In the 17th day of December 1979. A man name Arthur McDuffie was chased by police officers for violating traffic rules by driving with suspended driver’s license. The police captured the victim but 4 days later he died. The cause of his death became controversial. The officers insisted that his injuries – broken skull was acquired after he crashed his motorcycle. However, autopsy reports showed that the victim acquired the injuries after being beaten by the officers after the chase. The officers were charged for beating McDuffie, and for planting of evidences. Some of the officers testified the findings of the autopsy reports. But the final verdict freed the officers after they were acquitted from the charges. That is the outset of the Miami Riots in 1980 which has resulted to death of many people, and leaving many others injured. It has also caused major damage on infrastructures of the city. History shows that it is “one of the worst riots in the historys of the United States” (Wikipedia). The riot is the culmination of the accumulated violence suffered by the black community from the hands of white police officers and the majority of the white community of Miami. In our present world, statistics shows that racial conflict still exist especially in poor developing countries, and between races, and other social groups. In its entirety, most riots rooted from injustices. What are the forms of injustice acts that were present in the McDuffie’s case? Are they still present today?
McDuffie’s case has presented some of the common issues with the Criminal system of our present government. We do not have sufficient grounds to reject the reality that these issues still exist in our times. Issues that were brought up in the McDuffie case like: Planting of Evidence, Torturing suspects, and injustice have always been the worst deficiencies of our criminal system. We shall look at these issues one by one.
We will talk about planting of evidence first. This is one of the charges filed against the officers that were involved in the McDuffie beating. First of all, in the article written by Gaines, titled, “McDuffie: The Case Behind Miami Riots”, which deals with his own investigation of the events that have taken place in the past and the events after the McDuffie incidence. In the first paragraph of his article was written, “The story (McDuffie case) has changed several times since its beginning in the morning of December 17…” (Gaines). He did have particular reason of saying that the story has changed several times. Several versions coming from the statements of many witnesses came out on the press. In Gaines’ article he wrote, “The police officers wrote up an accident report, saying McDuffie sustained injuries when his motorcycle hit a curb and went out of control” (Gaines). However, after autopsy on the victim’s body, the Dade County medical examiner became suspicious. In the long run, the medical examiner and police investigators found that McDuffie was handcuffed when he was beaten. The examiner even noted that, “The killing blow had crashed into his forehead at 90 times the force of gravity… the weapon that killed McDuffie to be a heavy-duty flashlight, swung two-handed like an ax. It cracked the skull cleanly in half, from front to back” (Gaines). In addition, another article written by Meltzer, it was stated that McDuffie said “I give up”…but they surrounded and beat him with nightsticks and flashlights. One witness described the police officers as “a pack of wild dogs attacking a piece of meat” (Meltzer). Furthermore, in another article written by Miles Corwin, he wrote that “… McDuffie died after police struck him repeatedly with heavy flashlights and then tried to cover up it up by staging an accident scene” (Corwin). What a terrifying act! The officers did know that they did wrong and that’s why they had tried their best to cover up by making another story, and in fact, they failed to realize that their setup have many pitfalls perhaps because they did that hurriedly after realizing that they might have killed him. If they were lawful officers, they would not have hurt or beat him. Torturing a suspect is a violation of Human Rights. In fact it is not allowed as a method of interrogating suspects. Yet another important aspect that we could get from the articles above is that planting of evidence is not acceptable. The truth can’t be hidden, if ever it can, it will still came out like smoke and spill all over the place around it. And it has a bad connotation to any form of government as it threatens the public’s trust. In an article written by Bill Conroy, “Planting evidence is the worst thing a law enforcement officer can do. Why should the American people trust an agency that promotes someone who violates their oath? Someone like that has no business being in law enforcement, and the agency should take responsibility for this. They have failed the American public” (Conroy).
McDuffie case is an exemplar of a torture case which had ended up to a death of the torture victim. All the articles cited above proved how McDuffie was tortured brutally. In the article written by Gaines, the police officers were likened to “violence maniacs”. “Frenzied was the term used by some officers who witnessed the beating. The said officers fought each other for a chance to beat McDuffie… It looked like a bunch of animals fighting for meat” (Gaines). In addition, Meltzer in his article describe the police officers like “a pack of wild dogs attacking a piece of meat” (Meltzer). Furthermore, in Gaines’ article, this was also stated, “The public is aware that there is a group of policemen who are headhunters, who are aggressive and seek out combat situations. They become violent at the drop of a hat… These people have been called the goon squad” (Gaines). In fact, several complaints were filed against the Police officers of Dade County, where the incidence occurred. It is sad to know that there are people in uniform who are like these. In article posted by Brendan I. Corner on Slate website, titled, ‘Is Torture against the Law’, he cited, “A person found guilty of committing torture faces up to 20 years in prison or even execution, if the torture in question resulted in a victim’s death.” It was not a new law; it existed many decades prior to McDuffie incidence. The McDuffie incidence does not imply that the officers involve were not aware of that law. It is just that the officers did not exercise that right because they were hungry of beating anybody. Yet another important aspect shown here in the case is, “Who’s going to Police the Police?” (Gaines). That was indeed a big problem that will come out of the issue. What is in the mind of those officers? Were they on their right frame of mind? Were they not under the influence of drugs or alcohol? If the police officers who were supposed to look after the welfare of every people in the community are the ones who mostly engage in committing violent actions, and are violating the law, who are going to look after them? Is the law only for the civilians? Who are going to exercise what is implemented by the law? Yes, it is true that there are commissions nowadays that are organized to look out for cases like this, but what if these commissions were also handled by individuals who are also violators of the law? That is why common men no longer trust the government. That is what had happened in the McDuffie case. If the law enforcers have the heart to abide what was stated in the law, there would have been no Miami riot in the history, and the McDuffie case would not have turned into a “riot syndrome”. Look what happened to Miami, every time riots occur, they always associate the name McDuffie. Can we see the point? It is for the reason that right execution of the law has always played a big role in molding the history of a community or a nation. Any inaccuracies in the implementation of the law always stick to the mentality of the people who witnessed it. That is why law enforcers should be fair enough, in that way, people will fail secure and lay their trust on them.
The entirety of the case can be visualized as a representation of a disrupted criminal system where injustice is extremely visible. The Dade County criminal system has long been complained by the black community for showing discrimination. In an article posted on American Experience website, an excerpt from Tampa Tribune release in 1980 states, “This is a racist state, a racist system, said Raymond Fauntroy, Miami Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference… “There is no justice here for black people… “The black community is still treated as non-people — like animals,” said Athalie Range, one of the city’s most respected black leaders. “The black community feels it has nowhere to turn in an instance of this kind…” It deep-rooted usual reservations that equal treatment before the law would not triumph for the black community. In addition to this, Gaines shares the same point with that. He believed that the McDuffie case is not the only key to the riots which had taken place. But there is already a growing tension between blacks and white people of Miami many years ago. Blacks were discriminated – lesser chances of getting hired for works, obliged to wear IDs when they roam around public places where their job descriptions are written. “Until 1965, Blacks had to carry employment identification cards to get into wealthy Miami Beach. The cards explained why that person was on the beach usually as a day worker in the home of a wealthy family or a street laborer hired to keep the area clean” (Gaines). There is no uncertainty why the black people reacted violently after the verdict. Despite the fact that there were witnesses, mostly police officers, who give testimonies that a torture did happen, and a planting of evidence was found out, the accused officers were still acquitted on the case. How did that possibly happen? There were clues from the articles written by different writers. The jury favors the officers because they are whites. Steve Rothlein, mentioned McDuffie Verdict in his document titled, ‘Police Agency Efforts Against Abuses”, “On May 17, 1980, an all white jury acquitted all of the defendants of all charges. By 9:00 P.M. Miami‘s Liberty City exploded with widespread looting and savage beatings of white motorists” (Rothlein). In addition, Meltzer also mentioned the same description in his article,”officers were acquitted after a 3 hour deliberation by all the white male jurors” (Meltzer). Furthermore, another point that was mentioned in Gaines article is that the black community expressed fury over the dismissal of officer Hanlon’s vital statement. “Are we to believe that police officers forgot to inform another officer of his Miranda Rights?” (Gaines). Hanlon is one of the police officers who got involved in the case and he testified that McDuffie did not acquire his injuries from an accident but from beating. However, it was dismissed because Hanlon had not been told of his right to remain silent and to have legal counsel present during the examination as alleged by Judged Nesbitt on Pre-trial. For the black community, Hanlon’s testimony should have been accepted as they considered it as very strong evidence which could be used against the accused officers. The controversial verdict, plus the accumulated complaints in the minds of the black people had opened up the road to riots which had caused too much damage in terms of death and assets. The worst is it has marked a degrading event in Miami’s history.
Conclusion
The McDuffie case is an issue which we always hear on daily news. It is a clear picture which shows that a criminal system can still be twisted. If the jury of the case executed a fair trial, they should have acquitted the officers. In some cases, there are times where provisions cited in the law were also used as a defense mechanism for criminals. Considering the “right to remain silent”, if Hanlon’s testimony was not rejected, the verdict of the cause should have favored the side of the victim. Another important lesson that we should have to learn is that those who are in uniform should be properly selected. Regular psychological examinations should be done to minimize violence especially during interrogation or during pursue of suspects. Lastly, discrimination should be eliminated. We are all equal and no one should be above the law.
References
Buchanan, Edna. The Corpse Had A Familiar Face. 2004. pp. 275
Conroy, Bill. Corruption alleged in U.S. Customs’ Miami operations. 15 Dec. 2004. The Narcosphere. 27 June 2008. <http://narcosphere.narconews.com/node/388>
Driscoll, A. The McDuffie Riots 25 Years Later. 15 May, 2005. floridacdc.org. 23 June, 2008. <ttp://www.floridacdc.org/articles/050515-1.html>
Gaines-Carter, Patrice. McDuffie: The Case Behind Miami Riots. 1980. pp 20-23
Meltzer, Matt. The Arthur McDuffie Riots of 1980. 12 Aug. 2007. Miami Beach 411.com. 23 June 2008. <http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/
news/comments/mcduffie-riots/>
Rothlein, Steve. Police Agency Efforts To Prevent Abuses. 1999.
Wakefield, Rebecca. Changing Times. 30 June 2005. Miami New Times. 23 June 2008.
< http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2005-06-30/news/changing-times/>
Riots in Florida. Public Broadcasting Service. 23 June 2008. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/story/23_florida.html
The African American Registry. 22 June 2008. <http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/895/Riot_erupts_in_Liberty_City>
