Bernhard Goetz

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Bernhard "Bernie" Hugo Goetz (born November 7, 1947 in Queens , New York City ) became known as the Subway Vigilante when he shot four African Americans in the New York subway on December 22, 1984 , who intended him addressed to rob him later. In New York he became a symbolic figure for a citizen who was forced to self-defense in view of the extremely high crime rate at the time .

The incident

Goetz is the son of German immigrants . He studied electrical engineering at New York University . At the time of the incident, he was self-employed in an electronics repair shop in his Greenwich Village apartment . In 1981 Goetz was attacked and injured. Since then he has carried a pistol with him, but without having permission to carry a weapon. Goetz was twice able to save himself from threatening situations by pulling this weapon.

In the early afternoon of December 22, 1984, Afro-Americans Barry Allen (19 years old), Troy Canty (19 years old), James Ramseur (18 years old) and Darrell Cabey (19 years old) took the Express. Subway Line 2 in the direction Downtown . Goetz got on at station 14. Strasse and happened to take a seat near the four men. According to Goetz's statement, they spoke to him immediately afterwards and pressed him. Canty demanded from Goetz: "Give me five dollars!" According to the first statements of the young men, however, they simply wanted to collect money to play video games without any predatory intent. Later in court, however, they admitted that they had intended to rob Goetz.

Goetz got up, took off his jacket a five-shot Smith & Wesson - revolver caliber .38 Special and gave in rapid succession all five shots at the four men from. Goetz supposedly called out to Cabey lying on the floor: “You still look pretty good; here's another ”and tried to fire another shot at Cabey from his empty weapon; However, Goetz denies this. All four young men were injured but survived. Cabey was left paralyzed and brain damaged as a result of his gunshot wounds.

Goetz escaped "in peace" from the subway car into the subway tunnel, rented a car and drove to Vermont and New Hampshire. He turned himself in to the police in New Hampshire on December 31, 1984 .

Public reaction

Against the background of the then high crime rate in New York, the subway incident dominated the press for months and divided public opinion. Some suspected Goetz of having acted out of vindictiveness, as he had already been attacked twice before. You spoke of an overreaction to unarmed African Americans and unacceptable vigilante justice . Others gave him the right to self-defense . Citizens' organizations like the Guardian Angels and the Congress of Racial Equality raised money to defend Goetz.

Goetz was the focus of the discussion about the high level of crime in the city. In 1984, 38 crimes were committed daily on the New York subway alone. It was not until the first years of the 21st century that the crime rate in New York fell - after its peak in 1990 - to the level of the 1960s, which is seen, among other things, as a result of the New York police's zero tolerance policy.

The processes

In the criminal proceedings, Goetz admitted to having fired the shots, but invoked his right to self-defense. The court recognized his actions as self-defense, but sentenced Goetz to a one-year prison sentence for illegal possession of weapons, from which he served eight months. Darrell Cabey sued Goetz in 1985 and won it in 1996. He was awarded $ 43 million in compensation for pain and suffering. Goetz then filed for bankruptcy.

According to the processes

Goetz ran unsuccessfully as mayor of New York in 2001 and as ombudsman ( public advocate ) in 2005 . He was arrested in late 2013 for allegedly trying to sell marijuana to a plainclothes officer . Goetz is an advocate of a vegetarian lifestyle and advocates the addition of vegetarian meals to New York City's public schools. He sells electronic test equipment through his company Vigilante Electronics .

He is mentioned in the song We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel as well as in the songs Clan in da front by Wu-Tang Clan , Stick your guns by The Templars , Hold On by Lou Reed and Da Graveyard by Big L .

literature

  • George P. Fletcher: Self-Defense as a Crime. The Goetz U-Bahn case , Suhrkamp 1993, ISBN 3-518-11648-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Severin Mevissen: What is Bernhard Goetz actually doing? stern 5/2008, p. 154.
  2. ↑ 'Subway Vigilante' Goetz busted in pot sale. New York Post, November 1, 2013, accessed June 28, 2014 .
  3. ↑ "Hold on" lyrics retrieved from www.golyr.de on April 14, 2014
  4. ↑ Big L (Ft. Grand Daddy IU, JAY-Z, Lord Finesse, Microphone Nut & Party Arty) - Da Graveyard. Retrieved March 26, 2020 (English).
personal data
SURNAME Goetz, Bernhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Goetz, Bernhard Hugo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American man who shot four African Americans on the New York subway
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Queens , New York City