Alabama Family Seeks Apology for 1975 Police Cover-up & Shooting of Black Man

Attorney said the statute of limitations has expired on civil remedies that the family could seek. But he asked the council to provide family members $125,000 to offer closure. In 1975, Police initially claimed Whitehurst shot at police while fleeing, but it was later determined that Whitehurst was shot in the back and a gun was planted beside his body.

(AP) — Stacy Whitehurst wishes he'd had more time to get to know his father, Bernard Whitehurst, who was shot to death by a Montgomery police officer almost 37 years ago. Whitehurst was three years old when his father died, and his only memory of him is of playing with a man on the floor of their kitchen.

"I remember hearing his heartbeat," Stacy Whitehurst said. After all these years, his family wants needs more than a vague memory of their father and husband. Whitehurst's widow, Florence Whitehurst, and his children appeared before the Montgomery City Council on Tuesday night and asked for a formal apology and compensation for the wrongful police shooting.

Police said that at the time of the shooting in 1975, officers thought Whitehurst, a 32-year-old cook at a fast-food restaurant, was fleeing from a robbery. Police were after the wrong man and planted a gun beside his body. The case led to the resignation of several top city officials including Mayor Jim Robinson.

Council members made no commitments Monday.

"The city should apologize for all the wrong that was done, for everything," Stacy Whitehurst said. He said his father's death is still raw for the family. His mother became upset while addressing council members Tuesday night, and emotion also surfaced when he told his mother about his childhood memories.

"I don't remember the funeral. I don't remember being told he'd been killed. I don't remember any of that," Stacy Whitehurst said. He said he regrets that he didn't get to know his father and that his dad never got to know his children.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said he had "great sympathy" for the family but wasn't sure he could justify paying compensation.

"What happened was tragic and regrettable," Strange said. "But this is an entirely different city now. Should the taxpayers pay when the city officials at the time are not here?"

But Stacy Whitehurst explained that after his father died, "I wasn't old enough to file a lawsuit."

The family's attorney, Montgomery lawyer Julian McPhillips, said the statute of limitations has expired on civil remedies that the family could seek. But he asked the council to provide family members $125,000 to offer closure.

Stacy Whitehurst said family members had not agreed on the amount of compensation that should be paid.

McPhillips said the case remains an important one in Montgomery's recent history and is even used by some police in training as an "example of what not to do."

Democratic state Rep. Joe Hubbard presented the family Tuesday with a resolution that the state House passed on the last day of the 2012 session expressing sympathy and condolences to the family.

Strange said he wants the council to study the issue for a week or two before deciding what answer to give the family. A past city council considered paying the family compensation but decided, on a 5-4 vote, not to pay.

Stacy Whitehurst said the family won't give up.

"We will continue to come up to council meetings until justice is done," he said.