"Hey, you gotta turn it down." "All right, enough with this garbage already!" "You two are gonna turn those down, or I pull this ride over at the next..." "Oh, my God. 7-17 to dispatch." "'Dispatch." "Go ahead, 7-17 '." "Signal 31, Park Heights and Woodland." "'Come on, 7-17 '." "I got a female pedestrian down." "I need an ambulance." "You kill that woman, man?" "He don't give a damn." "He wasn't watching' where he was drivin'." " Listen, punk!" " You..." "It doesn't bother you, do it, McCusker?" "It's like you was aimin'!" " You go to hell!" " No, you go to hell!" "The most underrated Baltimore landmark?" "Water tower in Curtis Bay." "The one with the Roman arches." "I love that." "The Cemetery." "At night, the entrance is like a set from an old horror movie." "Or the Pabst Brewery at the bottom of Light Street." "Baltimore is a city of many splendours, but the greatest feat?" "Madonna's Bra." " What?" " Yeah, Madonna's Bra." "The sewage plant in Eastpoint." "Them two golden cones just stickin' up outta nowhere." " Madonna's Bra?" " That's what the Eastsiders call it." "Gold orbs shimmering in the moonlight, towering over the landscape." " I don't think I've seen it." " Are you serious?" "To die without viewing it would mark an incomplete life." "What the hell's goin' on?" "'All units." "Respond to civil disturbance at Lower Park Heights." "'This frequency is now a committed channel." "'We got a fire and more looting at the corner of Quantico.'" "It's a bad day to be in a radio car." "Homicide, Lewis." "There's a riot goin' on up in Park Heights." "Two bodies on the ground." "Bad day in general." "Gaffney said this?" "Said he was concerned, said he was just here to help." " He's a snake." " You two go way back, I take it." "He was useless as a patrolman, as a detective even worse." "And as a captain, he does his best, but I don't know what police captains actually do." "Hey, we got us a riot goin' on up in Northwestern." " They called Homicide?" " Two dead." " Tactical's keeping it under control." " Where?" " Around Park Heights and Woodland." " Little Jamaica." "Go with them." "Raise me on the radio when you know what they've got." "Jasper!" " Welcome to the party." " We heard you had two on the ground." "Two dead males, one injured woman." "Here's the first body." " Oh, good God." " No idea who beat on him or why." "But the uniform says it all." "BTA bus, BTA driver." " He was dead when you got here?" " Very." " Any witnesses?" " When we got here, it was a riot." " Where's the second homicide victim?" " This way." " More of the same, huh?" " You tell me." "I don't have a clue how it fits together." "What about the injured woman?" "Medic-5 transported a black female to Sinai." "Found in front of the bus, unconscious and lookin' like she might stay that way." "What happened to you?" "Moke threw a brick when we made the turn-off from Cold Spring." " For the fun of it, I guess." " Hell of a day." " What's up with him?" " Fatal beat-down." "Same with Ralph Kramden up the block there." "Plus a woman going 10-7 on us up at Sinai." "We'll go to the hospital and check on the victim." "You got a preference?" " No, you call it." " We started the driver." "We'll work him." "See ya." "Come on in." " Was she beaten?" " I don't think so." "There's no scratches, no abrasions, no welts." "If you ask me, I think she was hit by a car." "Any ID?" "Passport and the green card from her purse said she's Marletta Manley." "She's 36 years old." "She's a Jamaican national." " Is she gonna make it?" " Mmm, that's touch and go." " She lost the baby, though." " Baby?" "Yeah, six months pregnant." "Patrick McCusker, 53." "He called in to report that his bus had struck a female pedestrian." "He asked for an ambo." "That's all we know." " Did you know the man?" " I knew him." "Friends?" "Not friends?" " The man is dead." " Why speak ill, right?" "The man died on the job, on his route." "I got no problems with him." "Paxton Smart. 22, 23, 29 dollars." "ADSS card, monthly bus fare card, State ID." "2/9/76." " Bus fare card?" "Maybe he was on the bus." " No way to tell." " A long way from the main attraction." "Maybe he was dragged here afterwards." "Dragged?" "Nah, if a man's gonna get beat down in a riot, why drag him out here?" "Leave his body where he lays." "Maybe he was trying to get away and someone catches him here." "A button?" "What's that mean?" "It could have been here for a week." "True." "But it ain't exactly like our cup runneth over with clues." "Excuse me." "I paid for two fare zones, I rode ten blocks." " I want my money back." " You were on the bus?" "I'm saying you owe me for at least one zone." "Yes, ma'am." "We do." "We most certainly do." " A dollar and eighty cents." " Excuse me, Detective." "She was on the bus." "A witness, and she's still here?" "Ma'am, did you see what happened here today?" "'The afternoon disturbance in Lower Park Heights 'left two dead, one critically injured." "'Ln addition, two city officers were treated and released from hospitals." "'Authorities say it began when a pregnant female pedestrian... '" "People don't get beaten to death in broad daylight in my city." "We work around the clock." "No one goes home until we make arrests." " Yes, sir." " Ballard?" " Off for three days." " Is she reachable?" "No, she's up in the Shenandoah." "She's hiking the Appalachian Trail." " Page her." " We tried that." "Her desk started beeping'." "You two get over there to Channel 11." " We want a copy of that videotape riot." " You got it, Gee." " So there was loud music?" " There was these two boys with radios." "First, there was one playing' this island music." " Reggae." " He was West Indian." " Anyway, you could tell from his accent." " And the other man?" "Well, he was younger, playin' that hippety-hop nonsense." "So these two guys were playin' their music loud?" "One would turn his up loud, and the other would turn his up louder." "What did the driver do?" "Looked back around to cuss him, told him to turn it down." "He got angry?" "Was there a racial epithet used, either from the driver or from the passengers?" "Anybody get upset because McCusker was white?" "I don't recall anybody sayin' anything." "He's been a driver on that line a long time." "It ain't like he made a whole lotta friends." "So Mr McCusker had some problems with black folks?" "I'm sayin' he wasn't real friendly." "But you don't remember anything racial that may have started the incident?" "He ran over a black woman." "Course, if she'd have been white, she'd have got hurt, too." "It ain't like white folks got rubber bumpers on their backsides." "Damn." "Page after page." "Paxton Smart's a piece of work." "Drug distribution, weapons charges, assault with intent, assault by shooting." "If a Jamaican drug dealer falls in the alley and no one hears him, does he make a sound?" " What do you two have?" " Well, we got one dead jake in an alley." "No indication of whether it had anything to do with the bus." "Anything else?" "He had a BTA pass." "Maybe he was on the bus when McCusker hit that woman." "Giardello and Gharty have a passenger in Interrogation." " Let her get a look at your victim." " Right." "Colonel Barnfather's on line one." "Just like that, you assume a racial element?" " Natural assumption." " Unnatural assumption." "The case is about mob violence, it's about trying to figure out who's responsible for starting a riot." "You start making assumptions, it makes it tougher to get to the truth." "You didn't get the sense that the driver had some issues?" " There was no love for McCusker there." " They weren't friends." "It doesn't mean it's about race." "White man runs over black woman." "Black crowd beats white man to death, torches bus." "Am I missing something?" "You don't think that this could have happened if the bus driver was black?" " No, I don't." " How can you say that?" "How can I say that?" "I've lived in Baltimore my whole live." "I'm white and the city ain't." "I know how that plays in some places." " Nothing personal, you understand." " Oh, yeah, I understand." "Oh, he's West Indian." "I don't like 'em much, though." "They moved in and changed the neighbourhood." "Do you recognise him from the bus?" "No." "Mm-mm." " He wasn't with the loud radio?" " Oh, the man on the bus was older." " Thank you." " Mm-mm." "Are your parents home?" "Baltimore Police." "We're looking for the relatives of a woman named Marletta Manley." " There are none." " Excuse me?" "She come alone from Kingston eight days ago." " New green card." " What was Marletta doing here?" "What do everyone do when they come to America?" "She look for better." " Where's her room at?" " This floor, other side." " Thank you." " Thank you." "A week ago?" "Paxton reported and said he was OK." "Yeah, all right, then." "Thanks." "Paxton Smart's parole officer says he reported last week and claimed to be crime-free and looking for work." "Meaning he was doin' the same-old same-old, but just lyin' about it." " Probably." " What if he got beat on spec?" "What if he got done to death for bein' in the wrong place when the drama went down?" "We could try his address, talk to his folks." "I'm gonna snatch up some joe." "Want one?" "No, I'm good." "Gharty, everything that Channel 11 ever aired or filmed on the riot." "Manager was cooperative, as long we provided him with tips on arrests and perp walk." " Thanks." " Mm-hm." "Damn." "Damn." "It's a shame they didn't get footage of the driver getting beat, like Los Angeles." "Case would be closed." "Ooh, that's him, that's him." "That's the boy with the camouflage jacket on." "He's the one who got on the bus with the second loud radio, playin' hip-hop." " Do you recognise anyone else?" " Mm..." "That one there, with the cap on his head, the one playing' that island music." " Are you sure?" " Mm-hm, mm-hm." "Oh... they're sure wearin' that poor bus out." "Trouble, Gee." "Big trouble with my dead Jamaican in that alley." " I'll bet I can guess." " I'll bet you can't." "There's my only clue." "That button's off a standard blue patrolman's shirt." " Yeah." " You found it in the alley near the body of Paxton Smart, and the police may involved." " How?" " Get to the Northwest District." " Shift changes in 40 minutes." " How'd you know?" "I just came from Barnfather's office." "There's already talk in the Heights." "If this gets out in Little Jamaica, we got a real riot comin'." "Get over to the District now." "They're out on the corners tonight." "Yep, a Rastafarian street party." "The jakes up here are crazy, man." "My mother's mother was West Indian." " Oh, yeah?" " Yeah." "Proud woman." "But all of her people were like that." " Where from, exactly?" " Trinidad." "She came here as a young girl, went to college, got a teaching degree." "She always acted like she was better than regular folk, you know?" "How do you mean?" "Like there was more to her culture than anyone who came out of Carolina could claim." "It's still like that." "The West Indians hold themselves apart." "It's like the Northern Italians." "They get confused." "Think they're Swiss." "They start lookin' at Sicilians as if they're dogs." "Well, that's funny." "To me, Italian's Italian." " To you, black is black." " I'm not much on the island boys." "I worked a foot post at Belvedere and the Heights for about six months." "Lemme tell you somethin'." "Those jakes were manning every drug corner from Belvedere down to Park Circle." "They got no reason to hold themselves above or apart from anybody." "There's plenty doing' dirt, but there's more like Marletta Manley comin' straight up, just lookin' for some piece of a decent life." "Like today, we're downstairs, we see a dope fiend on his afternoon nod." "We go upstairs, we find a clean spare room with a new bassinet and job applications on the table." "Heads, tails, same coin." "That's what I'm sayin'." "We're gonna deal with the shift comin' off the street." "Take the one goin' out." " Kinda awkward." " It sure is." "We identify one cop for murder." "His bunkies look at photographs for another." "Better not stick too close." "Might get the cold shoulder." "Lewis, Sheppard?" "Never heard of 'em." "¶ If you wanna live, treat me good" "¶ If you wanna live, live" "¶ I beg you, treat me good" "¶ I'm like a walking razor, don't you watch my sides" "¶ I'm dangerous" "¶ Said I'm dangerous" "¶ I'm like a walking razor, don't you watch my sides" "¶ I'm dangerous" "¶ Dangerous" "¶ If you are a bully" "¶ Treat me good... ¶" "My man." " What's up?" " Lewis." "Homicide, downtown." "Hellriegel." "Street, uptown." "You lost somethin' there." "Who's she with, the fashion police?" "Jimmy, uh... get me the union rep on the line, will you?" "Thanks, Jimmy." "I want my lawyer." " How you know I was on the bus?" " We're police, Mr Yates." "We know everything." "We know you helped smash the bus window." "Yeah." "You were the one who heaved a brick through the side window." " We know that." " He shouldn't have run that lady down." "That was an accident." "A brick through a window, that's no accident." "Shoulda seen where he was goin' instead of worrying' about my tunes." "It's fresh stuff, huh?" "What?" "Bus driver had no ear for the cutting edge?" "Yeah." "So when he was down on the ground, you got your shots in, right?" "No, wait." "Look, look." "I never touched that man, all right?" "I might have messed with the bus a little bit, but I left that man alone." "Y'all know I had nothin' to do with that beatdown." " Who did?" " Peoples, man." " Peoples?" " Yeah, lots of 'em." " Jamaicans?" " Some." "Some of 'em was regular folks." "We heard you had a beef with a Jamaican." " You had your tunes, he's playing his." " Man, I'm sick of that island stuff." "Goin' around eating' all that jerk chicken, playin' dub tapes every night, hair all out to here, talkin' Jah this and Jah that." "This is Baltimore, all right?" "I'm from Baltimore, all right?" "So the jake with the radio you beefed with, a woman on the bus says the driver smashed his radio." " Yeah, I was there for that." " So, was he in on the beatdown?" "No, man, he tried to stop it." "We think Officer Hellriegel's the one that beat Paxton Smart." "I know about Hellriegel." "We've had problems with him before." " What do you mean?" " He was involved in a police shooting." "Hellriegel covered for a Lieutenant who shot a black man in the back." "Hellriegel knows the drill." "He's lawyered up good and tight." " He make any statements?" " None." "What we do have is this." "An open lid complaint for excessive force." "The complainant, Paxton Smart." "Guess which one of Baltimore's finest he's complaining' about?" "Officer Heigermeister here." " An open investigation?" " Scheduled for a trial board." "Paxton's serious as a heart attack about it." "He's got a witness." " A witness?" " Mm-hm." "Another Jamaican." " Name is Desmond, uh..." " Clements." " Clements." " Find him, fast." "You think he was with Paxton Smart when the beating went down?" "Or he's heard about it and knows the name of other witnesses." "This Yates kid rides that bus every school day." "He must know the name of the passengers." "Lean on him, get names." "I want everyone on that bus in the Interrogation Room." "Come on." "You know that bus would've burned whether I threw that brick or not." "I'm tellin' you, there wasn't a lot of love in Park Heights for Mr McCusker." " No?" " No, man." "Please." "He would drive right past the stop if you wasn't there." "Even if he seen you runnin', he'd just drive on." " So was that racial?" " Of course it was." "He would have driven past some white lady a few feet from the stop?" "When was the last time a white lady was at a Lower Park Heights bus stop?" "I'm sayin' make believe, man." "I'm saying you don't know this had anything to do with race." "People that beat him, did they say anything racial?" "Did they do anything to show they were hitting him because he was white?" "They hate him." "They've been hatin' him for as long as he been drivin' the 13." "He was always doggin' somebody, talkin' about they don't got enough or gotta pay extra for the zone." " Man, you know what I'm sayin'." " Hey!" "That was his job!" " Man, you just don't know, all right?" " I am asking you to remember." "Did anyone say anything racial before McCusker got beat?" "Did they?" "No." "Not out loud." "You want to avoid adult detention?" "You give us the names of every passenger you can remember and what they did do and what they did not do." " They gonna know I put 'em in?" " Not from us." "All right, just, er... cop a squat in here." "Make yourself comfortable." " Looks like a busful." " But do we have all the passengers?" " There's no way to know." " Take statements, get names." "More names, more interviews and more interviews." " Vicious cycle." " Diligence, Munch, diligence." " What bus?" " What bus?" "No, I don't know what you're talkin' about." "No." "I've been on the bus, but I wasn't on it." "Outside the bus don't mean I was on the bus." "I wasn't on that bus." "Uh-uh, uh-uh, uh-uh." "Desmond Clements' address looks to be a working drug house." "Looks like." "We knock on that door, they're gonna panic." "Flight or fight." "Hey, we don't care about nobody but our witness." "Anybody else comes through that door, let 'em go." "Hmm?" "All right, now, hey." "You go on up to the front, announce yourself." "If our boy's in, he'll bounce out the back." " You set?" " Yeah, good to go." "Police, lookin' for Desmond Clements!" "Police, open up!" "Hey, anything come your way?" " 'No, not yet." "What about you?" "'" " Nothin' worth keepin'." "'I'll go on inside and see what's what.'" "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" "Easy, Desmond." "Police." "Get outta here." "Down!" "Down on the ground." "What?" "You going to shoot me?" "For what?" "Get her off me!" "Get her off me!" "Bitch, let go!" " Get her off me!" " I'll shoot!" "Let him go!" "Hey!" "Hey, get the hell off!" "Hands behind your back!" "Get 'em behind your back!" " OK, OK, OK!" " You got him?" "I got him, man, I got him." "Let go." "Let go." "Let go of him, baby." "Let go." "Signal 13." "I got an officer down, 3600 block, Homer Avenue." "Stay down!" "No, no, no, hey, hey." " He got my... he got my gun." " It's all right." " I got him." " I know you did, babe." " I didn't let go." " I know." " What are you doin' back?" " You tell me." "I am on a ridge line 20 miles from nowhere, watching a red-tailed hawk chase a rabbit through a field of heather, when all of sudden, there's a park ranger on horseback." "Very "Harlequin Romance", only he's got a Teletype telling me to report to my shift commander." "So, what?" "What am I missing?" " Sheppard's hurt." " What?" "Yeah, she was beaten." "Lewis is with her at General." " What the hell is going on?" " Come on, we'll fill you in on the way." "You gonna dump me?" "What?" "You gonna move me off the shift, get me off the street?" "Hmm?" "No, of course not." "Got beat." "Got my gun took." "It could have happened to anyone." "If they ran out that back door, then it happens to Lewis." "Right?" "So you still think this is racial?" " I know it is." " Based on what?" "Based on scratch the surface in this town, what do you get?" "It's always been that way." "It ain't gonna change." "This guy, McCusker, he's been drivin' a bus for 20 years, all right?" "OK, so he's not sendin' any money to the NAACP, but he's doin' his job." "One day, he smacks into a woman, black, in a neighbourhood, black." "His passengers, all black, decide he's done his job long enough." "You know, maybe there is another reason." "It seems that this McCusker didn't hesitate to piss people off." "I piss people off, you piss people off." "You don't see a crowd stomping us to death." "For that, you need race." "Maybe you need race." "Makes it easier, doesn't it?" "You don't have to look for what really happened." "Call it a race crime, everybody's happy." "Some rednecks drag a black guy behind a pickup, it makes the national news." "But a white bus driver gets beat to death, and nobody wants to talk about what we all know." " No!" "What you think you know!" " Hey!" "Hey!" "Pal?" "I was on the street during the Winter Olympics of '79." "You remember?" "Couple of feet of snow became an excuse for looting in every black area." "And 1968, Gay Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, it all burns while they throw bottles at cops and firefighters." "A lot happened in April '68." "You know, as I remember it, that story started on a hotel balcony in Memphis." "Oh, and that justifies anything?" "No way that that justifies anything!" "Look, all I know is that you don't see white people throwing bricks in this town just cos somethin' doesn't go their way." "Well, what wouldn't go your way?" "Tell me!" "I want to know!" "What would have to go wrong for you to throw a brick?" "Mortgage rate rises?" "Lawn service didn't show on Sunday?" "No, I know." "The new Buicks come out with less leg room." "No justice, no peace." " You think you're funny." " Nothing about this is humorous to me." "The other passengers are acting like they're not sure where Baltimore is." "Much less the number 13 bus route." "Ah, the hell with 'em." "Let's just charge 'em all!" " We'll sort it out later." " Yeah, charge 'em all!" " You can lock up the whole city!" " Right!" " Hey, Meldrick." "Where is she?" " Gee's in there with her." " Oh, my God, how is she doing?" " Oh, she's doing great, Ballard." "What the hell you think?" "She got her ass kicked." "Broken ribs." "She got stomped." "That's how she's doin'." "Why didn't you wait for backup?" "Cos there were no units in the area, Munch." "I thought I had it covered." "Why?" " Where were you?" " What are you, lid?" "I was in the back." "I wanted her to raise 'em up so they'd come at me." "You got the witness?" "He's in the cage car on the way down to Homicide." "She wouldn't let go." "She wouldn't let the son of a bitch go." " They got her gun, too." " They got her gun?" "They got her gun." "You know how that is, Ballard." "Female police on the street." "No offence or nothin', but nine times out of ten, they don't win no fight with a flashlight." "I mean, she don't weigh but 120 pounds." "She gotta go straight for the gun." " So they got it away from her, huh?" " They shot at me with it." "Done killed my best brim." "Nah." "Nah, no way, no how, nobody's gonna beat my partner, take her weapon and use it to shoot my lid!" "I ain't gonna hear that!" "Meldrick." "Meldrick?" "Stay with Lewis." "OK." "Ease off." "I'm Homicide." "I'm workin' on a murder of a young brother who was killed this afternoon in the alley off the Heights." "Now, I know what the talk is." "I know a lot of people around the way are sayin' that maybe the police did this." "Well, I'm here to tell you right here, right now, I think that just might be true." "And because I think that might be true, me and my partner was up in a house on Homer Avenue lookin' for a witness." "We were lookin' for somebody to tell us what happened to Paxton Smart." "If that witness puts in a police for killing that brother, then so be it." "That's what we was workin' on when my partner got her ass kicked and her gun took!" "That sister was beat by a black man!" "And she's up in the hospital right now, coughing' up blood." "Now, one of two things can happen here." "Number one, that gun comes back." "Not tomorrow, not the next day, but tonight!" "Or number two, we ain't never gonna see that weapon again." "And if that's the case, every police in the world is gonna come down to Lower Park Heights and y'all gonna wish you had never heard of Baltimore." "That gun comes back to me or my crew is gonna give your crew a real reason to riot." "Hear me..." "I want that gun!" "I don't really see the point." "What does it matter whether there were complaints?" "None of it justifies what happened." "We've got people who believe this incident is racial." "We've got people who are gonna use this to justify some ugly ideas." "Look, we've got tension all along Park Heights tonight." "We've got people believing white bus drivers run down pregnant black women, and whites thinking blacks are looking for any reason to turn to violence." "One more incident and we'll have ourselves a riot that'll make what happened today seem like a fart in high wind." "Now, if this thing was personal, if it wasn't racial..." "Where you from, Agent Giardello?" " I'm from here, Baltimore." " Really?" "To hear you talk, I would think you hadn't been around here in a while." " Lost my child?" " Yes, ma'am." "Miss Manley, what do you remember?" "The bus, it was on the wrong side." "You were struck in the northbound lanes and the bus was going northbound." " Yes." " Did you see the bus?" "I'm in this country eight days." "In my country, in Jamaica, it's different." "Buses and cars stay to the left." "Here, everything is to the right." "You were crossing the street and you looked the wrong way?" "It was my fault." "Tell the driver it was my own fault." "He should not feel so badly." "My father had nothing against anyone." "His supervisor showed me three dozen complaints by passengers over the last eight years." "Your father enjoyed the route?" "It was where he came from." "Dad grew up on Wylie Avenue." " Neighbourhood changed, though." " Yeah." "Yeah, did it ever." " And that bothered your father?" " A little." "He moved to the County after the blockbusting started." "But it isn't the same, is it?" "He was a city boy." "That was what he knew." "Him staying on that route, I think it was his way of staying connected to who he was, to where he came from." "Even though that place no longer exists?" " I suppose." " And who did he blame for that?" "Well, what are you asking me?" "Are you asking me whether he'd run down a black woman because his neighbourhood turned to garbage?" "No." "No." "No, of course not." "No offence to you, but that was a beautiful neighbourhood." "Nothing down there now but guns and shooting and people who don't want to work." "But that didn't stop my father from doing his job." "He got up every day and drove that bus." "Because some people say he didn't let 'em do every damn thing they wanted to, they're gonna complain." "Well, so what?" "My dad didn't have to like 'em none." "He had to make the stops and take the fares." "Paxton sold drugs, I sell drugs." "Officer Hellriegel, he knows this." "He knows the both of us." "Were you with Paxton when he was dragged into that alley, or do you know who was with him?" "There was no protection for Paxton and none for I." "Not true." "You tell us what I think you know, and Officer Hellriegel will not be on the street." "And what about the next cop?" "And the one after him?" "After it comes out why Paxton was killed, no officer is gonna risk his career messing with you." "You're a witness in a murder investigation." "That's a hell of a lot more profile than what Paxton had in a brutality complaint." "If you help us with this, we won't bang you as hard for assaulting that female detective." "Is she OK?" "She's hurtin'." "And let me tell you somethin' here, bunky." "That's my partner you're talkin' about." "And for me to cut you any slack on this at all is a miracle." "Now, if you don't help me out, give me what I need in this murder," "I got no reason not to let the State's Attorney go wild on your ass." "Falsone said Marletta Manley will recover." "He also said she stepped out in front of that bus without looking." "So McCusker gets murdered for no good reason." "We know that Hellriegel killed Paxton Smart." "Who killed McCusker?" "Well, who didn't?" "We got 12 different passengers giving 16 stories, puttin' each other in." "The way I see it, they're all guilty." "If we try to make everyone responsible, no one will be." "The jury loses itself in numbers and acquits everyone." "McCusker was beaten to death by a mob." "You're saying overlook that?" "I'm saying we pick our battles." "Take one honest witness, one person we know was not in the brawl and let him testify as to who threw the first, second or third punch." " That is a case we can win." " But do we have that witness?" "Mr Dekker, you're the only passenger who hasn't pointed the finger at someone else." "You're also the only one exonerated by all of our other witnesses." " We know you had nothin' to do with it." " The driver didn't deliberately hit her." "She stepped out into traffic." "There was no way he could have stopped in time." "Did you realise that?" "Is that why you tried to stop the beating?" "No." "I tried to stop it because I started it." "I didn't see no woman." "I don't know what happened." "All I know is he, the driver, he smashed my radio." "The kid said that McCusker broke your box." "People was yelling." "'The driver was angry, others' were angry." "And my radio..." "I told him he had no right." "He looked at me and then down at the woman." " And it's only then I saw." " You didn't hit him?" "Another man." "He called the driver a name, and then another shoved him." "But finally there was this one young man who threw the driver on the ground." "'I grabbed that young man.'" "But the others, they start kicking the driver, kicking him." "Because of me." "I am the cause." "'Over a radio, a man is dead.'" "OK, Downey." "OK." "Him, him and him." "The rest of 'em you can cut loose." "Got him." "First shove, first punch, first kick." "Present and accounted for." "Danvers wants to go for second degree on all three." "I want them cuffed with Officer Hellriegel." "And I want them led out the front lobby doors." "The four doing a perp walk together should calm this city down." "There he is." "How does it feel to be going to jail?" "How do you feel about that?" "Can you tell us?" "You were right, it wasn't race." "It was a lousy radio." " You think?" " Yeah." "A man from another country plays his radio." "A man from this country plays his." "They fight." "Another man, another race, he doesn't want to hear." "He bitches." "A woman gets hurt." "And then it unravels, all of it." "All the pretence, all the rote human connections break down." "So, what are you sayin'?" "I'm saying that it's all right there waiting, just below the surface." "I mean, a radio?" "An accident?" "Those are just excuses." "They didn't like McCusker because he was McCusker, because he gave 'em a hard way to go and he was angry." "That's what started this." "But passengers also didn't like that he was white." "That's what finished things." "Yeah." "Shades of grey, huh?" "You know, sometimes I get the feeling this city has grown subtle on me." "Not better necessarily, just... subtle." "Well, welcome home, kiddo." "Hey?" "Hey." "Gotcha covered."