The 1990 Detroit riot occurred on June 14, 1990, after the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

defeated the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

in the

1990 NBA Finals The 1990 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1989–90 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The series pitted the defending NBA champion and Eastern Conference playoff champion De ...

. The rioting resulted in 8 deaths and is one of the worst sports-related riots in American history.

The riot

On June 14, 1990, the Detroit Pistons defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 92–90 in Game 5 of the 1990 NBA Finals. The game was played at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, but over 21,000 Pistons fans watched the game on big screen TVs at

The Palace of Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills, commonly referred to as the Palace, was a multi-purpose arena built in 1988 and located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It was the home of the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Detroit Shoc ...

, the Pistons' home court. The event at The Palace remained peaceful, with only one arrest occurring. The game ended at 11:30 EDT and rioting quickly began afterward. Looting was reported throughout the city and at least 124 people were hospitalized for injuries, including 26 who had been shot, two had been stabbed, and over a dozen who were beaten in front of riot police. Eight people were killed as well 10-year-old Keith Brown, 9-year-old Frederick Moore, 15-year-old Alisha Stanfield, and 21-year-old Sonny Deon Hogan were struck and killed after being struck by a

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...

in front of a convenience store where they were celebrating. 41-year-old Bruce Burdett Thomas of

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

was charged with four counts of second-degree murder in connection with the incident. Several witnesses described the crash as deliberate. 19-year-old Michael Wilkins was shot and killed after an argument occurred in a parking lot, a 21-year-old man fell off a roof to his death, and two other, pedestrians, one of them a 4-year-old boy, were killed in other auto accidents. A total of 141 people were arrested in Detroit. The rioting spread to suburban areas. In River Rouge, 28 youths were arrested after they smashed the windows of several stores and a police car. In Roseville, a police car was pelted with beer cans and bottles, though no one was arrested. The Pistons had won the

1989 NBA Finals The 1989 NBA Finals was the championship round of the 1988–89 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the conclusion of the 1989 NBA Playoffs. The series was a rematch of the previous year's championship round between the Eastern ...

and little violence occurred, though violence occurred after the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

won the

1984 World Series The 1984 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1984 season. The 81st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Detroit Tigers and the Nationa ...

. The rioting was the worst the city had experienced since the 1967 riot.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Detroit riot, 1990 1990 in sports in Michigan 1990 in Detroit 1990 crimes in the United States 1990 riots Detroit Pistons Hooliganism June 1990 events in the United States

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

Sports riots

The riot

See also

References