran up to the first two to check them . . . and they were taken care of. It was all very cold-blooded, Miss. And this is going to offend everyone. And I went back to the other two to check on them. I wanted to know if I had missed and I, but I . . . went to them a second time and I looked at him and--he can’t verify this because he was probably out of it by then, if I shot him or not, I don’t know--and I said, “You seem to be doing all right, here’s another.”

— Bernhard Goetz, to the FBI^[30]

Goetz explained that he had been "jumped" three years earlier, in the Canal Street subway.^[30][32] He said that those perpetrators had smashed him into a plate-glass door and threw him to the ground, injuring his chest and knee.^[28][14] Goetz assisted an off-duty officer in arresting one of them; the other two attackers escaped. Goetz was angered when the arrested attacker spent less than half the time in the police station than the time spent by Goetz himself, and he was angered further when this attacker was charged only with criminal mischief for ripping Goetz's jacket.^[24][28] Goetz subsequently applied for a permit to carry a concealed handgun, on the basis of routinely carrying valuable equipment and large sums of cash, but his application was denied for insufficient need. He bought a 5-shot .38-caliber revolver during a trip to Florida.^[24]

Goetz called New York City "lawless" and expressed contempt for its justice system, calling it a "joke," a "sham," and "a disgrace". He said that when the four surrounded him on the train, he feared being "beaten to a pulp" as well as being robbed.^[33] He denied any premeditation for the shooting, something that had been speculated on by the press.^[14]: 58 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."^[34] 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 guys' [Canty's] eyes out with my keys afterwards", but said he stopped when he saw the fear in his eyes.^[35] At the criminal trial, Goetz's defense attorneys, Barry Slotnick and Mark M. 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.^[36] 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.^[37]

Early media reports

Initial sources differed in reporting the sequence of shots fired, timing of shots, whether Cabey was shot once or twice, and whether any of the men Goetz shot were armed. Some reports, picking up on Goetz's statement to the police, suggested that Cabey had been shot twice,^[6] but medical evidence introduced at trial showed that he had been shot only once, in the left side.^[38] Additionally, early reports suggested that the teenagers had approached Goetz carrying "sharpened" screwdrivers;^[39][40][41] those reports, too, were found to be false: The screwdrivers—Cabey carried two and Ramseur carried one—were not sharpened and, based on the available testimony, were not removed from Cabey's or Ramseur's pockets^[39][14]—no witnesses reported seeing screwdrivers, and Goetz repeatedly denied he was threatened with them.^[39][14][42] 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.^[3]

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.^{[citation needed]} 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."^{[citation needed]}

Legal aftermath

Criminal action

Indictment

For further information on the indictment and subsequent appeal, see People v. Goetz.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau asked a grand jury to indict Goetz on four counts of attempted murder, four of assault, four of reckless endangerment, and one of criminal possession of a weapon.^[43][6][44] On January 25, the grand jury refused to indict Goetz on the more serious charges, voting indictments only for unlawful gun possession—one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, for carrying in public the loaded unlicensed gun used in the subway shooting, and two counts of possession in the fourth degree, for keeping two other unlicensed handguns in his home.^[43]

A month after the grand jury's decision, a report summarizing statements Goetz made to Concord police department was released by the prosecution, in which Goetz said he shot each of the four men, then checked their condition, and, seeing no blood on the fourth, said, "You don't look so bad, here's another", and shot the fourth again.^[6] A New York Times editorial called for Goetz to be tried on the attempted murder and assault charges while suggesting approaches that would allow Morgenthau to convene a new grand jury.^[45] New York State Governor Mario Cuomo stated "Everyone knows Goetz was wrong," and Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania called for a special prosecutor.^[44]

In March 1985, Morgenthau announced that the state had obtained new evidence—an unnamed witness (actually Troy Canty)—and sought leave to convene a second grand jury; Judge Stephen Crane granted Morgenthau's motion.^[46] By this point, the public perception of Goetz had started to shift, though Morgenthau reported that the letters his office received were still running 3 to 1 in Goetz's favor.^[47][48][24] The second grand jury heard testimony by Canty and Ramseur and indicted Goetz on charges of attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and weapons possession.^[49]

In January 1986, Judge Crane granted a motion by Goetz to dismiss these new indictments, but gave the prosecutor the option of re-submitting these charges to a third grand jury. The judge's decision was based on alleged errors in the prosecutor's instructions to the grand jury regarding Goetz's defense of justification for the use of deadly force and the judge's opinion that Canty and Ramseur "strongly appeared" to have perjured themselves—based on later public statements that they had intended to rob Goetz^[49][50] and on a newspaper interview in which Cabey stated that the other members of the group planned to frighten and rob Goetz because he "looked like easy bait".^[51] The judge allowed the weapons possession and reckless endangerment charges to stand.^[50]

The prosecution appealed the case, and, ultimately, in July 1986, the New York Court of Appeals, in People v. Goetz,^[31] reversed Judge Crane's dismissal. The court clarified that, contrary to Judge Crane's opinion, a defendant's subjective belief that he is in imminent danger does not, by itself, justify the use of deadly force; instead, it held, that belief must be both subjectively held and objectively reasonable.^[52]

[A] jury must first determine whether the defendant . . . believed deadly force was necessary to avert the imminent use of deadly force or the commission of one of the felonies enumerated therein. . . . [T]hen the jury must also consider whether these beliefs were reasonable. The jury would have to determine, in light of all the "circumstances" . . . if a reasonable person could have had these beliefs.

— People v. Goetz, New York Court of Appeals^[31]

The appeals court further held that Judge Crane's opinion that the testimony of Canty and Ramseur was perjurious was speculative and inappropriate.^[31] All charges were reinstated, and the case was sent to trial.

Trial

In December 1986, jury selection began and in April, 1987, the trial commenced before a Manhattan jury of 10 whites and 2 blacks, of whom 6 had been victims of street crime.^[53][54] Goetz was represented by Barry Slotnick and Mark M. Baker. Goetz conceded that he had shot the four teenagers, but he asserted that his actions were justified by section 35.15(2) of New York's Justification statute, which, with non-relevant exceptions, permitted the use of deadly force when actor "reasonably believes that such other person is using or about to use deadly physical force . . . or . . . is committing or attempting to commit a kidnapping, forcible rape, forcible sodomy or robbery".^[31]

The key question for the jurors was how to separate the vague perception of intimidation from the more specific threat of robbery, or from the "threat of deadly physical force," which Justice Crane told the jurors were the two grounds that would justify Mr. Goetz's use of his weapon.

— Kirk Johnson, New York Times^[55]

Both prosecution and defense conceded that the jury would be required to consider several questions, including (1) whether the teenagers had acted as a group or as individuals, (2) whether Goetz had shot Cabey after the immediate threat was over, and (3) whether Goetz was threatened.^[56] Canty and Ramseur testified at the criminal trial that they were begging, and had only requested the money, not demanded it. Cabey did not testify and Allen took the Fifth Amendment.^[14]

One point of contention at trial was whether Goetz had shot at least some of the men in the back.^[57] For the defense, Dominick DiMaio, Suffolk County's former medical examiner, testified that Allen, Canty, Cabey, and Ramseur had been standing in a semi-circle around Goetz when he opened fire.^[57] But the county's then-current medical examiner, Charles Hirsch, offered rebuttal testimony that it was medically impossible to determine how the victims were positioned when shot, and he also found that the bullets that hit Allen and Cabey had traveled from back to front, suggesting that both had been shot in the back.^[57]

Additionally, related to Goetz's shooting of Cabey, the parties contested whether Cabey had been struck by the fourth or fifth shot that Goetz fired and whether, if struck by the fifth shot, Goetz had paused before firing.^{[15]: 69, 126} According to the prosecution, Goetz shot the seated Cabey at point-blank range with his fifth bullet; the defense argued that Goetz had fired all five shots in short order and Cabey had been hit by the fourth shot before collapsing.^[14]: 208 One witness testified that, consistent with Goetz's since-recanted police statement, Goetz opened fire before approaching to within "two to three feet" of a seated Cabey; the witness demonstrated how Goetz stood directly in front of Cabey and fired downward shooting Cabey in the stomach.^{[14]: 138 [15]: 123–125} But the eight other witnesses who testified on the matter reported that all shots came in "rapid succession"^{[15]: 171 [58]}—one said the firing lasted "about a second",^[14]: 102 and none of those eight testified that they had observed Goetz standing in front of Cabey.^[14]: 235

Goetz was acquitted of the attempted-murder and first-degree-assault charges and convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree–for carrying a loaded, unlicensed weapon in a public place.^[49] He was sentenced to six months in jail, one year's psychiatric treatment, five years' probation, 200 hours community service, and a $5,000 fine. An appellate court affirmed the conviction and changed the sentence to one year in jail without probation.^{[citation needed]} Goetz ultimately served eight months.^{[citation needed]}

Civil actions

Cabey v. Goetz

A month after the shootings, Cabey, represented by William Kunstler and Ron Kuby, filed a civil suit against Goetz.^[59] The civil case was tried in 1996, over eleven years later, in the Bronx, with race as the dominant theme.^[60] Goetz admitted to previous use of racial language and to smoking PCP-laced marijuana during the 1980s.^[61] Kuby portrayed Goetz as a racist aggressor; Goetz's defense was that when surrounded he reacted in fear of being again robbed and beaten. Newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin testified that in a 1985 interview, Cabey denied his involvement in an attempted robbery, but said that Canty, Allen, and Ramseur intended to rob Goetz.^[62]

The jury found that Goetz had acted recklessly and had deliberately inflicted emotional distress on Cabey. Jurors awarded Cabey $43 million–$18 million for pain and suffering and $25 million in punitive damages.^[63]

Goetz subsequently filed for bankruptcy, saying that legal expenses had left him almost penniless. A judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court ruled that the $43 million jury award could not be discharged by the bankruptcy.^[64] Asked in 2004 whether he was making payments on the judgment, Goetz responded "I don't think I've paid a penny on that", and referred any questions on the subject to his attorney.^[65]

Goetz v. Kunstler

In 1990, Goetz filed a defamation action against Cabey; his mother, Sherry; and his attorneys, Kunstler and Kuby.^[66] The suit was dismissed.^[67]

In 1994, Goetz filed another defamation action related to My Life as a Radical Lawyer, a book by Kunstler, published by Carol Communications, Inc.^[68][69] Amongst other claims, Goetz objected to the book's description of him as a "paranoid" "murderous vigilante" who had "developed a hatred for blacks."^[70] Goetz specifically objected that the book's description of him as a racist hurt his "good name, reputation, feelings, and public standing."^[69] The court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants, finding that the statements complained of were, varyingly, protected opinion (rather than actionable fact statements), not defamatory, or substantially true.^[68][70][71]

Public reaction

The shootings initially drew wide support from a public fearful and frustrated with rising crime rates and the state of the criminal justice system.^[72][73] "The Subway Vigilante", as Goetz was labeled by New York City media, was front-page news for months, partly due to the repressed passions the incident unleashed in New York and other cities. Public opinion tended to fall into one of three camps:^{[citation needed]} those in the first camp tended to believe Goetz's version of the incident, that he was aggressively accosted and surrounded by the four teenagers and feared he was about to be beaten and robbed. Those in the second camp tended to believe the version told by the four teenagers, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Supporters

Supporters viewed 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.^[72] The Guardian Angels, a volunteer patrol group of mostly black and Hispanic teenagers,^[74] collected thousands of dollars from subway riders toward a legal defense fund for Goetz.^[75] The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a right-leaning civil rights organization, supported Goetz.^[76] CORE's director, Roy Innis, (who would later be elected to the executive board of the NRA^[77][78]) offered to raise defense money. Innis, who lost two of his sons to inner-city gun violence, said Goetz was "the avenger for all of us," and called for a volunteer force of armed civilians to patrol the streets.^[75] A legal group founded by the National Rifle Organization—the Firearms Civil Rights Legal Defense Fund—gave $20,000 to provide for the defense of Goetz.^[79]

The prior criminal convictions of three of the four men (and the published accounts of such) prevented them from gaining much sympathy from many people.^{[citation needed]} A special hotline set up by police to seek information was swamped by calls supporting the shooter and calling him a hero.^[80][75]

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 City, because they've all been mugged."^[75]

Other viewpoints

Some^[who?] believed the version of the incident as initially told by the four men – that they were panhandling with neither intimidation nor threats of violence. This view was to some extent discredited^{[original research?][neutrality is disputed]} when Darrell Cabey stated during an interview with columnist Jimmy Breslin eleven months after the shooting, that his friends had intended to rob Goetz, who looked like "easy bait". This account was contested in court because Cabey was in the hospital with diminished cognitive capabilities.^[81][62]

Effect on race relations

Benjamin Hooks, director of the NAACP, said "The jury verdict was inexcusable. ... It was proven – according to his own statements – that Goetz did the shooting and went far beyond the realm of self-defense. There was no provocation for what he did." Representative Floyd Flake agreed, saying, "I think that if a black had shot four whites, the cry for the death penalty would have been almost automatic."^[82] Co-counsel for Cabey C. Vernon Mason, said Goetz's actions were racist,^[82] as did Rev. Al Sharpton.^{[citation needed]}

The Los Angeles Times reported that demonstrators outside his courtroom chanted "Bernhard Goetz, you can't hide; we charge you with genocide."^[83] Goetz's racist language about criminal activity on 14th Street, allegedly made at a community meeting 18 months before the shooting – "The only way we're going to clean up this street is to get rid of the spics and niggers"^[28] – was offered as evidence of racial motivation for the shooting. Black political and religious leaders twice called for Federal civil rights investigations.^[84]

An investigation by the office of U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani determined that the impetus for the shooting had been fear, not race.^[85] In an interview with Stone Phillips of Dateline NBC, Goetz later admitted that his fear was enhanced due to the fact that the four men he shot were black.^[86]

Subsequent developments

After reaching an all-time peak in 1990, crime in New York City dropped dramatically through the rest of the 1990s, with Rudy Giuliani emphasizing reduction in crime as mayor.^[87] By 2006, New York City had statistically become one of the safest large cities in the U.S., with its crime rate being ranked 194th of the 210 American cities with populations over 100,000. New York City crime rates by 2014 were comparable to those of the early 1960s.^[88][89]

In March 1985, James Ramseur reported to police that two men apparently hired by Goetz kidnapped and attempted to murder him.^[90] The following day, after detectives played back to Ramseur the emergency 911 recording reporting the kidnapping, Ramseur admitted it was his voice on the call and to fabricating the report. Ramseur explained it was merely to test police response when a black person was a crime victim, and was not prosecuted for this hoax. Ramseur was convicted in 1986 of the 1985 rape, sodomizing, and robbery of a young pregnant woman and hence was incarcerated at the time of the Goetz trial. Ramseur was conditionally released in 2002, but was returned to prison for a parole violation in 2005. He finished his sentence in July 2010. In 2011, on the 27th anniversary of the shooting, James Ramseur died of a drug overdose in a possible suicide at age 45.^[91]

Goetz achieved celebrity status as a popular cultural symbol of a public disgusted with urban crime and disorder.^[92] In 2001 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City. In 2004, Goetz was interviewed by Nancy Grace on Larry King Live, where he stated his actions were good for New York City and forced the city to address crime.^[65] In 2005, Goetz unsuccessfully ran for public advocate; on his campaign website, he described the shooting:

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.^[93]

In 2010, Goetz was interviewed and did a dry fire shooting demonstration on the inaugural episode of The Biography Channel's documentary show Aftermath with William Shatner.^[25][94]

In November 2013 Goetz was arrested for allegedly selling marijuana.^[95] These charges were dismissed in September 2014^[96] and 60 days later New York City effectively decriminalized marijuana possession under 25 grams.^[97]

In popular culture

• Law & Order episodes Subterranean Homeboy Blues and Self Defense have similarities with the subway shooting incident.^{[citation needed]}
• Goetz is mentioned in several songs such as:
  • Agnostic Front's song "Shoot His Load" on their 1986 album Cause for Alarm
  • Beastie Boys song "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" ("Stop That Train" segment) from their 1989 album Paul's Boutique
  • Billy Joel's 1989 single "We Didn't Start the Fire"
  • Lou Reed's song "Hold On", from his 1989 album New York
  • Wu-Tang Clan's song "Clan in da Front" from their 1993 debut album Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
  • Big L's song "Da Graveyard" (featuring Lord Finesse, Microphone Nut, Jay-Z, Party Arty, and Grand Daddy I.U.) from his 1995 debut album Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous
  • R.A. the Rugged Man's song "E.K.N.Y." (featuring Inspectah Deck) from his 2020 album All My Heroes Are Dead
• In the Family Guy episode "Stewie Kills Lois" Quagmire says Peter is a killer like Bernie Goetz and reveals he used to do a stand-up comedy bit on him.
• In the Criminal Minds Season 1, Episode 17 "A Real Rain" - Multiple references throughout.
• The shooting partially inspired the 2019 film Joker, whose depiction of the Joker is partially based on Goetz.^[98][99] The titular character is a lower income, inner city resident who has been jumped and robbed multiple times, so he obtains a firearm to defend himself. When he gets jumped on the subway, he shoots and kills the perpetrators and flees the scene, with the shooting earning strong media coverage and the then-unknown perpetrator inadvertently becoming a folk hero among lower-class city residents who are angry about being victimized; in this case, the victims are wealthy white men, unlike Goetz's victims. Todd Phillips, who wrote, produced and directed the film, grew up in New York City and remembered the 1984 subway shooting from his youth.^[99]

References

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Sources

• Subway Gunman: A Juror's Account of the Bernhard Goetz Trial (ISBN 0-945167-08-3).
• A Crime of Self-Defense : Bernhard Goetz and the Law on Trial (ISBN 0-226-25334-1).
• People Vs. Goetz: The Summations and the Charges to the Jury (ISBN 0-89941-657-8).
• Sanger, David E. (December 25, 1984). "Callers Support Subway Gunman". The New York Times.

External links

• Bernhard Goetz at IMDb
• Personal site of Goetz
• Justice Stephen G. Crane Papers on the Bernhard Goetz Trial and Other Cases, 1981–2000, MS 3152, at the New-York Historical Society.