In the early morning hours of February 4, 1999, Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old male immigrant from Guinea, stood on the stoop of his Bronx apartment building. His life was about to come to a sudden and violent end in a hail of police gunfire that would ignite a firestorm of controversy and protests across New York City and the nation. Diallo, who worked as a street vendor, was unarmed and had no criminal record.
He was saving money with the dream of attending college.
Four plainclothes officers from the New York Police Department's Street Crime Unit were patrolling the area in an unmarked car, searching for a serial rapist. The officers, Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy, spotted Diallo and later claimed they mistook him for the suspect. As they approached, they ordered him to show his hands. What happened next unfolded in a matter of seconds. According to the officers' accounts, Diallo reached into his pocket. Fearing he was grabbing a weapon, one officer yelled 'Gun!' and opened fire. The other three officers, believing their partner was in danger, also began shooting. In total, they fired 41 shots, striking Diallo 19 times. The object he had reached for was his wallet.
The four officers, Sean Carroll, Edward McMellon, Kenneth Boss, and Richard Murphy, were arrested and charged with second-degree murder and reckless endangerment. The case drew widespread condemnation, with many viewing it as a clear instance of police brutality and racial profiling. The trial was moved from the Bronx to Albany due to the intense pretrial publicity. In February 2000, a jury acquitted all four officers of all charges. The verdict was met with outrage and disbelief by Diallo's family and many members of the public, who felt that justice had not been served.
Following the acquittal, the Diallo family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of New York and the four officers. The lawsuit was settled for $3 million. The shooting led to the disbandment of the controversial Street Crime Unit and a review of police training policies. One of the officers, Kenneth Boss, had been involved in a previous fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man. Despite the controversy, all four officers remained with the NYPD, and Boss was later promoted to sergeant.
