Write of Passage
Officer Gary Spath still hurts
from that day in 1990 when
he had to take down a kid in
an incident eerily similar to
what many cops have had
to go through lately. In this
exclusive report, he writes for
NJ Cops about some of the details
and some of the fallout that he
has never before shared.
■ BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
A little more than 25 years ago, Teaneck Officer and Local 215
Member Gary Spath grappled through a fray that could be read as an
incarnation of the plight in Ferguson, Missouri.
On April 10, 1990, Spath and his partner, Wayne Blanco, responded
to a schoolyard incident where they found a 16-year-old African
American, Phillip Pannell, with a gun in his jacket. Pannell took off,
the officers pursued, and when he came up on a fence and turned
toward the officers with a movement that appeared to be reaching for
the gun, Spath ended the threat. Conflicting accounts from
bystanders, a prolonged investigation, two grand juries, accusations
of racism and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson marching through Teaneck fueled nearly two years of angst before Spath was acquitted of
manslaughter.
During the past 25-plus years, the incident has been replayed over
and over in the media. And over again. There have been numerous
headlines in New York and New Jersey metropolitan newspapers,
including another round of what Spath called, “dragging my name”
following the Ferguson incident during fall 2014. The media morass
left Spath admittedly bitter but, more importantly, wanting to speak
his mind. Not relying on or trusting any of the many media outlets
repeatedly asking for his recollections, Spath turned to his union and
his brothers and sisters to tell his story.
“I would read something online and have to shut the computer
off,” Spath explains. “I grew some pretty thick skin. Then, last Thanksgiving (2014) I saw something. I never expected to write something,
and my wife was furious with me. I don’t want to re-litigate this case.
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NEW JERSEY COPS
■
FEBRUARY 2016