Thread by @DrinkSolaPop, LARRY DAVIS: A MAN WHO TOOK IT THERE *THREAD* Larry Davis was [...]

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LARRY DAVIS: A MAN WHO TOOK IT THERE *THREAD*

Larry Davis was a South Bronx native, born in 1966. He was from Highbridge, and lived on Woodycrest Avenue. Having grown up in the area during the '80s, he gravitated toward hip-hop, trying to manage artists.

Police corruption was widespread during the crack epidemic. When Larry was a young teen, him and his friend were coerced into selling drugs for police officers. They tell the story here.

Around 1986, Larry decided to stop selling when his baby's mother had a miscarriage. He found out she was using drugs and a police officer was supplying her with them. He was 20 years old at the time. The NYPD wasn't happy with his decision.

The NYPD charged him with four homicides of drug dealers uptown and in the Bronx, as an excuse to be able to get their hands on him.

They came to Larry's mother's home, threatening her son's life. She speaks on the encounter, which was about a month before the raid.

Police tracked him down at his girlfriend's house. He was with his sister and her children. They came to the door guns-drawn and started shooting. Larry found a stashed gun in the apartment and started firing back, hitting one in the mouth. They dropped their weapons and fled.

As they were fleeing and attempting to enter, Larry ended up shooting six officers who suffered shots to the head, neck, mouth, and face.

During the raid, police tried to shoot at Larry but ended up shooting an apartment door lock, giving room to escape. He managed to get into the apartment, hop out the window into a vacant lot, and flee from police.

The NYPD tapped his friend's and family's phones while on-the-run. But he says he always tried to keep calls brief enough (under a minute) so they couldn't trace his call locations. According to this Times article, it worked.

The search for Larry Davis grew, spanning across six cities. They raided the residences of any and everyone he was known associates with. The entire time, he was in the South Bronx, staying on the street and with friends. The NAACP offered its help in negotiating his surrender.

His mother speaks on her encounter with the police after Larry became a fugitive, while her and her grandchildren were in the home:

However, residents of the Bronx and Northern Manhattan weren't very cooperative with police. Many in the area actually regarded Davis as a hero, standing up to a system that had him against the wall.

After his 17th day on the run, he ended up in the Twin Parks project on 183rd Street. Police got word he was there, so they went. He went up to another floor, where a stranger allowed him to stay w her and her kids. But the husband was so scared when he got home, he told police.

He peacefully surrendered to police, with the good samaritans mediating the conversation btwn him and the FBI. People were cheering his name as he was escorted out, and blurted out to news cameras that he sold drugs for the New York Police Department.

The trial obviously had racial undertones. The BX had a white police force in a now-minority borough. Prosecution wants whites on the jury for police sympathy. The defense wants Black/Latinos to sympathize w Larry. The jury ended up w ten Black ppl and two Hispanic ppl.

The trial for the police shootout exposed the lies made by police, stating that Larry shot first when it was them. He was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but found guilty of illegal weapon possession. He was sentenced to 5-15yrs in prison.

The 5-15yr sentence is quite extreme in comparison to Bernhard Goetz, who confessed to shooting four teens on the train for allegedly attempting to rob him. His confession video along with interviews of his jurors, who believed his memory was distorted since the incident. https://twitter.com/drinksolapop/status/1145325743825666049

https://twitter.com/drinksolapop/status/1145325743825666049

After his acquittal, he went on trial for the homicides the NYPD were originally trying to arrest him for...one by one. He was found innocent in '89, but was found guilty in '91 and given another 25 to life. Here he is speaking on his exp in prison..his legs paralyzed by a CO.

In 2008, Larry Davis was fatally stabbed by an inmate in a prison in Upstate New York. He was 41yrs old. May he rest in peace.

https://twitter.com/drinksolapop/status/1140945936891469824?s=21 https://twitter.com/drinksolapop/status/1140945936891469824