Randolph Evans (1961–1976) was a 15-year-old ninth-grade boy at Franklin K. Lane High School in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. He was shot and killed by

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

officer Robert Torsney on November 25, 1976.

Shooting

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

1976, responding to a report of a man with a gun in the Cypress Hills

housing projects Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a combination thereof ...

, Officer Robert Torsney encountered a group of youths. After a brief conversation, Torsney shot one of them, Evans, point-blank in the head. After shooting Evans, Torsney made no effort to check the boy’s condition but instead walked to his patrol car, got in, removed the spent cartridge from his weapon, and calmly replaced it with another bullet. His partner, Officer Matthew Williams had already been in the vehicle during the shooting, and asked, "What did you do?" Torsney responded, "I don't know, Matty. What did I do?" He was then arrested by his fellow officers.

Legal proceedings

On the day of the funeral, Torsney was indicted by a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

on charges of

second-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excus ...

. The trial began in October, 1977, where his defense maintained that the killing resulted from a psychotic episode due to " automatism of Penfield", named for neurosurgeon

Wilder Penfield Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891April 5, 1976) was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. ...

. On November 30, 1977, one year after the funeral, Torsney was found

not guilty by reason of insanity Not or NOT may also refer to: Language * Not, the general declarative form of "no", indicating a negation of a related statement that usually precedes * ... Not!, a grammatical construction used as a contradiction, popularized in the early 1990 ...

. Torsney was remanded to Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. On December 20, 1978, a Brooklyn State Supreme Court ordered Torsney's release, stating he no longer posed a threat to society. On the following July 9, 1979, Torsney was released from Creedmoor but under many rules and restrictions, including no legal possession of any firearms, ammunition, or explosives, no association with known criminals, no employment in law enforcement or other public safety professions, no attempts to contact Randolph's relatives or any known friends or acquaintances, and submitting to outpatient treatment at Creedmoor for the next five years with possible revocation of his release if deemed necessary for his or others' safety. Robert Torsney died in 2009, 30 years after his release from Creedmoor. The Torsney case was mentioned by

Bob Herbert Robert Herbert (born March 7, 1945) is an American journalist and former op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. His column was syndicated to other newspapers around the country. Herbert frequently writes on poverty, the Iraq War, racism a ...

in his ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' column after the shooting of

Sean Bell Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Hiberno-English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

which took place exactly 30 years to the day after the killing of Evans."Badges, Guns and Another Unarmed Victim"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', November 30, 2006, accessed March 31, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Randolph Crimes in Brooklyn African Americans shot dead by law enforcement officers in New York City New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct Incidents of violence against boys 1976 murders in the United States 1976 in New York City November 1976 in the United States People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Brooklyn People murdered by law enforcement officers in the United States Child murder in New York (state)

Shooting

Legal proceedings

See also

References