Apartheid. USA 1988

May 23, 1987:

David Horton (81) a crime watch volunteer at the 13-story Park Manor Apartments in Dallas, Texas, was shot by police officers responding to a call, and died near the dumpster in his own parking lot. Lillie Battle (60), his neighbor told the Times Mr Horton wouldn't hurt a fly. He just had the gun to scare intruders. He wasn't going to shoot anyone, but he shouldn't have had to be out there in the first place.’ ‘People won't go outside anymore,’ said Excell Jones (66). ‘They'll rob you, they will snatch your purse, they'll snatch the hair off your head.’

The incident began that fateful night when Mr Horton looked from his 10th-floor apartment window and saw someone he believed was trying to steal a car. Mr Horton's own pick-up truck had been broken into as many as six times, and was stolen and found stripped two weeks earlier. Mr Horton armed with a rifle, and two other residents went down to investigate. Soon afterward two police officers, one white, John Nichols, and one black, Donald Moten, arrived in a police car with its squad lights and siren not

[p. 77]

operating. They sighted Mr Horton across the lot. The officers identified themselves, the police said, and shouted for him to put down his rifle. The police said Mr Horton fired two shots in their direction. A bullet from the white officer then killed Mr Horton. Last year Dallas police officers killed or wounded 29 civilians in shooting incidents. It was one of the highest per capita rates in big cities nationally. The House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice arranged hearings on the shootings in Dallas, as well as on shootings in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.^102.

In the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, the Jewish Community Council has decided to end years of disagreement over an all-white neighborhood security patrol run by a Hasidic sect. Members of the black and Jewish communities have agreed to start a new integrated patrol.^103.

102. The New York Times, from a report by Peter Applebome

103. The New York Times, from a report by Todd S Purdum