How a 1984 Subway Shooting Foretold the Rise of Vigilante Violence
Two new books trace an arc from the notorious Bernie Goetz case to the spread of vigilantism today.
By Jennifer Szalai
FOLLOWING UP
FOLLOWING UP; Still Seeking Payment From Bernard Goetz
Darrell Cabey, who was awarded $43 million by jury for injuries from being shot by Bernard Goetz in Manhattan subway train in 1984, retains law firm that specializes in debt collection to pursue judgment; Goetz previously filed for bankruptcy but was ordered by pay Cabey (S)
By Tina Kelley
Bankrupt, Goetz Still Owes Victim
US Bankruptcy Court Judge Cornelius Blackshear rules that even though Bernhard H Goetz has filed for bankruptcy protection, he is still liable for $43 million jury award against him for paralyzing Darrell Cabey, one of four youths that he shot on subway train in Dec 1984 (M)
By Lynette Holloway
The Black and the Red Of Goetz's Balance Sheet
On the plus side are a $320 wardrobe, some electronic equipment, a pet chinchilla and guinea pig valued together at $130, and about $500 in cash. In all, about $17,000 in assets. On the debit side: a $1 million liability for an unfulfilled book contract, $16 million in unpaid lawyers' bills and, of course, a $43 million judgment for shooting someone on the subway. Total liabilities: about $60 million.
By Garry Pierre-Pierre
Goetz Plans Move to Boston Where Mystery Job Awaits
Disenchanted with the city where he has earned both notoriety and a $43 million debt, Bernhard H. Goetz announced through his lawyer yesterday that he is leaving town, perhaps for good. But Mr. Goetz's mediated farewells only added to his reputation as an enigma wrapped in a news conference. If this was Mr. Goetz's swan song, it was a highly ambiguous one, in keeping with the mysteries surrounding the act that brought him his fame: the shooting of four youths he said were about to mug him on a subway train in 1984.
By Adam Nossiter
Goetz Files for Bankruptcy, Citing Judgment in Shooting
Bernhard H. Goetz moved to protect his meager assets yesterday, filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. He is facing a $43 million judgment after a Bronx civil court's decision last week to hold him liable in the shooting of Darrell Cabey, one of four youths Mr. Goetz said were threatening to rob him in 1984.
By Adam Nossiter
Putative Damages;The Non-Cash Value of $43 Million
THE headlines last week after Bernhard Goetz was found liable in the 1984 subway shooting of a Bronx teen-ager extracted a straightforward meaning from the case: Mr. Goetz, the world was told, had been ordered by a Civil Court jury to pay Darrell Cabey $43 million. And yet if there was anything this case was not about, it was $43 million.
By Adam Nossiter
Goetz Verdict Clears Injured Son, Mother Says
Shirley Cabey performs a little mental trick when she is with her paralyzed, brain-damaged son, Darrell: she refuses to see the wheelchair he will spend the rest of his life in. She just imagines he is a normal 30-year-old, sitting in a chair. "That's how I keep my sanity," said the mother of the man who won $43 million on Tuesday from Bernhard H. Goetz, the subway gunman whose bullets paralyzed Darrell Cabey. "I picture him just sitting there, in a regular chair." But then the reality returns: "I'll remember what put him in that chair."
By Adam Nossiter
Bronx Jury Orders Goetz to Pay Man He Paralyzed $43 Million
Nine years after a criminal jury accepted Bernhard H. Goetz's argument that he fired his famous shots in self-defense, a civil jury in the Bronx rejected that claim yesterday and ordered him to pay $43 million to the man he left paralyzed by gunfire on a downtown Manhattan subway train. Adding a new chapter to a story that touched on many New Yorkers' darkest fears about crime, race and violence, the six-member jury unanimously found that the December 1984 shooting of Darrell Cabey, one of four young black men who Mr. Goetz said were trying to rob him, was unjustified. The jurors awarded Mr. Cabey $18 million for past and future pain and suffering, and $25 million in punitive damages.
By Adam Nossiter
Justice For All, Twice
It took two trials to do justice in the serial story of Bernhard Goetz. The first trial, the six-week criminal hearing in 1987, focused on whether Mr. Goetz overreacted after four black teen-agers surrounded him on a downtown No. 2 train and asked him for money. It was Mr. Goetz against the group his lawyers called "the predators" and "the gang of four."
