BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS

Protests erupted in St. Petersburg, Florida, on the night of November 13 after a county grand jury cleared police officer James Knight, who is white, in the killing of TyRon Mark Lewis, an 18-year-old youth who is Black. In another case of police brutality, over 150 people gathered November 13 at the Allegheny County courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh to protest the "not guilty" verdict by an all-white jury of one of three cops accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Black motorist Jonny Gammage (see article on page 9).

Two days earlier, New York police raided several apartment buildings in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, arresting 35 people the big-business press described as members of a "leftist cult."

Hours after the St. Petersburg verdict, groups of dozens of Black youth took to the streets of the predominantly Black south St. Petersburg to protest the grand jury decision. The police department sent more than 200 police officers to the area, closing off streets and firing canisters of tear gas. The National Guard was placed on standby as protesters threw bottles and chunks of concrete and set more than 80 fires, according to the Associated Press.

In the course of the disturbances, shots were fired, striking one police officer in the leg and another, the copilot of a police helicopter hovering overhead, in the arm. Neither cop was seriously wounded.

Eight fires at homes and businesses were still burning early the next morning. Police chief Darrel Stephens said early November 14 that the cops arrested eight people in the course of the night.

Similar but wider protests had taken place in the same area October 24, soon after two white police officers stopped and then shot and killed Lewis.

The police stopped Lewis's car at an intersection claiming he was speeding. They later said the car was stolen. When Lewis, who had a passenger, did not roll down his window, police officer Sandra Minor beat her baton on the car. Officer Knight walked to the front of the car and shot Lewis five times through the windshield. Knight claimed he fired after the automobile "lurched forward." Witnesses contradicted the cop's account. Iris Brinkley told a local reporter, "The car was going slow, it was just like when you take your foot off the break." Other witnesses said Lewis was getting out of the car.

The grand jury ruled that "the death of TyRon Lewis was the result of a justifiable homicide under Florida law," saying that Knight was in danger of being run over and that the shooting was not racially motivated.

The decision means Knight will not face criminal charges. He has been suspended from active duty for 60 days for failing to take "reasonable means to avoid the danger."

Police chief Stephens is trying to pinpoint blame for the unrest on the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, a Black organization based in the neighborhood. "A good part of the activity taking place on the streets tonight was planned," Stephens said. "I don't believe that this was a spontaneous event."

According to the Associated Press, around 4:00 p.m. on November 13, hours after the grand jury ruling, Uhuru supporters were gathered in front of a house, handing out flyers calling for a community meeting. "Killer cop goes free," the leaflets read. "We will not be shot down in the streets like dogs. Neither will we be pushed into jails for defending our community.... Get organized!" In that situation, and in full view of 40 protesters, police officers descended on the scene and arrested three Uhuru supporters allegedly on outstanding warrants.

About two hours later cops came back and broke into the same house, claiming they had gotten a call reporting gunfire in the area. The cops were reportedly pelted with debris and officer Keith Glasgow was shot through the left calf.

Iris Brinkley told reporters she was in the house when police in riot gear forced their way in and sprayed tear gas. "How did they justify what they did?" she said. "They sure have no respect for the Black community. All we were doing was having a meeting."

Two days before the St. Petersburg verdict, police in New York raided several apartment buildings in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, arresting 35 people the big-business press described as members of "a leftist cult." Of those held, six people were charged November 12 for possessing illegal weapons. Cops claimed they seized 16 pistols, 26 rifles, 5 shotguns, and 2 replicas of Thompson submachine guns.

A front-page article in the November 13 New York Times said that police officials claim those arrested are followers of Eugenio Perente-Ramos, who died in March 1995 and had built "a mythological persona as a radical labor organizer." The article said Perente-Ramos's followers sometimes called themselves the Provisional Communist Party or the National Labor Federation, and are dedicated to research of different groups.

Using language trying to paint those arrested as revolutionaries conspiring to commit violent acts, the Times story said the police stumbled "onto the headquarters of what they called a heavily armed leftist cult that had been living quietly in Brooklyn for 20 years, talking into the night of impending revolution and filling out mounds of bureaucratic paperwork." The cops say they raided the houses and found weapons accidentally, after investigating a complaint of a crying child.

In 1984, the FBI reportedly raided what the Times described as Perente-Ramos's headquarters at Carroll St. in Crown Heights - the same apartments the New York cops entered November 12 - claiming it had evidence that the so-called Provisional Party of Communists "planned a series of violent acts." Police officials said November 12, however, that none of the related groups involved in the recent raids had any record of violent acts.  
 
 
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