A drug dealer shot six New York police officers on November 19, 1986, but got off on self-defence.
Larry Davis was being hunted by police over the suspected murder of four drug dealers in the Bronx.
Expecting him not to be compliant, 27 police officers went to his sister’s apartment, where he was staying.
Kidnapper Larry Davis is escorted by police after his arrest at Webster Ave. and 183rd St. (NY Daily News via Getty Images)
“Come out Larry, you don’t have a chance, we’ve got you surrounded,” police said they called out.
There is some debate as to who opened fire first, but in the firefight six police officers were shot and Davis vanished.
Despite the building being surrounded, the suspect managed to escape.
All of the officers survived.
The shooting prompted a nationwide manhunt for Davis, and police set up roadblocks on bridges and tunnels to stop him leaving the city.
Davis was on the run for two weeks before he was stopped at another Bronx housing project.
After holding a family hostage for hours, he finally surrendered to police the following morning.
As he was taken from the building in handcuffs, neighbours applauded and chanted his name.
Larry Davis became a Bronx folk hero after he shot six police officers. (New York Police Department)
The reaction from neighbours was a surprise to people across America but not to locals in the Bronx.
The borough had long been plagued by police abusing their authority and involving themselves in crime.
In the high-profile case, Davis was charged with nine counts of attempted murder as well as a litany of lesser charges.
But jury selection halted the proceedings. The defence accused the prosecution of seeking to exclude black jurors. The prosecution accused the defence of trying to exclude jurors.
After 400 prospective jurors were interviewed with only six selected, the judge declared a mistrial.
A second trial was aborted when the only white juror said they feared police retribution if Davis was found not guilty.
At a third trial, Davis’ lawyers successfully argued that he was acting in self-defence.
They painted the officers as being involved in the drug trade and seeking to murder him.
The jury sided with Davis, and he was only found guilty of weapons possession charges.
“They wanted him dead so he couldn’t squeal on them,” the jury’s foreperson told the New York Times.
She described him as a “young and innocent kid who got recruited by a few corrupt policemen”.
Davis was also acquitted of the murder of five drug dealers before he was finally found guilty for the killing of a sixth.
By this point, Davis had become a folk hero as a Bronx local standing up against corrupt police.
He was killed in prison by another inmate wielding a 23cm-long shiv in 2008.