 Bumpurs, c. 1984. | |
| Date | October 29, 1984 |
|---|---|
| Location | 1551 University Avenue Morris Heights, Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 40°50′54″N 73°55′07″W / 40.848301°N 73.918625°W |
| Cause | Resisted eviction with violence |
| Deaths | Eleanor Bumpurs, 66 |
| Accused | NYPD officer Stephen Sullivan |
| Charges | Second-degree manslaughter |
| Convictions | None |
| Litigation | Bumpurs' family filed a lawsuit against New York City, settled for $200,000 (1990) |
On October 29, 1984, Eleanor Bumpurs was shot and killed by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The police were present to enforce a city-ordered eviction of Bumpurs, an elderly and disabled African American woman, from her New York Housing Authority (NYCHA) public housing unit at 1551 University Avenue (Sedgwick Houses) in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx.[1]
In requesting NYPD assistance, NYCHA workers told police that Bumpurs was emotionally disturbed, had threatened to throw boiling lye and was using a knife to resist eviction. When Bumpurs refused to open the door, police broke into her unit. In the struggle to subdue her, one officer fatally shot Bumpurs twice with a 12-gauge shotgun.[2][3]
Bumpurs' shooting, one of several deaths that inflamed racial tensions in New York during the 1980s, led to changes within the NYPD regarding responses to disabled and emotionally volatile persons. Officer Stephen Sullivan, who shot Bumpurs, was indicted on a charge of second-degree manslaughter, but was ultimately acquitted. Bumpurs' family sued the city for $10 million in damages, and settled for $200,000.
- ^ "African Americans and Criminal Justice: An Encyclopedia". ABC-CLIO. 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYT_2003-12-28was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Raab, Selwyn (1984-11-27). "AUTOPSY FINDS BUMPURS WAS HIT BY TWO BLASTS". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
An autopsy on a Bronx woman who was fatally shot by the police in an eviction dispute indicates that she was hit by two shotgun blasts, not one, as originally reported by police officials.