Infamous. The following is compiled from various sources.
On December 22, 1984 at 1pm in the afternoon Bernhard Goetz entered a downtown IRT train at the 14th Street station in Manhattan. There were some twenty to twenty-five people in the car, including a group of four young black men: Troy Canty, Barry Allen, James Ramseur, and Darrell Cabey. Goetz sat down across from the youths. Moments later Canty and Allen, followed by Ramseur and Cabey rose and surrounded Goetz. Canty then demanded five dollars. Goetz, feigning a lack of understanding asked Canty to repeat his request. Canty responded, "Give me your money." Goetz stood up, reached inside his jacket, drew his revolver, and fired in rapid succession at Canty, Allen, Ramseur, and twice at Cabey. The first shot missed Cabey, after which Goetz said something like "you don't look so bad, here's another" and shot Cabey again. As Cabey lay bleeding, Goetz said "You don't look too bad, here's another," and fired at Cabey. The last shot left Cabey paralyzed. Goetz left the subway, rented a car, and drove to Vermont. He turned himself in to New York City police nine days later.
The "subway vigilante," as Goetz was labeled by New York tabloids, became front page news and stayed there for weeks, partly due to the passions it unleashed in New York and other urban populations. Some viewed Goetz as a hero for standing up to his attackers and defending himself in an environment where the police were increasingly viewed as unable to effectively combat crime. Others viewed Goetz's action as a violent and criminal over-reaction to the events. Since Goetz was white and the four youths were black, others focused on the racial aspects of the incident and the public reaction that followed.
The Goetz trial was a significant news event, not unlike the OJ Simpson trial of the 1990s. Goetz confessed to the shooting. Although the law stated that vigilantism was not a valid defense, the jury acquitted Goetz of the shooting but found him guilty of illegal weapons possession. He was sentenced to eight months in jail.
Darrell Cabey filed a civil suit against Goetz in 1985. In 1996, a jury found that Goetz had acted recklessly and deliberately inflicted emotional distress on Cabey. The jury awarded Cabey $43 million. Goetz subsequently filed bankruptcy.
In the civil trial, newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin testified that Cabey had told him about a year after the shooting that he and the other three young men on the train intended to rob Goetz because "he looked like easy bait."
All of the youths have committed serious crimes since the original incident, except for Cabey, who remains paralyzed in a wheelchair.
Goetz actually ran for mayor in the last mayoral election.
(The quiz on this topic is next Tuesday :)
--Mark