‘Vigilante’ still debated, still untried

Press, 24 December 1985, Page 6

‘Vigilante’ still debated, still untried

NZPA-Reuter New York A year after Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on the New York subway, his case is the most hotly debated in recent American history, but be has yet to be tried for any crime. Goetz, who says be feared he was about to be mugged, drew his gun on December 22, 1984, and f instantly entered New York folklore as the “Subway Vigilante.” Only one of the youths suffered permanent injury. Darryl Cabey, aged 20, is in hospital paralysed from the waist down, barely able to speak. Two others are in jail and the fourth is in a drug treatment centre.

A tall, wispy white man who runs his own electronics business, Goetz had been mugged before the incident He had never forgiven the police for keeping him longer in the station than his young assailant, who was later arrested for four other muggings, all committed while he was free on bail. Goetz shot the four young men one by one. One-youth had demanded $5 from him and Goetz replied “I have $5 for each of you.” For millions, Goetz became the man who stood up and fought back because the wheels of justice in New

York screech and squeal and never seem to move either justly or swiftly. Newspapers delved into his background. For three months they wrote about him as a hero. A waitress was interviewed live on a local television news station on what he ordered for lunch. Darryl Cabey’s mother, Shirley, received sacks of hate mail. “Dear Nigger,” began one letter Mrs Cabey received, “I guess you won’t be dancing any more. Your mother’s umbilical cord should have strangled you at birth.” Then, after Goetz began sounding off about the jun-

gie-like quality of life in New York, the tide turned and the tone of commentators became hostile. The first grand jury to hear the case refused to indict Goetz on charges of attempted murder. After a public outcry led by black leaders the District Attorney (prosecutor) of New York, Mr Robert Morgenthau, reopened the case and presented it to a second grand jury, which indicted Goetz on attempted murder charges. Goetz has still not gone to trial. Whether he will is unknown. A judge is considering motions to dismiss the case. He will decide in the

new year. “Bernie Goetz” T-shirts are no longer hot sellers, but there is a Christmas “Subway Vigilante” board game to play at borne. It has a map of New York’s underground system. The winner is the player who can get to the Bronx, one of New York’s five boroughs, alive. Vernon Mason, who represents Darryl Cabey, says “I’m not optimistic at all that he will ever be convicted of attempted murder against Darryl Cabey or anyone else, except the charge for carrying an unlicensed gun.” Mr Mason admits that

■ people who ride the subway ; are frightened. “The real question that we have to address is what do we as a society do about it? Do we focus our anger by. picking up a gun and shooting people, or do we try to resolve some of those problems to reduce crime?” Goetz told the “New York Daily ■ News” this month “The system doesn’t work, it hasn’t worked. The whole system, the world, is screwed up and doesn’t know what direction to take.” But Goetz still rides the subway, and like those people he says have avoided justice through incessant

court delays, he, too, waits for his case to come up. Darryl Cabey is expected to leave hospital in two months. Mrs Cabey recently said that she wanted Goetz to go on triaL “I think he should be punished because my son is being punished he will never be able to walk again.” • Meanwhile crime on the New York subway is down by about 9 per cent from the previous year. But officials say that it has nothing to do with Goetz. The trend began four months before the shootings and was helped by assigning 228 more police to subway trains, they say.