The Jury's Out on Gideon Busch Killers
When cops fear the mentally ill, some die
NEW YORK CITYVOICES: October-December 2003
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A federal jury deliberated just six hours on November 17, 2003 before clearing five NYC police officers of civil wrongdoing in the controversial fatal shooting of Brooklyn mental health consumer Gideon Busch. According to The New York Post, Anthony Leoncavallo, 26, who was the jury foreman, said that the key witness in the case was the lone civilian who backed the cops' account that Busch was lunging at them before he was shot. Seven other civilian witnesses, including one called by the City, disputed the police version. Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), a supporter of the Busch family, said: "If six police officers (a sixth cop who did not fire was dismissed from the suit) cannot disarm an emotionally disturbed man, short of shooting that person 12 times, how can the City of New York be proud of that?"
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