Michael Stewart

People

Michael Stewart

Outcome

unknown

On September 15, 1983, Michael Stewart, a 25-year-old Black artist and model, was arrested by New York City Transit Police for allegedly writing graffiti at the First Avenue subway station in Manhattan. What happened during and after his arrest remains unclear, but Stewart arrived at Bellevue Hospital 32 minutes later in handcuffs, with his legs bound, and in a coma. He had bruises and cuts across his body, and doctors determined he had hemorrhaged in a way consistent with strangulation or choking. Stewart never regained consciousness and died 13 days later on September 28, 1983. Six transit police officers were charged in connection with Stewart's death: three with criminally negligent homicide, assault, and perjury, and three others with perjury before the grand jury. At trial, the defendants, judge, jury, and attorneys on both sides were all white. Only the victim was Black. All six officers were acquitted, devastating Stewart's family and the Black community. No one was ever held accountable for his death. Stewart's death profoundly affected the downtown New York art scene where he was a peer of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Basquiat created "Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart)" to memorialize Stewart and challenge state-sanctioned brutality against Black artists. Spike Lee dedicated his 1989 film "Do the Right Thing" to Michael Stewart's family, and the character Radio Raheem's death by police chokehold was directly inspired by Stewart's case. Stewart's death remains a touchstone in discussions of police violence against Black Americans and a reminder that the struggle against police brutality predates the modern civil rights era.