On a December day in 1975 in Montgomery, Alabama, Bernard Whitehurst, Jr., a 32-year-old Black man, was tragically killed. Mistaken for a robbery suspect, he was shot in the back by a white police officer, Donald Foster. This single event set in motion a long and troubling story of injustice and a city's struggle with its own law enforcement.
The initial narrative offered by the police was one of self-defense.
They claimed Whitehurst had fired at them, and they returned fire, killing him. To support this story, a gun was planted at the scene. The immediate aftermath was marked by a lack of transparency; no autopsy was performed, and Whitehurst's family was not promptly notified of his death. Instead, they learned of the tragedy through a radio broadcast. The official coroner's report, relying on police accounts, inaccurately stated that Whitehurst had been shot in the chest.
However, inconsistencies in the official story soon began to surface. Six months after the shooting, mounting questions from the local newspaper and an attorney representing the Whitehurst family led the District Attorney to order the exhumation of Bernard's body. An autopsy finally revealed the truth: Bernard Whitehurst, Jr. had been shot in the back. This discovery exposed the initial police report as a fabrication and pointed towards a deliberate cover-up.
The revelation of the cover-up sent shockwaves through Montgomery. An investigation was launched, leading to perjury indictments against three police officers. Ultimately, eight officers were either forced to resign or were fired from their positions. The scandal reached the highest levels of city government, resulting in the resignations of the mayor and the Director of Public Safety. Despite the numerous resignations and the clear evidence of a cover-up, no police officer was ever convicted of a crime in connection with Bernard Whitehurst, Jr.'s death. A federal lawsuit filed by his mother on behalf of his estate was also unsuccessful, with a judge ruling that any conspiracy to violate his civil rights ended with his death. Years later, in 2012, the City of Montgomery formally expressed regret for the shooting, and in 2013, a historical marker was placed to tell the story of the shooting and the subsequent police cover-up.
