Eleanor Bumpers

People

Eleanor Bumpers

Outcome

unknown

On October 29, 1984, Eleanor Bumpurs, a 66-year-old disabled African American woman, was shot and killed by NYPD Officer Stephen Sullivan during an eviction from her public housing apartment in the Bronx. Bumpurs, who struggled with mental illness and had fallen four months behind on rent—owing $398.60—was shot twice with a 12-gauge shotgun after she allegedly threatened officers with a kitchen knife. The first shot severed her hand; the second struck her chest and killed her. Her death sparked massive community outrage, led to changes in NYPD procedures for responding to emotionally disturbed persons, and became a galvanizing moment for New York City's fight for justice against police violence. Eleanor Gray Bumpurs was born on August 22, 1918, and was a child of Jim Crow segregation. She was a mother and grandmother living in a one-bedroom apartment at Sedgwick Houses, a New York City Housing Authority development in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx. She suffered from arthritis and other health problems, as well as mental illness. A consulting psychiatrist had determined she was unable to function and recommended hospitalization, but city agencies failed to act. Prior to the eviction attempt, Bumpurs had told her daughter Mary that someone in the building was harassing her. Housing and welfare officials had noted her history of reportedly throwing lye on strangers. On the morning of October 29, 1984, NYCHA officials, a city marshal, police, welfare officials, and medical technicians arrived to execute an eviction warrant for four months of unpaid rent. When housing workers came to her door, Bumpurs told them she would throw boiling lye at the next face to appear. The NYPD Emergency Service Unit, specially trained in subduing emotionally disturbed persons, was summoned but could not get Bumpurs to open the door. Officers drilled out the lock and through the hole saw the naked 66-year-old in her living room holding a 10-inch kitchen knife. They knocked down the door and entered, attempting to restrain her with plastic shields and a special Y-shaped bar, but she fought free. Officer Stephen Sullivan, armed with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, fired two shots. One pellet from the first shot struck her hand, severing it; all nine pellets from the second shot struck her chest, killing her. Her daughter Mary had planned to visit her that morning. Then-City Clerk David Dinkins stated it was "inconceivable" that deadly force was used against a 66-year-old woman. The New York Times called it "a grave error of police procedure and judgment." On January 30, 1985, a grand jury indicted Sullivan on charges of second-degree manslaughter. On April 12, 1985, Judge Vincent A. Vitale dismissed the indictment, ruling Sullivan's actions conformed to ESU guidelines. On November 25, 1986, the New York Court of Appeals reinstated the indictment by a 6-1 vote, with Chief Justice Sol Wachtler dissenting because he believed the evidence warranted more serious charges. On February 26, 1987, Judge Fred W. Eggert acquitted Sullivan, who was restored to full duty. Bumpurs's family filed a $10 million lawsuit that was quietly settled in 1990 for $200,000. In response to public pressure, the NYPD implemented new procedures emphasizing non-lethal methods—nets, Tasers, and restraining equipment—rather than firearms for confronting emotionally disturbed individuals. Since shortly after Bumpurs's death, NYPD Emergency Service Unit officers have carried Tasers as an alternative to firearms when dealing with the mentally ill. Community leaders established grassroots political organizations like the Eleanor Bumpurs Justice Committee. Poet Audre Lorde memorialized her in the 1986 poem "For the Record: In Memory of Eleanor Bumpurs," and filmmaker Spike Lee dedicated his 1989 film *Do the Right Thing* to Bumpurs and other victims of police violence.