Michael Jerome Stewart (May 9, 1958, – September 28, 1983) was an African-American man who received recognition after his death following an arrest by
New York City Transit Police
The New York City Transit Police Department was a law enforcement agency in New York City that existed from 1953 (with the creation of the New York City Transit Authority) to 1995, and is currently part of the NYPD. The roots of this organizat ...
for writing
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
in soft-tip marker or using an aerosol can on a
New York City Subway wall at the
First Avenue station. His treatment while in police custody and the ensuing trials of the arresting officers (all of whom were acquitted) sparked debate concerning
police brutality and the responsibilities of arresting officials in handling suspects. This was a widely publicized episode in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's history of police brutality cases.
Word of the arrest came out on September 15, 1983, as the Committee Against Racially Motivated Police Violence was holding a news conference to publicize a
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
hearing into complaints of police abuse. Stewart had been arrested earlier that day. He died at age 25, on September 28, after 13 days in a coma. The cause of death was listed as
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...
.
Arrest and death
![1st Avenue BMT IMG 9163](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/1st_Avenue_BMT_IMG_9163.JPG)
On September 15, 1983, aspiring artist and model Michael Stewart left the
Pyramid Club in Manhattan's
Lower East Side. He was arrested at 2:50 a.m. for spraying graffiti at the
First Avenue station on the Brooklyn-bound platform. Transit Police Officer John Kostick found Stewart scrawling “RQS” on the wall and had him arrested. Stewart allegedly said, "Hey, man, you got me."
Kostick cuffed Stewart and walked him to the turnstile to be identified. As Stewart was still living with his parents, he asked the police not to call his home to wake them up. Officer Kostick claimed Stewart was initially cordial, but suddenly ran off and had to be restrained while waiting for the arrest transport van.
“At the top
f the stairs Stewart fell face-forward on the ground,” said Kostick.
The officer held Stewart to the ground until the van arrived, where several officers put him inside. Stewart was taken to the District 4 Transit Police station at
14th Street–Union Square, two stops away.
While being taken to the station, Kostick said, Stewart became “very violent” in the van. Stewart struggled with the officers and ran to the street. He was beaten unconscious. He was hogtied, bound at the ankles and tethered hands-to-feet by an elastic strap.
During the struggle, Stewart's wails could be heard by 27
Parsons School of Design students from their dorm windows. A Parsons student, Rebecca Reiss, heard Stewart say "Oh my God, someone help me", and "What did I do? What did I do?"
Rob Zombie, also a Parsons student at the time, recounted the incident in 2019 during an appearance on the September 16 episode of ''
The Joe Rogan Experience
''The Joe Rogan Experience'' is a podcast hosted by American comedian, presenter, and UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. It launched on December 24, 2009, on YouTube by Rogan and comedian Brian Redban, who was its sole co-host and producer unti ...
'' podcast (#1353). He stated that he and the other witnesses that night were subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury prior to the trial. Stewart was booked at the Union Square District 4 transit police headquarters for resisting arrest and unlawful possession of
marijuana. The transit police supervisors deemed Stewart emotionally disturbed. Stewart was placed back into the van and transported to
Bellevue Hospital
Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...
to undergo psychiatric observation.
Stewart arrived at Bellevue at 3:22 a.m. He was handcuffed, his legs were bound, and he was
comatose with a
blood alcohol content
Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For example ...
of 0.22, more than double the 0.10 threshold needed to arrest someone for drunk driving. Stewart was dating
Suzanne Mallouk
Suzanne Mallouk (born September 10, 1960) is a Canadian-born painter, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst based in New York City. She is best known for being amongst a core of East Village creatives in the 1980s and for her relationship with artis ...
at the time, and she went with his family to see him at the hospital.
According to Mallouk's account, Stewart had bruises and cuts on his body. She said the doctors confirmed he was brain dead and had hemorrhaged in a way that suggested he had either been choked or strangled.
Stewart died on September 28, 1983, thirteen days after his arrest.
Aftermath
Postmortem examination
In charge of determining Stewart's cause of death was the city's
medical examiner
The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology that investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictio ...
, Dr.
Elliot M. Gross. Gross had three separate findings. He first declared Stewart had died due to excessive
drinking
Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely am ...
,
alcohol poisoning
Alcohol intoxication, also known as alcohol poisoning, commonly described as drunkenness or inebriation, is the negative behavior and physical effects caused by a recent consumption of alcohol. In addition to the toxicity of ethanol, the main ps ...
, which led to the coma and subsequent
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
; thus, the police were not at fault.
Stewart's family and advocates were unconvinced and believed this was a “classic cover-up.”
In a second autopsy conducted a month later, Gross declared that Stewart had died from a
spinal cord injury
A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. Symptoms may include loss of muscle function, sensation, or autonomic function in the parts of the body served by the spinal cor ...
in the upper neck.
In his third assessment he said that Stewart died from blunt-force trauma. According to ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', “Gross declined to specify what caused the injury, explaining only that 'there are a number of possibilities as to how an injury of these type can occur.' He refused to talk to press unless testifying before the grand jury.”
Gross said Stewart's injuries, including the facial bruising and the abrasions on his wrists sustained during his arrest, were not said to contribute to his death. Nurses said his hands and face were blue when he arrived at the hospital, and that it took 3 minutes to remove the cuffs. They also said that he had been beaten brutally.
[
Doctors hired by Stewart's family to perform a secondary autopsy contradicted the findings in the final autopsy report done by Gross, finding that the cause of death was strangulation.] Gross said there was no evidence of strangulation. Stewart's eyes were not provided for examination by the doctors hired by Stewart's family. The eyes were crucial because they would have shown evidence of hemorrhaging due to lack of oxygen from being strangled. Claims of Gross' incompetence led the Stewart family to call for a petition to remove him as chief medical examiner claiming alleged wrongdoing and the medical examiners office cannot be trusted with the safekeeping of items.
Following the trial, all six policemen were acquitted of criminal charges. Dr. Gross was later fired and Stewart's parents were compensated $1.7 million for their child's death. Stewart's death would be remembered as an egregious tragedy of police abuse.
Grand jury investigation and trials
A grand jury investigation was initiated in October 1983 to determine what happened to Stewart in the 32 minutes between being arrested and his delivery to the hospital. On October 19, about twenty black community leaders, including City Councilwoman Mary Pinkett, protested outside the Manhattan District Attorney
The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...
Robert M. Morgenthau
Robert Morris Morgenthau ( ; July 31, 1919July 21, 2019) was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Atto ...
’s office at the Criminal Court Building. Morgenthau refused to see the group, stating that it would be inappropriate to comment before the case went to the grand jury in November 1983. The medical examiner’s final report, issued on November 2, differed from his preliminary report. Gross declined to state explicitly what caused the death, but reported that Stewart died of “physical injury to the spinal cord in the upper neck” and concluded that there were “a number of possibilities as to how an injury of this type can occur”.
During the five-month trial in the New York Supreme Court, some witnesses testified that Stewart was struck and kicked by officers, while other witnesses said they did not see officers beat Stewart. None were able to determine who was responsible for handling Stewart, and none were able to identify which officers took which actions at the arrest. Experts could not agree on what combination of injuries, intoxication, and cardiac health issues ended Stewart's life. Seven months into the grand jury investigation, the case was dismissed because a juror, Ronald P. Fields, initiated private investigations on the case.
In February 1984, a second grand jury introduced the case before Justice George F. Roberts which indicted three officers, John Kostick, Anthony Piscola and Henry Boerner, with criminally negligent homicide, assault and perjury. Three other officers, Sgt. Henry Hassler, Sgt. James Barry and Susan Techky, who denied that they saw officers kick Stewart, were charged with perjury. In June 1985, jury selection began in State Supreme Court in Manhattan for the trial.
Prosecutor Morgenthau went to the second trial with two theories, one of neck injury leading to the death and the other that beatings caused cardiac arrest. Prosecutors pushed for second degree manslaughter to be charged if it was determined the officers recklessly caused the death. The jury was instructed that to support a charge of criminally negligent homicide, they had to find that the officers failed to take reasonable steps to prevent death. The prosecution hoped to establish a law requiring officers to “have an affirmative duty to protect prisoners in their custody from abuse”.
William McKechnie, of the Transit Patrolman's Benevolent Association, denied the officers' role in the death stating, “If someone dies of a heart attack, we are not doctors”. The New York Civil Liberties Union believed the second set of indictments signaled a new direction in how prosecutors treat police abuse cases. Richard Emery, a lawyer for the New York Civil Liberties Union, stated, “The theory underlining this case is perhaps the most important development in stemming the tide of police abuse. It makes police officers strictly responsible for their prisoners. It holds them accountable.” On November 24, 1985, the six officers were acquitted by an all-white jury
Racial discrimination in jury selection is specifically prohibited by law in many jurisdictions throughout the world. In the United States, it has been defined through a series of judicial decisions. However, juries composed solely of one racial ...
.
In 1987, the 11 officers and the MTA were charged with a $40-million civil suit filed by the Stewart family which prompted hundreds of off-duty transit police officers to march along Madison Avenue in front of the MTA's headquarters carrying signs reading “End the witch hunt” and “When are we finally innocent?” In August 1990, Stewart's parents and his siblings John and Lisha Cole Stewart settled the civil suit out of court for $1.7 million. As of 1990, the police and city officials stated they were not to blame for the death of Michael Stewart.
Reactions
Stewart's family called his death an act of racism and brutality. Attorneys representing the Stewart family described Michael as “a retiring and almost docile 135-pound young artist and a Pratt Institute student” who was on his way home to his Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. It is bordered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Classon Avenue and Bedford–Stuyves ...
neighborhood where he lived with his mother, Carrie, and father, Millard, who was a retired Metropolitan Transit Authority maintenance worker. They maintained that the white officers had beaten a black artist and model. It stirred public protests by black activists and others, believing that city officials were covering up for the transit police.
In 1984, Franck Lazare Goldberg directed a short documentary titled ''Who Killed Michael Stewart?'' about the killing.
In March 1987, the MTA determined that only one officer, John Kostick, was subject to suspension based on departmental charges of perjury. The MTA Board approved additional training for transit officers in the handling of emotionally disturbed people and changed its policies on how the department's internal affairs unit becomes involved with cases of possible misconduct.
Tributes
*The death of Radio Raheem by a police choke-hold in Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
’s 1989 film ''Do the Right Thing
''Do the Right Thing'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson, ...
'' is inspired by Michael Stewart's arrest, as confirmed by Lee on ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...
''. The film is dedicated to the families of Michael Stewart and other victims of police violence in New York.
*In the song "Graffiti Limbo" penned by songwriter Michelle Shocked
Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston; February 24, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. Her music has entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, and received an award f ...
on her ''Short Sharp Shocked
''Short Sharp Shocked'' is the second album by Michelle Shocked. Originally released in 1988, it was remastered and reissued in 2003 as a two-CD set by Shocked's own label, Mighty Sound. The title is a play on the phrase short, sharp shock. The r ...
'' release, an extra verse she sings live is not on the album: "You see in order to determine that Michael Stewart was strangled to death / The coroner had to use Michael Stewart’s eyeballs, his eyes, as evidence, / So now when I tell you it was Michael Stewart’s eyes that the coroner lost / Do you know what I mean when I say that justice is blind."
*"Hold On" from Lou Reed's album '' New York'' contains the following line: "The dopers sent a message to the cops last weekend they shot him in the car where he sat. And Eleanor Bumpurs and Michael Stewart must have appreciated that."
*Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat created '' Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart)'' as a response to his death.
*Stewart's girlfriend Suzanne Mallouk
Suzanne Mallouk (born September 10, 1960) is a Canadian-born painter, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst based in New York City. She is best known for being amongst a core of East Village creatives in the 1980s and for her relationship with artis ...
informed SoHo art galleries and the downtown New York City nightclubs such as the Berlin and the Pyramid Club where they both worked to help raise financial support and awareness of Stewart's death. Keith Haring
Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...
donated money and Madonna performed at a benefit at Danceteria
Danceteria was a nightclub that operated in New York City from 1979 until 1986 and in the Hamptons until 1995. The club operated in various locations over the years, a total of three in New York City and four in the Hamptons. The most famous locat ...
.
*For his 1985 show at Tony Shafrazi gallery Keith Haring
Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...
did a painting about Stewart’s death, titled ''Michael Stewart – USA for Africa''. It depicts a black man being strangled while handcuffed to a skeleton holding a key. People from all nations drown in a river of blood below, while others shield their eyes from the scene, and the green hand of big money oversees the scene.
*In his 1987 film ''Police State'', Nick Zedd
Nick may refer to:
* Nick (given name)
* A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat
* British slang for being arrested
* British slang for a police station
* British slang for stealing
* Short for nickname
Place ...
makes reference to Michael Stewart in a scene depicting a conversation between a cop and a young man, leading to an unlawful arrest. The film was a black comedy about police brutality, inspired in part by the Michael Stewart case and Operation Pressure Point, an operation designed to "clean up" and gentrify the Lower East Side of NYC.
*In 2019, Chaédria LaBouvier curated a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim which included the painting by Basquiat. In addition to the painting, the history and story behind Stewart's death was examined.
Legacy
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
dedicated the film ''Do the Right Thing
''Do the Right Thing'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson, ...
'' to Michael Stewart among other victims.
References
External links
Who Killed Michael Stewart? - Documentary on Vimeo
Death of Michael Stewart - Daily News Article
Who is Michael Stewart? - Basquiat Defacement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Michael
1958 births
1983 deaths
American graffiti artists
Criminal trials that ended in acquittal
New York City Police Department corruption and misconduct
Deaths in police custody in the United States
People from Brooklyn
Crimes in Manhattan
1983 in New York City
20th-century American painters
American male painters
Deaths by person in New York City
September 1983 events in the United States
20th-century African-American painters