Alabama Family Seeks Apology for 1975 Police Cover-up & Shooting of Black Man

Attorney said the statute of limitations has expired on civil remedies that the family could seek. But he asked the council to provide family members $125,000 to offer closure. In 1975, Police initially claimed Whitehurst shot at police while fleeing, but it was later determined that Whitehurst was shot in the back and a gun was planted beside his body.

(AP) — Stacy Whitehurst wishes he'd had more time to get to know his father, Bernard Whitehurst, who was shot to death by a Montgomery police officer almost 37 years ago. Whitehurst was three years old when his father died, and his only memory of him is of playing with a man on the floor of their kitchen.

"I remember hearing his heartbeat," Stacy Whitehurst said. After all these years, his family wants needs more than a vague memory of their father and husband. Whitehurst's widow, Florence Whitehurst, and his children appeared before the Montgomery City Council on Tuesday night and asked for a formal apology and compensation for the wrongful police shooting.

Police said that at the time of the shooting in 1975, officers thought Whitehurst, a 32-year-old cook at a fast-food restaurant, was fleeing from a robbery. Police were after the wrong man and planted a gun beside his body. The case led to the resignation of several top city officials including Mayor Jim Robinson.

Council members made no commitments Monday.

"The city should apologize for all the wrong that was done, for everything," Stacy Whitehurst said. He said his father's death is still raw for the family. His mother became upset while addressing council members Tuesday night, and emotion also surfaced when he told his mother about his childhood memories.

"I don't remember the funeral. I don't remember being told he'd been killed. I don't remember any of that," Stacy Whitehurst said. He said he regrets that he didn't get to know his father and that his dad never got to know his children.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said he had "great sympathy" for the family but wasn't sure he could justify paying compensation.

"What happened was tragic and regrettable," Strange said. "But this is an entirely different city now. Should the taxpayers pay when the city officials at the time are not here?"

But Stacy Whitehurst explained that after his father died, "I wasn't old enough to file a lawsuit."

The family's attorney, Montgomery lawyer Julian McPhillips, said the statute of limitations has expired on civil remedies that the family could seek. But he asked the council to provide family members $125,000 to offer closure.

Stacy Whitehurst said family members had not agreed on the amount of compensation that should be paid.

McPhillips said the case remains an important one in Montgomery's recent history and is even used by some police in training as an "example of what not to do."

Democratic state Rep. Joe Hubbard presented the family Tuesday with a resolution that the state House passed on the last day of the 2012 session expressing sympathy and condolences to the family.

Strange said he wants the council to study the issue for a week or two before deciding what answer to give the family. A past city council considered paying the family compensation but decided, on a 5-4 vote, not to pay.

Stacy Whitehurst said the family won't give up.

"We will continue to come up to council meetings until justice is done," he said.

Comments

[someone in America]

I think the police should apologize to the family, publicly say that what happened to them and way they were treated was wrong, and also pay them the compensation for their losses. It is the least they can do and it's the right thing. The police chief sounds really heartless when he says we don't have to pay for it now. It sounds like he does not care about the suffering that the family went through when they lost their family members. Sure, it wasn't his false, but he could offer a little more sympathy or empathy towards the family. They suffered because of a police decision. I think they need to give them the win, financial victory, to show that the act was wrong, and to help the family heal or end the situation for them so they do not live in eternal torment, grief, over this crime that was done to them. If I had the money, I would give it to the family not because I think they need money but because to them it is the justice they need in order to be healthy and not suffer anymore. It is also to say that I feel what happened to their father was wrong and I am hurt for their experience or way he was treated and how their family was treated by the police and city when they went to get compensation for him. It's justice for the father and the family. What happened to the police officers who handled the case and planted the weapon?