Unlawful Police Violence

The Commission's study of the administration of justice concentrates onpolice brutality2014the use of unlawful violence2014against Negroes. Complaints and litigation suggest four subdivisions of the problem. Thefirst involves the use of racially motivated brutality to enforce subordination or segregation. The second, a not altogether separate category, entails violence as a punishment. The third relates to coercedconfessions. The last and largest entails the almost casual, or spontaneous, use of force in arrests. Only the first category necessarilyinvolves racial discrimination. In the others it may, or may not, bepresent, but Negroes are the victims with disproportionate frequency.

In the text of this chapter the Commission briefly describes the allegedfacts in n typical cases of police brutality. They are presented inthe belief that they contribute to an understanding of the problem. Theallegations of misconduct are supported in several cases by criminalconvictions* or findings by impartial agencies; in others, by sworn testimony, affidavits from eye witnesses, or by staff field investigations. Inno case has the Commission determined conclusively whether the complainants or the officers were correct in their statements. This is thefunction of a court. The Commission is of the opinion, however, thatthe allegations appeared substantial enough to justify discussion in thisstudy.

Most citizens do not look upon policemen with fear. Indeed, thelaw officer's badge has become a symbol worthy of much respect. Thereis good reason for this. Many citizens call upon policemen for aid inany emergency. And it is the policeman who must enforce the criminallaw. The extent of the burden on this country's approximately 200,000policemen 2 is demonstrated by the 1,861,300 serious offenses reportedin ig6o. 3 In carrying out their vital mission policemen sometimes faceextreme danger. The Federal Bureau of Investigation recentlyreported: 4

During 1959, 49 police employees were killed in line of duty, . . .

pointing up the hazardous nature of the occupation and the devotion to duty of these dedicated men. In 1960, 48 police losttheir lives.

2022599614201461 2 5

Moreover, in 1960 a total of 9,621 assaults on American policemen werereported to the FBI. This amounts to a rate of 6.3 assaults for every 100police officers in the country. 5 The Commission's study of denials ofrights to citizens by some policemen should be viewed in the contextof the difficult and dangerous job that policemen are required to perform.

PATTERNS OF POLICE BRUTALITY

Enforcement of segregation or subordinate status

The killing of a Negro in Georgia: 1943. 2014In the early morning ofJanuary 30, 1943, Manley Poteat responded to a call for an ambulanceat the jail in Newton, Baker County, Georgia. He explained in sworntestimony later that he found an "unconscious" man crawling around ina pool of blood on the floor of a cell. 6 The man was a young Negro,Bobby Hall, a skilled mechanic who was married and had one child. Hewas taken to a hospital in Albany, 22 miles away, where he died approximately i hour after his arrival. When Walter Poteat, Manley's father,embalmed the body, he observed that it had been brutally beaten. 7

The authorities in Albany, which is not in Baker County, were notified

and saw the body; photographs were made; and the matter soon cameto public attention. Sheriff Claude M. Screws2014and the other officers2014who beat and killed Hall were later prosecuted by the Federal Government for violation of an 1866 statute that makes it a Federal crime for anofficer of the law to interfere with the constitutional rights of any person. 8

In beating and killing young Hall without justification, a Federal grand

jury in Macon charged, the sheriff had deprived the victim of a numberof constitutional rights including the right not to be subjected to punishment except after a fair trial and the right to equal protection of thelaws. Screws was convicted, and eventually appealed to the SupremeCourt, challenging the constitutionality of the statute. In the landmarkdecision of Screws v. United States* the Supreme Court in 1945 upheldthe statute, construed it strictly, and overturned the conviction becauseit had not been established that in killing Bobby Hall, Screws had intended to deprive him of a constitutional right. 10 Screws was later triedagain under the standard set forth by the Supreme Court and acquitted. 11

While this example of police brutality took place almost two decades

ago it is still a classic case. Recent complaints coming to the attention ofthis Commission contain allegations that bear a striking similarity to it.For this reason the case will be described in detail.

Sheriff Screws testified at his first trial that the trouble began latethat January evening in 1943 when he asked night patrolman Frank E.

Jones and Deputy Sheriff Jim Bob Kelley to serve a warrant of arreston Bobby Hall for theft of a tire. The two men brought the Negroback to Newton in the Sheriff's car. Screws continued: 12

I opened the door and I said, "All right, Bobby, get out" and I

noticed he wasn't in any hurry to get out but when he, when I didsee him come out, I saw something coming out ahead of him likethat (indicating) and I discovered it was a gun; and he said, "Youdamn white sons"2014and that is all I remember what he said. Bythat time I knocked the gun up like that and the gun fired off rightover my head; and when it did he was on the ground by then andme and Kelley and Jones ran in to him and we all were scuffling andI was beating him about the face and head with my fist. I knewJones had a blackjack and I told him to hit him and he hit him alick or two and he didn't seem to weaken and I said, "Hit himagain!" When he fell to the ground, we didn't hit him on theground. * # *

At no time when I saw the deceased or Bobby Hall did he have anyhandcuffs on him.

The only colored prosecution witness who observed a crucial partof this event was Mrs. Annie Pearl Hall, the wife of the victim. Shecontradicted, in part, one vital item in the defendant's case: Mrs. Hallstated that after the victim left their home under arrest, "they werehandcuffing him when I went to the door." 13 All three of the officerssaid that he had never been handcuffed and was, therefore, able to grabthe shotgun from the front seat of the car and attack them with it.

While there are many similarities between this case and others inCommission files, there is one major difference. A number of whitepeople observed the beating of Bobby Hall and events connected withit2014and appeared at the trial as witnesses. Their stories supported oneanother and directly contradicted that of Screws. The testimony ofthese witnesses may be summarized as follows: Screws and his companions had threatened to get a "nigger" that night; they took Hall toan open area in the center of town near the public pump; the three menbeat him to the ground and continued for 15 to 30 minutes to poundhim with a heavy object2014which was later found to be a 2-pound metalblackjack; the victim was handcuffed during all of these proceedings;after the beating the shotgun was fired once2014not by the unconsciousvictim but apparently by one of the officers for some unknown reason. 14

One of the white eyewitnesses who appeared at the trial and swore to

these facts was Mrs. Ollie Jernigan. Her husband, J. H. Jernigan, didnot see the incident, but he testified that he was walking through townone day and Sheriff Screws called him over to his car where the followingconversation took place: 16

"Herschell, you know those FBI men are down here investigatingthat case?" He said, "Well, I understand that your wife saw it."I told him "Yes." He says, "Well, you know we have always beenfriends and I want us to continue to be friends." I told him, "Well,I hoped we could."

The dynamics of combined prejudice and violence in this case are suggested in the testimony of James P. Willingham, a white man, who saidthat shortly after the killing he had a talk with his friend, Officer FrankJones: lfl

[H]e told me that the Negro had a mighty good pistol and they had

taken it away from him and the Negro acted so damn smart and wentbefore the Court in some way trying to make them give it back tohim . . . and that they went out there that night with a warrantand arrested him and handcuffed him and brought him to town andthe Negro put up some kind of talk about wanting to give bond orsomething to that effect and they beat hell out of him; then, thatwhen they got him up to the well they whipped him some more andhe died shortly afterwards. He said the Negro attempted to shootthem at the well; said the Negro attempted to shoot them at thewell with a shotgun and said he hit him with a blackjack prettyhard and I asked him about how in the world did the Negro tryto shoot you and you had him handcuffed and he said well wefinished him off and that is all.

Bobby Hall apparently was considered a somewhat "uppity" Negro.Evidence produced at the trial indicated that the tire theft charge wasa sham for, as suggested in the Willingham testimony, Hall's major"crime" was to challenge the power of the sheriff to confiscate his pistol.Bobby Hall was not accused of any crime in connection with the weapon.He needed it, he claimed, for protection. In attempting to exercise nothis civil rights but his property rights, Hall contacted a lawyer and evenwent before a local grand jury. But he did not recover his pistol. 17 And,while he never challenged the system of segregation, he was somethingof a leader among Negroes. 18

No State or local action was taken against the alleged offenders.

Prosecution by the State2014which has the power to impose the supremepenalty2014may be blocked in cases of this type by the fact that the potential defendant is the person who must start up the machinery of thecriminal law. While the district solicitor general in the Screws casehad formal power to prosecute...